Kaingaroa School (Kaitaia)

What ERO wrote in its latest report

This is ERO’s report of 28 November 2025 — “School Report” — section by section, under ERO’s own headings, in ERO’s own order. Nothing is summarised, shortened or reordered.

School Report

Tēnā koutou e mau manawa rahi ki te kaupapa e aro ake nei, ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa. Mā wai rā e kawe, mā tātau katoa.

We acknowledge the collective effort, responsibility and commitment by all to ensure that the child remains at the heart of the matter.

Every New Zealand state and state integrated school has an ERO review at least once every four years to evaluate what is working well for learners and what needs to be improved.

About the School

Kaingaroa School is a small rural school near Kaitaia for students in Years 1 to 8. The school has a new leadership team that includes a first-time principal, and two first time deputy principals in a shared role. The school’s roll is 113 students. Students who identify as NZ European/ Pākehā are 50% of the school roll, 45% of learners identify as Māori and 5% come from other ethnic backgrounds.

The school values are Kia Ngawari – Kindness, Kia Mahara – Responsibility, Kia Pono – Equity, Kia Manawanui – Resilience and Kia Tika – Respect.

Education Counts provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement, school enrolments and school zones. educationcounts.govt.nz/home

An explanation of the terms and judgements used in this report can be found here: Reporting | Education Review Office

What we know about learner success

This section provides a summary of learner success and wellbeing. The judgments are based on the ERO School Improvement Framework and the evidence provided to ERO during the evaluation.

How well are learners succeeding? The school is working towards high levels of success and progress for all learners.

What is the quality of teaching and learning? The school is improving teaching and learning.

How well does the school curriculum respond to all learners needs? Learners have sufficient opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the curriculum. There is an increasingly consistent focus on supporting learners to gain skills in literacy and mathematics. Learners with complex needs are well supported to achieve their education goals.

How well does school planning and conditions support ongoing improvement? The school is establishing planning and conditions that support improvements in the quality of education for learners.

How well does the school include all learners and promote their engagement and wellbeing? The school reasonably promotes learners’ engagement, wellbeing and inclusion.

How well does the school partner with parents, whānau and its community for the benefit of learners? The school is improving its reporting to parents / whānau about their child’s learning, achievement and progress. The school is improving its collection and use of information gathered through community consultation to inform strategic planning and curriculum decisions.

Student Health and Safety The school board is taking reasonable steps to ensure student health and safety.

Achievement in Years 0 to 8

This section is about learner achievement. It outlines how well learners across the school meet or exceed the expected curriculum level of The New Zealand Curriculum in foundational skills.

Less than a third Less than half Small majority Large majority Most Almost all

0 to 33% 34 to 49% 50 to 64% 65 to 79% 80 to 90% Over 90%

Reading A small majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are not yet equitable for all groups of learners.

Writing A small majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are not yet equitable for all groups of learners.

Mathematics A small majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are equitable for all groups of learners.

Attendance

This section is about school attendance and the progress the school is making towards meeting the Government target of 80% regular attendance.

The small majority of learners attend school regularly.

The school is behind the target of 80% regular attendance.

The school has a suitable plan in place to improve attendance.

Regular attendance is improving towards or beyond the target.

Chronic absence is reducing over time.

Assessment

This section is about how the school assesses learner progress and achievement.

The school is improving its approach and the reliability of its practices to accurately find out about achievement against the curriculum.

Teachers are developing assessment information to adjust teaching practices to ensure ongoing improvement in teaching and student progress.

Progress

This section is about how well the school supports all learners to make sufficient progress.

The school is developing good quality planning to increase the rate of progress for all groups of students.

The school has to some extent improved achievement and progress for those learners most at risk of not achieving since the previous review.

The school has to some extent extended achievement and progress for learners working at or above curriculum levels since the previous review.

The school is making progress towards meeting Government reading, writing and mathematics targets for 2030 and agrees this will need to be a key strategic priority.

Next steps for improvement

This section provides more detail for the school to include in its strategic and annual planning for ongoing improvement across the school. It outlines what the school is doing well and identifies actions for improvement.

Areas of Strength

Students experience an inclusive and supportive school culture that fosters their wellbeing and a sense of belonging. Students with specific learning and behaviour needs are well supported by specialist staffing for intervention programmes.

Senior leadership works collaboratively to review their progress against the school strategic goals. Staff have shared leadership responsibilities that increasingly contribute positively to school operations.

Teachers engage in professional development to support ongoing teaching and learning improvements. They collectively reflect and discuss progress in literacy and mathematics teaching and learning practices to raise schoolwide students’ progress and achievement.

Staff plan collaboratively using knowledge of students’ strengths, needs and interests to plan for in other curriculum areas to ensure depth and breadth of the curriculum to improve students’ experiences and learning outcomes.

Regular attendance has recently improved; this remains an ongoing focus for further improvement.

Key priorities

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

Build senior leadership team capability.

Embed structured literacy and mathematics teaching and learning practices to improve learner’s progress and achievement.

Further integrate te reo Māori and te ao Māori learning to promote engagement in learning and attendance.

Develop internal evaluation capability across the school to guide strategic and annual planning to improve student achievement.

Improve attendance to meet the Government’s regular attendance target.

Actions to bring about improvement

Within three months:

leaders review the use of school learning resources in literacy and mathematics to support students’ progress and achievement and identify areas for further improvement

leaders work with the School Board using indicators of effective practice to build their evaluation capability to plan, implement and monitor the impact of improvement actions

Every six months:

leaders and teachers work together to document and share effective literacy and mathematics teaching strategies to improve student progress and achievement for all

leaders review how well te reo Māori and te ao Māori learning opportunities is integrated in the curriculum to promote engagement and attendance

leaders use an evaluation framework to monitor and report progress on school improvement actions including achieving the Government’s attendance target

Annually:

leaders and the School Board review the outcomes of improvement actions, including progress toward attendance targets and the impact of structured literacy and mathematics approaches, to set strategic priorities

leaders and the School Board evaluate the impact of the attendance plan in improving student’s regular attendance and plan next steps for ongoing improvement as needed.

Expected outcomes

Improved teaching of literacy and mathematics across the school.

Accelerated progress for those students who require targeted teaching to achieve well literacy and mathematics.

The high-quality integration of te reo Māori and te ao Māori learning opportunities in the curriculum and teaching programmes promote engagement and attendance.

Increased schoolwide regular attendance data that meets the Government target by 2030.

Regulatory and Legislative Requirements

This section of the report is about how the school meet regulatory and legislative requirements.

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements

This section of the report reviews the school's policies, procedures, documentation, and checks that it meets all regulations, maintains a safe environment, and supports students' wellbeing.

During this review the Board has attested to meeting regulatory and legislative requirements in the following areas:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Actions for Compliance

ERO has identified the following area of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

ensure that staff appointments process includes a record of the completion of a risk assessment based on the of information collected before a person begins in their role [Sections 25, 26 and 27 of the Children’s Act 2014: Safety checks of children’s workers].

The School Board has since taken steps to address the areas of non-compliance identified.

The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Report and is due within four years.

Me mahi tahi tonu tātau, kia whai oranga a tātau tamariki Let’s continue to work together for the greater good of all children

Sharon Kelly Director of Schools

28 November 2025

Read this report on ero.govt.nz →