Raphael House Rudolf Steiner Area 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

Raphael House Rudolf Steiner Area School is located in the Belmont hills above Lower Hutt and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 13. The roll in 2025 was 268. 14% of students identify as Asian, 12% of students identify as Māori, and 4% are of Pacific heritage. The majority of learners are NZ European/Pakeha. As a special character school, the philosophy, curriculum, teaching approach and qualifications are underpinned by Steiner principles.

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 February 2023 ERO report. It includes an explanation of the expected improvements and findings.

Expected improvements

Raphael House Rudolf Steiner Area School evaluated how effectively the curriculum and teachers respond to individual needs.

The school expected to see increasing levels of engagement with learning at all levels and success across the holistic Steiner curriculum.

Findings

The school made sound progress towards increasing levels of learner engagement by ensuring individual needs are identified and responded to so that all students are able to access the curriculum. Senior leaders and learning support staff have put systems and processes in place to support learner engagement.

Senior leaders and teachers participate in ongoing professional learning to grow and develop their professional practices to support learner needs, wellbeing and progress.

Other findings

Leaders implemented a student management system and engaged teachers in professional learning to provide a central portal for learner data and information to be stored and accessed, resulting in teachers working together to support learner engagement, progress and achievement. 

What we know about learner success 

This section provides a summary of learner success, wellbeing and foundation school conditions, including any education in Rumaki/Reo Rua settings. The judgments are based on the ERO School Improvement Framework and evidence provided to ERO during the evaluation.

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.

Learners experience high levels of success and make excellent progress; outcomes are similar for all groups.

• Years 1 to 10 achievement information shows that almost all learners achieve at the appropriate curriculum level in mathematics, reading and writing; outcomes are similar for all groups of learners.
• Almost all senior students (Years 11 to 13) achieve the New Zealand Certificate of Steiner Education with most students gaining Highly Commended or Distinction.
• Students with additional learning needs make good progress within an inclusive learning environment and are well supported.
• The small majority of students attend school regularly and regular attendance is not yet improving. Chronic absence is reducing overtime.

Conditions to support learner success

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

School leaders establish a culture committed to high levels of learner progress and achievement. 

• Leaders maintain a strategic focus on improvement goals and targets for learners needing acceleration.
• School-wide systems support consistent curriculum and teaching practices, creating coherent and high-quality learning experiences for all learners.
• Leadership has strengthened relational trust to promote school-wide collaboration and collective responsibility for learner outcomes.
• Leaders sustain strong educationally focused relationships across the Steiner network of schools.

Learners have diverse opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the curriculum and are supported to gain sound foundational literacy and numeracy skills.

• Leadership is aligning the national and Steiner curricula to ensure it is demonstrated in teaching and learning to reflect learners’ language, identity and culture.
• Teachers create settled, respectful learning environments to effectively support students to build skills and confidence in their learning.
• Leadership is strengthening Steiner approaches to teaching and learning to support greater school-wide consistency.

School planning and conditions are well established and support ongoing improvement to the quality of education for learners.

• Professional development aligned to the school’s goals, supports teacher capability contributing to sustained learner progress and achievement.
• Learners experience a strong culture of inclusion and support for wellbeing and engagement.
• Leaders monitor and report attendance to the Board termly and have an attendance plan in place to ensure an ongoing focus on this priority area.
• Leaders are strengthening the school-wide of use evidence to evaluate the impact of strategic actions on 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. It identifies key priorities and actions for improvement.

Key priorities

• Develop the curriculum to align with the Steiner and national curriculum, reflect learner experience and enhance engagement in local contexts.
• Increase evidence-based feedback on teaching practice to provide a cohesive, high-quality teaching and learning experience for all learners.
• Increase school-wide capability for evaluation for improvement to track and monitor outcomes for all learners.
• Improve regular attendance for all learners. 

Actions to bring about improvement 

Within six months:

• leaders review and strengthen current process and practices to gather data about the quality of teaching practice and provide feedback to teachers
• school leaders monitor and evaluate the impact of attendance initiatives; make changes required to drive further improvement

Every six months:

• school leaders review progress with curriculum development, including implementation of the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum, local contexts and the Steiner curriculum
• school leaders and learning coaches gather and analyse data about the quality of teaching practice, measure improvements and use to inform professional learning priorities
• school leaders analyse achievement and attendance data for all learners to evaluate impact of interventions 

Annually:

• school leaders monitor and evaluate curriculum development, including implementation of The New Zealand Curriculum, local contexts and the Steiner curriculum and report to the Board
• school leaders and learning coaches evaluate the impact of systems implemented to grow high-quality teaching practice on improving student outcomes and report to the Board
• school leaders monitor and evaluate the impact of interventions on student outcomes and report to the Board
• school leaders monitor and evaluate the impact of attendance initiatives and report to the Board.

Expected outcomes

• An embedded curriculum that includes the national curriculum, the Steiner curriculum and enhances learner engagement in local contexts.
• Sustained excellent outcomes for all learners through consistent, responsive high-quality teaching practice aligned with Steiner principles.
• Data and evidence-based evaluation practices inform board, school and classroom decision making.
• Increased and sustained regular attendance towards the Government targets.

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

11 February 2026