Kumara School
Full Primary · State
- Year levels
- 1–8
- Total roll
- 47
- Enrolment zone
- No
- Gender
- Co-Educational
Where is it, and how do I get in touch?
- Address
- 68 Fifth Street, Kumara
- Territorial authority
- Westland District
- Phone
- 03-7369832
- office@kumara.school.nz
- Website
- http://www.kumara.school.nz
- Directions
- Get directions
Other schools nearby: schools in West Coast
What would the day look like?
The practical things this school states on its own website — the hours, the uniform, the term dates, and how children get there. These are the school’s own words, not the Ministry’s record and not ERO’s.
What does the school say about itself?
Quoted, not summarised. Every school describes itself well, so this is here to be read as the school’s own case rather than as a finding — and a school that states nothing simply has no row.
Quoted from this school’s own website, as we read it on 13 August 2026. A web page carries no date of its own, so that is the day we read it — not a statement that any of this is still the case. Each line quotes the words it came from.
- In their words
- To provide a safe and supportive environment for our students to be educationally extended and challenged so that they may be motivated with a passion to learn.
- ‘Mining every opportunity’ so our students will be confident, successful, lifelong learners.
Who goes here?
Ethnicity breakdown of the total roll, shown as context. Not ranked, and not compared against any average.
- European
- 46
- Māori
- 7
- Pacific
- 1
- Asian
- 0
- MELAA
- 4
- Other
- 0
- International
- 0
Roll by year level and age
Shown as context, not ranked, not compared to any average. As at 30 June 2026, from the same annual return as the roll count above.
| Māori | Pacific | Asian | MELAA | Other | European/ Pākehā | International students | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 01 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Year 02 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Year 03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Year 04 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Year 05 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Year 06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Year 07 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Year 08 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Total | 10 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 37 | 0 | 38 |
| Māori | Pacific | Asian | MELAA | Other | European/ Pākehā | International students | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age 05 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Age 06 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Age 07 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Age 08 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Age 09 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Age 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Age 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Age 12 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Age 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 10 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 37 | 0 | 38 |
Source: Education Counts, Ministry of Education, CC BY 4.0
Student engagement
Age-standardised stand-down rate per 1,000 students — 2024
0%
| Kumara School | 0% |
|---|---|
| West Coast Region | 76.2% |
| Full Primary | 35.6% |
| State | 40.2% |
| New Zealand | 37.1% |
Trend and demographic breakdown
| Female | 0% |
|---|---|
| Male | 0% |
| Māori | 0% |
| Pacific | 0% |
| Asian | Not available (source marker: "nd") |
| Other | 0% |
| European/Pākehā | 0% |
| Total | 0% |
Source: Education Counts, Ministry of Education, CC BY 4.0 — Table 2: Comparison stand-down rates data (2024)
Age-standardised suspension rate per 1,000 students — 2024
0%
| Kumara School | 0% |
|---|---|
| West Coast Region | 4.5% |
| Full Primary | 3.9% |
| State | 4.5% |
| New Zealand | 4.1% |
Trend and demographic breakdown
| Female | 0% |
|---|---|
| Male | 0% |
| Māori | 0% |
| Pacific | 0% |
| Asian | Not available (source marker: "nd") |
| Other | 0% |
| European/Pākehā | 0% |
| Total | 0% |
Source: Education Counts, Ministry of Education, CC BY 4.0 — Table 2: Comparison suspension rates data (2024)
Age-standardised exclusion rate per 1,000 students — 2024
0%
| Kumara School | 0% |
|---|---|
| West Coast Region | 2% |
| Full Primary | 1.7% |
| State | 1.9% |
| New Zealand | 1.8% |
Trend and demographic breakdown
| Female | 0% |
|---|---|
| Male | 0% |
| Māori | 0% |
| Pacific | 0% |
| Asian | Not available (source marker: "nd") |
| Other | 0% |
| European/Pākehā | 0% |
| Total | 0% |
Source: Education Counts, Ministry of Education, CC BY 4.0 — Table 2: Comparison exclusion data (2024)
About the school
- Equity Index (EQI)
- 473
- Boarding
- No
- Language of instruction
- All students taught in English/other setting
- Urban / rural
- Rural settlement
- Date opened
- 25 January 1877
The Equity Index is used by the Ministry to allocate equity funding. It describes the socio-economic barriers a school’s students face, not how good the school is. How the Equity Index works
What did ERO find?
The Education Review Office reviews every school and publishes what it finds in full. We quote ERO’s report here, section by section, in ERO’s own words and order, and link to it. We do not summarise a report, pick a line out of one, or turn one into a score. How ERO reviews schools
- Reports ERO holds
- 3
- Last reviewed
- 3 October 2024
- Latest report
- School Evaluation Report
- Report type
- Evaluation report
- Board assurance
- The board attested to all areas (3 October 2024)
A board assurance statement is the board’s own account of whether it took all reasonable steps to meet its legal obligations, on the date shown. It is not ERO’s finding. ERO reports separately, in the same report, on any non-compliance it identified during that process.
