Northern Health 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.

This report is part of a nationally coordinated evaluation of the three regional health schools during the second half of 2025.

About the school

Northern Health School is one of three regional health schools that provide education and support for students in Years 1 to 14 with high health needs. The school is governed by a Ministry of Education appointed school board. Students are dual enrolled in the health school and their local School of Enrolment. If a student is not in hospital, enrolment is supported by a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner. The majority of students enrolled have high mental health needs.

Students may be educated in hospital, their own homes and/or in the school’s student support centres based at various satellites units, where teachers work with individuals or groups.

The central office is in Grafton in Auckland. The school has 21 regional offices across the geographic region of the upper North Island that includes areas from New Plymouth, Ohakune and Gisborne. 

During 2024 Northern Health School supported 3070 students, of whom 60% identified as New Zealand European/Pākehā and 23% identified as Māori.

On average students spend around 19 school weeks on the Northern Health School roll. The school reports that 94% of students successfully transition back into their local school or vocational pathway. 

In 2024, a new senior leadership structure was introduced that includes a principal and three deputy principals. The school vision is ‘Te puna whakatipu,’ for the school to be a place where ‘every learner grows and thrives’. 

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.

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

This section provides a summary of learner success and wellbeing.

• School systems and processes promote equity of access for learners who require more individualised learning support by working to remove barriers to enrolment.
• Leaders and teachers gather engagement, progress and achievement information through a range of assessment tools to better understand and plan for each learner’s next steps for learning.
• Leaders, teachers, and other agencies work collaboratively to support learner’s wellbeing and readiness to return to their local school of enrolment.

Conditions to support learner success

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

• Leaders provide a variety of opportunities for teachers to learn from each other and access support to enhance learner centred teaching and learning, within units and across the school.
• A distributed leadership model fosters alignment, cohesion and flexibility to enable shared ownership of positive learner outcomes.
• Teachers’ individual strengths and skills are identified and developed across the school, so that change is well-led and sustainable.
• Leadership creates a culture of relational trust that enables staff to adapt and positively respond to higher expectations for their professional practices.

• Teachers are highly flexible and adaptive in their practice to suit the needs, interests and strengths of each learner.
• The school prioritises providing opportunities for learners to experience a broad range of curriculum activities within teaching and learning programmes.
• There is a sustained focus on supporting learners to gain foundation skills in literacy and mathematics.
• Teacher planning and collaboration is well-embedded, with evidence of structured routines, peer checks, and ongoing professional dialogue to fine tune individualised learner supports and learning.

• A succinct and clear vision for the school’s learners across sites enables staff to engage in ongoing critical reflection into effective teaching and learning.
• Individual learning plans are co-constructed with the learner, their whānau, local school, and a range of other agencies, to support engagement in learning, capture learner interest and next learning steps.
• Staff are developing a shared understanding of culturally responsive and relational practices in mātauranga Māori; this remains a key ongoing staff development priority for the school.
• The Ministry of Education appointed school Board is reflective of the wider school community and has a clear focus on positive outcomes for all learners.

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

• Leaders develop a digital schoolwide tracking system and processes to analyse, monitor and report on the school’s valued learner outcomes and monitor learner’s progress, achievement and engagement.
• Leaders and teachers provide support for learners whose first learning language is te reo Māori.
• Leaders and teachers redesign individual learning plan to ensure its usefulness for a wider range of purposes and audiences, including making learner views visible in the document. 

Actions to bring about improvement 

Within six months:

• leaders decide what forms of data will be included in the tracking system, and work with internal and external expertise to identify and meet the needs of the learner within this system
• leaders establish schoolwide systems and resourcing so that learners can continue to learn through the medium of te reo Māori
• leaders and teachers collect feedback from key stakeholders about the usefulness of the design of the individual learning plan including ways to strengthening the response to student views

Annually:

• evaluate the effectiveness of a trial of the new tracking system and refine as required to further meet needs of learners in multiple complex contexts
• leaders evaluate established support school systems for teaching and learning programmes for learners whose first language is te reo Māori
• leaders review and evaluate the new individual learning plan to ensure it is fit for purpose, includes learner views and is useful for multiple stakeholders.

Expected outcomes 

• A schoolwide tracking system and process that analyses, monitors and reports on the school’s valued learner outcomes including progress, achievement and engagement in education.
• Provision of teaching and learning programmes for learners whose first learning language is te reo Māori.
• Adaptive individual learning plans support each learner’s success by sharing progress and responding to learner’s views about their learning.

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

12 December 2025