Kaitaia School

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

Kaitaia School provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. The school roll is 326. Most learners at the school identify as Māori, 5% of Pacific heritage, 5% New Zealand European/Pākehā, and 5% from other ethnic groups.

The school motto is Kia Ngāwari - Be Understanding and its values are Manawa (Heart), Manaakitanga - Caring, Aroha - Love, Ngāwari - Kindness, Awhina - Support, Whakawhanaungatanga - Relationships, Akona - Learning. 

Kaitaia School hosts onsite the Blomfield Special School, a Whare Manaaki (spaces offering alternate learning programmes) and Whare Marino (Māori Cultural Centre of Kaitaia Primary School and community) established by the Kaitaia community.

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

Improvement and progress

This section is about the progress the school has made since the January 2023 ERO report. It includes an explanation of the expected improvements and findings.

Expected improvements

The school focused on how well it adapted and modified the school curriculum and environment to progress learning and meet the pastoral needs of all students. 

There is a strong emphasis on local history, culture, and identity, including Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori tikanga, which fosters a sense of belonging and cultural pride. This is a significant strength in creating an inclusive and culturally sustaining environment for learners and their families. 

Findings

The school successfully implemented a Curriculum of Care and a Learning for Keeps Curriculum, which are aligned to mitigating trauma and child poverty while improving achievement outcomes. This demonstrates strong strategic alignment and responsiveness to student needs by school leaders and staff. 

The schoolwide implementation of Mana Potential Programme supports learners' self-regulation and emotional wellbeing, aligning with the school’s hauora goals. A notable reduction in pastoral incidents in 2025 indicates that the school’s trauma-informed and wellbeing-focused strategies are having a measurable impact on learners’ engagement at school. 

Other findings

Ongoing professional learning for staff in structured literacy and mathematics, alongside digital fluency and hybrid learning contribute to continuous improvement and the positive implementation of education initiatives in the interests of learners.

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.

A large majority of learners enter Kaitaia School significantly behind the expected curriculum level. The school’s efforts are well focused on accelerated progress. 

Achievement in Years 1 to 6

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.

Attendance

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

• Less than half of students attend school regularly.
• The school is behind the target of 80% regular attendance.
• The school is developing a suitable plan to improve attendance.
• Regular attendance is not yet improving towards or beyond the target.
• Chronic absence is not yet reducing over time. 

Assessment

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

• The school uses an appropriate approach and reliable practices to find out about achievement against the curriculum.
• Assessment information is used well 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 has good quality planning to increase the rate of progress for all groups of students.
• The school has significantly 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 and 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 have a strong sense of language, culture, and identity; they experience a caring, inclusive environment with respectful relationships that promote belonging and encourage risk-taking in learning.
• Strategic leadership fosters collaboration and builds a positive learning culture by developing internal expertise valuing all staff contributions across roles and responsibilities to improve outcomes across the curriculum. 
• Staff focus on building strong foundations in literacy, and mathematics. Schoolwide assessment practices are explicit to support progress and achievement.
• The school curriculum offers students opportunities to connect to their whakapapa, iwi, turangawaewae, the local environment and community including historical links.
• Students with additional learning needs and those at risk of underachieving benefit from multi-tiered and layered programmes including specialist staff expertise when required. 
• Staff are encouraged to innovate and actively shape school culture. Staff are highly involved in monitoring and reviewing the impact of teaching and learning programmes on learning outcomes. 
• The Kaitaia School Board and staff engage purposefully with the community, incorporating whānau feedback and building learning partnerships and relationships with mana whenua.

Key priorities

• Embed structured literacy and mathematics approaches with a focus on writing through targeted professional development for staff.
• Staff evaluate literacy approaches to identify their impact and value in lifting students’ progress and achievement in reading and writing.
• The Board, leaders and staff to maintain their focus on planning and strategies to lift and sustain higher rates of regular attendance.

Actions to bring about improvement

Within three months:

• teachers complete professional development focusing on structured literacy and mathematics
• teachers implement and monitor the most recent phonics checks for students in Year 0 and Year 1 at 20 weeks and 40 weeks
• teachers and staff set professional development goals focused on lifting student achievement in literacy and monitor their impact on increasing progress for learners
• the school Board and school leaders continue to monitor schoolwide attendance and implement the new Attendance Management plan.

Annually:

• leaders investigate and establish systems for the delivery of the curriculum including other areas of teaching and learning
• leaders investigate and develop systems for the use of new assessment tools and plan for their implementation.

Expected outcomes

• New literacy and mathematics assessment tools are embedded and used across the school. 
• Improved progress and achievement for all learners. 
• Consistent and sustained increases in regular attendance. 

Regulatory and legislative requirements

This section of the report is about how the school meets 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 areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

• ensure that staff appointments safety checking process includes a record of a completed risk assessment. 
  [Sections 25, 26 and 27 of the Children’s Act 2014: Safety checks of children’s workers]

The Kaitaia School Board has since taken steps to address this area of non-compliance.

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 May 2026