Papakura High School

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.

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 

Papakura High School is located in south Auckland and provides education for learners from Years 9 to 13. The school’s current roll is 1263, nearly double the number of students since the February 2020 ERO report.

The school roll includes 48% of students who identify as Māori, 46% as Pacific heritage, 19% as Asian, 19% as New Zealand European/Pākehā, and 2% as Middle Eastern, Latin American, or African. Students can identify as more than one ethnicity. 

The school provides Māori medium immersion learning in Te Oranga Reo for students in Years 9 to 13. The school’s mission statement is, ‘Kia oho ake te rangatira kei roto ― awakening the leader within’, encouraging its tauira to take on the demeanour of chiefly behaviour and attitudes. 

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 is a summary of learner success, which guides the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings.

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%

Learner success and wellbeing

This section provides a summary of learner success and wellbeing.

Improvements are required to ensure all learners are making sufficient progress and achieving well.

• Most learners enter the school significantly behind expected curriculum levels in literacy and mathematics. Students in Years 9 and 10 make accelerated progress.
• By the end of Year 10, a small majority of learners are at or above expected curriculum levels in reading and mathematics, with less than half at the expected level in writing.
• A small majority of learners achieve Level 2 and 3 National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). Less than a third achieve University Entrance (UE).
• A student wellbeing survey showed that student experience positive wellbeing outcomes and see school as a secure and caring place.
• Less than half the students attend school regularly. The school is behind the Government target for regular attendance. However, regular attendance is improving along with a reduction in chronic absence and remains a priority for the school. 

Conditions to support learner success

This section provides a summary of leadership, teaching, curriculum and foundation school conditions for improvement.   

School leadership works collaboratively to strategically improve outcomes for learners.

• Leaders are actively establishing and strengthening policies, systems, processes and practices to drive strategic improvement.
• The leadership team is taking steps to build staff capacity to address the varied needs of students and support their progress and achievement.
• Leaders are tracking and monitoring progress towards improvement targets and actions aligned with the school’s strategic goals to raise learner achievement.

The design and delivery of teaching and learning is increasingly responsive to learners’ needs.

• Teachers are developing a responsive curriculum that increasingly meets learners’ needs and interests and provides relevant learning pathways.
• Teachers focus on accelerating learners’ progress and achievement. They are taking steps to implement programmes designed to improve writing, enhance engagement and raise student achievement across the curriculum.
• Teachers create respectful and inclusive classroom environments that encourage student participation in learning and build supportive learning relationships across the school.
• The school is improving how they meet the learning needs of the significant numbers of learners who transition into the school during the year.

An inclusive school climate contributes to establishing school conditions necessary for student success.

• Māori and Pacific learners are encouraged to value their own and others’ cultures, identities and languages and engage in school activities to promote engagement.
• The school’s Hauora Hub wellness centre increasingly offers coordinated and effective responses to meet challenges impacting on learners’ physical and mental health.
• Learner feedback shows that the Year 9 and 10 graduating programmes, Kia Puawai and Te Tohu Rangatira, are supporting the development of attitudes, skills, and learning habits needed for senior school engagement.
• The School Board actively participates in strategic planning, prioritising engagement with Māori and Pacific communities and is taking steps to manage rapid roll growth through developing school infrastructure and support systems for learners and staff.

Rumaki/Reo Rua Outcomes and Condition to Support Learner Success

Learner success and wellbeing

• Tauira express knowledge of mātauranga Māori through the sharing of waiata, haka, and pepeha.
• Tauira are developing self-efficacy and strengthening self-regulated learning.
• Tauira are engaging in a learning environment that reflects their needs as Māori, instilling a strong sense of belonging.
• Tauira are empowered to more confidently make decisions about their desired pathways and are making connections between programmes of learning and further study.

Conditions to support learners

• Senior leadership are prioritising the implementation of strategies to improve outcomes for tauira; substantial targeted resourcing and focused professional development is supporting the design and integration of well-structured programmes of learning.
• Authentic learning environments provide tauira with opportunities to explore te reo Māori.
• Learning through the local narratives of iwi is supported by positive role modelling of te reo by kaiako.
• Kaiako create a mutually respectful learning environment where tauira are supported to meaningfully engage and apply new knowledge and skills.

Priorities for Improvement

• Formalise the local curriculum and implement a strategy to develop te reo Māori language progression across year levels.
• Implement robust assessment practices, including timely consistent tracking and monitoring of learner achievement information to provide progressive structure to programmes of learning and inform next step teaching.
• Senior leadership develop and implement a transparent accountability plan to encourage quality teaching practice.
• Strengthen relationships with mana whenua, feeder schools, and whānau to support Māori medium immersion pathways.

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.

Key priorities

• Raise student achievement to ensure all students can access meaningful pathways through and beyond school.
• Implement formalised goal setting and monitoring strategies for senior students.
• Develop schoolwide literacy strategies to enhance learner engagement, progress and achievement across the curriculum.
• Embed ‘Papakura Pedagogy Pou’ a framework for consistent approaches in teaching, learning, and engagement across the school.
• Strengthen Te Oranga Reo learning programmes and provisions based on whānau, learners and wider community input.
• Improve whānau and wider community engagement and partnerships with the school.
• Improve and sustain regular student attendance.

Actions to bring about improvement

Within three months:

• leaders review strategies used to address barriers to learning and attendance, identify areas for improvement and plan next steps
• leaders strengthen the student mentorship programme and include regular checkpoints for setting relevant goals and tracking student progress
• leaders and teachers review current teaching and learning practices to identify strengths and areas to improve and use this information to identify professional learning that builds teachers capability

Within six months:

• the School Board consults with whānau and the school community to inform the new strategic plan that is focused on improving engagement and increasing whānau involvement to benefit learner outcomes
• leaders enhance the quality and consistency of teaching, identify strategies and interventions that improve learner outcomes through the implementation of a schoolwide teaching and learning framework

Every six months:

• teachers regularly review goals and progress with senior students and their whānau to ensure learners are tracking towards their intended academic or vocational pathways
• leaders and kaiako review progress made in strengthening Te Oranga Reo programmes including responding to whānau and student aspirations feedback
• leaders and the School Board review attendance information to identify trends and patterns; ensure that there is a range of appropriate supports in place to assist learners to regularly attend school

Annually:

• leaders and teachers share student progress and success in meeting individual learning goals with their whānau
• leaders and the School Board work together to review the impact of school initiatives, the consistency of teaching and learning practices on student progress, wellbeing and achievement and use findings to inform strategic planning
• the School Board and leaders evaluate the progress made in strengthening Te Oranga Reo provisions and improving learner outcomes
• leaders and the School Board evaluate strategies to increase regular attendance towards Government targets and barriers to learning; use findings to inform next steps to increase student attendance. 

Expected outcomes 

• Improved progress, achievement and wellbeing outcomes for all learners.
• Teaching and learning strategies and approaches that improve learner outcomes.
• Improved Te Oranga Reo provisions and student outcomes.
• Increased whānau and community engagement and participation in the decision making across all parts of the school.
• Improved and sustained levels of regular attendance.

Recommendation to the Ministry of Education

Papakura High School have made improvements to student attendance, achievement outcomes and the foundational school conditions that support success. As a next step to bring about sustained improvement ERO recommends that the Secretary for Education consider requiring an action plan as listed in section 171(1) of the Education and Training Act 2020 to bring about the improvement in the following:

• continue to improve progress and achievement particularly for students in years 10 to 12
• strengthen students and community engagement in learning
• specific supports for Te Oranga Reo teaching and learning programmes
• further improving regular attendance and reduce chronic absences. 

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

8 October 2025