The board assurance report of 3 October 2024 carries no actions-for-compliance section — the section ERO uses when it names non-compliance it identified. That is what this report contains; it is not ERO saying it found none. Other reports ERO holds for this school may say something different.
The roll ERO recorded, and when
ERO writes a roll into each report it publishes: a count taken for that report, on the day shown, by the review team that was there. The Ministry of Education’s current roll for this school is 47 — the figure at the top of this page, and the one to use for how big the school is now. These are a different measurement by a different body, so they will rarely agree, and a difference between them is not a change in the school.
November 2017
34
Counted while ERO’s review team was at the school. Education Review Office, report of 21 December 2017
This is one count taken for one report. It says what the roll was on that day, and nothing about how the roll has moved.
What ERO wrote in its latest report
This is ERO’s report of 3 October 2024 — “School Evaluation Report” — section by section, under ERO’s own headings, in ERO’s own order. Nothing is summarised, shortened or reordered.
School Evaluation 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.
Context
Kumara School is a small semi-rural school in the Kumara community on the South Island West Coast. It caters for students from Years 1 to 8 in a co-educational environment. The school’s vision is “ Mining every opportunity” so the students will be confident, successful, lifelong learners.
There are two parts to this report.
Part A: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki /bilingual settings.
Part B: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.
Part A: Current State
The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.
Learner Success and Wellbeing
Most students make sustained progress and engage well in learning.
A large majority of students achieve at or above expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics.
Students express a strong sense of belonging and pride in the school; the school’s values underpin decision making and contribute positively to the wellbeing and learning of all students.
A majority of students attend school regularly; the school is not yet meeting the 2024 Ministry of Education target for regular attendance at school.
Conditions to support learner success
Strategic and effective school leadership builds and sustains high quality systems and processes for teaching, learning and wellbeing.
The principal has established and sustained high levels of relational trust and a culture of evidence-based teaching that targets areas of identified learning needs.
Staff work together to intentionally plan how they will improve student outcomes.
The principal and teachers actively engage learners, staff, parents, whānau, and local iwi to ensure the school’s vision, values and priorities reflect community aspirations.
Students experience high quality teaching and learning and a wide range of meaningful learning opportunities.
Learners engage well in the localised and culturally relevant curriculum; that is targeted to individual learnings needs and interests.
Teachers intentionally use tuakana teina approaches to motivate and challenge students to lead their learning; this strengthens positive and respectful learning relationships.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is embedded within the curriculum; this is increasing students' engagement and progress in reading and writing.
Key organisational conditions that support learner success are well established.
The board and staff have developed strong relationships with the community and external agencies; this supports student wellbeing and extends opportunities to learn from and about their local community.
Leaders and teachers set a culture of high expectations for learning and behaviour; students know, understand and respond well to consistency across the school.
The board is strategic, and highly outcome focused; they use comprehensive information well to make effective resourcing decisions to target what is best for the students.
Students feedback and ideas are gathered and specifically used to inform learning contexts, experiences outside of the classroom and sustain the positive school culture.
Part B: Where to next?
The agreed next steps for the school are to:
continue to embed the localised curriculum so that more students achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics
extend the current assessment framework so that monitoring across the localised curriculum is strengthened
review initiatives and strategies in place to identify further improvement in rates of regular attendance.
The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.
Every six months:
track and monitor the progress and attendance of students, to identify what is working well in the curriculum and inform where to next
teachers inquire into their practice and share strategies that are supporting the successful implementation of curriculum changes, both nationally and locally
continue to grow teacher confidence and capability in using the strengthened assessment framework to inform consistent and responsive planning for improvement
Annually:
leaders and teachers evaluate the impact of the localised curriculum on improving student achievement, attendance and engagement; and report improvements to the board and community and seek feedback for where to next
review and report to the board on how well the school is realising community aspirations, identifying progress towards strategic priorities and contribution to ongoing improvements.
Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:
highly engaged and motivated students who are achieving well
a responsive localised curriculum that adapts to learners’ interests and needs
the board, parents and community well informed about improvements in attendance, progress and achievement.
ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Evaluation Report and is due within three 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
Shelley Booysen Director of Schools
3 October 2024
About the School
The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
Read the full report on ero.govt.nz →
All 3 reports ERO holds for this school
ERO reviews a school every few years — around four years between reviews is the usual cycle — so an older date here reflects where a school sits in that cycle, not how it is doing.
Source: Education Review Office, CC BY 4.0.
Roll date: 30 June 2026 (2026).