Tolaga Bay Area School

The same report — the board assurance report of 11 February 2025 — also sets out actions for compliance: the non-compliance ERO identified during that process. This is that section of the report in full, in ERO’s words.

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

school leaders to ensure health and safety agreements are completed between the school and organisations for student work-based placements. [Health and Safety at Work Act, 2015]

The board has since taken steps to address the area of non-compliance identified.

Read this board assurance report on ero.govt.nz →

What ERO wrote in its latest report

This is ERO’s report of 11 February 2025 — “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

Tolaga Bay Area School located north of Gisborne, provides education for students in Years 1 to 13 from the Uawa and Tokomaru Bay catchments. Students are primarily of Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti and Ngāti Porou descent. The school offers both English and te reo Māori streams of learning.

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

School leaders and staff are working towards improved and excellent outcomes for all learners that are sustained overtime.

A large majority of learners achieve National Certificate in Educational Achievement (NCEA) at Levels 2 and 3, with excellence and merit endorsements increasing over time; less than half of learners achieved Level 1 in 2023.

Less than half of Year 1 to 10 learners achieve at or above their expected curriculum levels in reading writing and mathematics.

Regular attendance rates do not currently meet Ministry of Education targets and school leaders are implementing a range of strategies to support improved attendance.

Students’ sense of wellbeing and belonging is highly evident; staff regularly collect and respond to learner voice regarding their wellbeing, aspirations and learning goals supporting learners to articulate, shape and drive their learning pathways.

Conditions to support learner success

School leadership is strengthening schoolwide practices to foster a culture committed to high quality teaching and improved outcomes for all learners.

Leaders build and sustain high levels of relational trust, collaboration and communication focused on improved professional practice.

Leadership is strengthening teacher practice through a range of targeted professional development focused on improving outcomes for all learners, particularly in literacy.

School leaders are taking steps to build leadership capacity schoolwide, to sustain good practice and support ongoing strategic improvement.

School leaders and staff deliver a curriculum focused on addressing learner strengths and needs.

Students' cultural connectedness and engagement with school-life are well supported; school leaders prioritise t e mātauranga o Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti specifically, and Ngāti Porou generally, in schoolwide practices enabling learners to see themselves, their identity and culture across all aspects of their learning.

Senior school students are provided with a wide range of learning outside of school that supports their engagement and knowledge of different pathways they can pursue; school leaders focus on continuing to broaden and strengthening these opportunities across the school.

Systems and processes for the tracking and monitoring of learners who require additional support are consistent across the school and teachers’ planning is deliberate to meet their needs.

Organisational conditions are being strengthened to drive schoolwide improvement.

Professional learning is targeted and aligned with strategic goals and achievement targets and supports improving evidence-based teaching practice across the school.

Leaders create the conditions for all staff to develop an understanding of the role of evaluation in improvement and to understand the impact of their practice on improved learner outcomes at all levels of the school.

Leadership is strengthening the ways staff collect, analyse and interpret data to inform teacher planning and decision making for school improvement.

School leaders work actively to remove any barriers to learner engagement with school life; their hauora and that of their whānau are prioritised and a range of strategies are in place to support this.

Learner success and wellbeing

Ākonga confidently use te reo o Ngāti Porou and effectively articulate their local Hauiti narratives.

A large majority of ākonga are achieving at or above the expected curriculum levels in pānui and tuhi tuhi ; less than a third are achieving for pāngarau .

Most Kahukuranui ākonga are attending school regularly, supporting student engagement and achievement.

Conditions to support learner success

Kaiako intentionally integrate quality te reo o Ngāti Porou throughout their learning programmes to grow and strengthen ākonga reo .

Kaiako are using a range of relevant assessment information to plan, teach and report on ākonga progress.

Kahukuranui provide authentic and meaningful cultural learning experiences to encourage ākonga engagement and progress.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

improve ākonga outcomes in pānui, tuhi tuhi and pāngarau by consolidating the understanding and use of te reo matatini and pāngarau progressions and aligning these to the Māhere Ako

develop consistent assessment and moderation practices across Years 1 to 10, ensuring common agreement about high-quality assessment and evidence informed practices so that staff are responsive to the needs of all learners

grow capability in data analysis so all staff are better able to interpret data critically and know the impact of their practice on learner outcomes; develop solutions focused on improved outcomes for all learners

continue to strengthen systems and processes that support staff capability and capacity building across the school; this includes a shared understanding of evaluation for improvement so that staff understand the impact of their practice on learner outcomes

continue to use and refine strategies to improve regular attendance.

The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.

Within six months:

leaders model in-depth data analysis to strengthen data literacy across the school

leaders and teachers review and further develop a framework that supports learners to know their specific next steps in learning and how to progress these

consistent assessment and moderation practices implemented across the junior school to ensure robust achievement information is provided to learners, their whānau , senior leaders and to inform teacher planning

analyse attendance data and the impact of strategies undertaken to improve this.

Every six months:

review and evaluate Kahukuranui progress in pānui, tuhi tuhi and pāngarau and the impact of aligning progressions to Mahere Ako

school leaders and staff closely analyse learner attendance, progress and achievement data, to identify what is working and for who and next steps

the board to scrutinise analysed schoolwide attendance, progress and achievement data to understand the impact of teaching programmes and to inform improvement actions

leaders and teachers engage in critical discussion about the impact of their teaching on learner outcomes through the school professional growth cycle, and adapt practice and programmes.

Annually:

analyse end-of-year Kahukuranui achievement information and use it to inform future decision making and planning for the rumaki

leadership and staff use in-depth data analysis to evaluate the impact of schoolwide practices designed to enhance attendance, learner engagement and achievement, focused on excellent outcomes for all learners

the board uses reported schoolwide attendance, progress and achievement data to understand the impact of programmes, inform improvement actions and annual and strategic planning

the board evaluates the effectiveness of their own performance and adapts practice and decision-making accordingly.

Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:

improved attendance and achievement outcomes; all learners achieving at or above expected curriculum levels and completing NCEA to a high level of attainment

improved ākonga achievement outcomes in te reo matatini and pāngarau

learners independently setting goals and clearly articulating their achievement, learning and progress

high levels of data literacy across the staff and evidence-informed practices leading to excellent outcomes for all learners.

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

Sharon Kelly Acting Director of Schools

11 February 2025

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 this report on ero.govt.nz →