Central Regional 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 three regional health schools during the second half of 2025.

About the school

Central Regional Health School is one of three regional health schools that provides support for students from Years 1 to 14 with high health needs. The school is governed by a Ministry of Education appointed school board. Students are dual enrolled at a regional 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 have high mental health needs.

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

The central office is in central Wellington. The school encompasses a geographic area across the lower North Island from Whanganui, Manawatū, Hawke’s Bay and the greater Wellington region. There are 13 regional sites and three national units.

Central Regional Health School provides education for learners at Epuni (Care & Protection, Lower Hutt, operated by Oranga Tamariki | Ministry for Children), and Te Whare o Rangituhi (Adolescent Mental Health, Porirua, operated by Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora) and Te Au Rere a te Tonga (Youth Justice, Palmerston North, operated by Oranga Tamariki | Ministry for Children).

During 2024, Central Regional Health School supported 900 students of whom 73% identify as New Zealand European /Pākehā and 15% identify as Māori. The average length of enrolment is 29 weeks with students spending between one week to a year on the school roll.

Since 2023 the school has appointed a new principal and school leaders. The school has undergone significant restructuring of school leadership roles, responsibilities and portfolios.

The school vision of ‘Working in partnership and through innovation we enrich hauora, embrace diversity, and inspire quality continuous individualised learning: Awhi mai, awhi atu – tautoko mai, tautoko atu’ underpins all school operations.

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.

• Learners benefit from strong pastoral and wraparound specialist care that supports their engagement and wellbeing; building meaningful relationships is prioritised to promote a positive culture for learning.
• Learners actively participate in decisions about their learning goals which are very well supported by staff who know each student well.
• Individual student education plans are used well to track students' engagement and progress. The school is in the early stages of developing reliable schoolwide assessment systems to measure, track and report on individual progress and achievement, including trends and patterns.
• Leaders and teachers work collaboratively with key social and health agencies to closely monitor and respond to each learner with a focus on establishing readiness for returning to school or accessing future vocational pathways.

Conditions to support learner success

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

• The recently established school leadership structure has increased expectations for collective staff ownership and accountability for improving outcomes of all learners across all settings.
• Leaders continue to refine annual implementation planning, strategic goals and links to school structures to strengthen the impact for students.
• Leaders and teachers foster partnerships with other external providers to strengthen transitions and expand opportunities to promote learner’s success and wellbeing.

• Teaching and learning programmes are purposeful and responsive to learners; students take ownership and monitor achieving their individual learning goals.
• Teachers demonstrate an understanding of how best to meet individual learner needs through personalised support, direct instruction, and adaptive teaching strategies.
• The integration of te ao Māori continues to develop as teachers work to provide more culturally relevant teaching and learning programmes.
• Staff participate in targeted schoolwide professional learning that builds on their strengths as a basis for improving teaching and values outcomes of all learners.

• Significant ongoing changes in school leadership processes and practices continue to drive the strategic directions to improve learner outcomes across the school’s settings.
• Individual learning plans are developed with the learner, whānau and a range of other providers to support engagement in learning, capture learner interest and identify next learning goals.
• A schoolwide internal evaluation framework is in the early stages of development; this should support innovation, increase staff accountability and measure the impact of actions on improving outcomes.
• The board makes key strategic decisions focused on supporting students’ wellbeing, progress and engagement in education; improving the timeliness and depth of school policy review is a next step.

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

• Review individual plans to ensure schoolwide consistency and they meet the needs of all learners and audiences.
• Use a centralised digitised system for measuring and reporting on progress, achievement and engagement information, so that leadership analysis of schoolwide trends and patterns can track and monitor to improve outcomes for all learners.
• Continue building leadership capability to sustain ongoing improvements that effectively respond to changing educational priorities, as well as the increasingly complex health and learning needs of students.
• Ensure robust policy and procedures reviews are up to date and respond to changing requirements.

Actions to bring about improvement

Within three months:

• leaders develop a schoolwide system to gather and use data to inform decision-making, track progress and achievement, including teaching and learning programme trends, and learner transitions to schools and future vocational pathways
• the school Board and leaders ensure all key school policies particularly for health and safety are up to date and reflect good practice

Within six months:

• leaders and teachers use a variety of methods to collect and analyse feedback from a range of voices to see if individual learning plans are still fit for purpose
• leaders identify the requirements for the digitised system to ensure that schoolwide trends and patterns can be analysed
• leaders further develop plans for ongoing leadership succession and capability building to maintain momentum
• the school Board and leaders review all outdated policies and procedures and updated as required to reflect legal requirements and best practice

Annually:

• teachers review individual learning plans to ensure usefulness in meeting the needs of all leaners and audiences
• leaders review the effectiveness of the digitised system to ensure it meets the school’s requirements
• the school Board and leaders evaluate the impact of leadership initiatives on student outcomes and school culture
• the school Board include procedures into the review schedule to ensure legal requirements and best practices are being met.

Expected outcomes

• Robust individual learning plans meet the needs of all leaners and audiences.
• A centralised digitised system that effectively tracks and monitors schoolwide trends and patterns to improve outcomes for all learners.
• Leadership directly contributing to critical evaluation insights into what is working, for whom, and under what conditions are required to enhance individual student wellbeing, engagement, and achievement.
• School policies and procedures are up-to-date and meet legal requirements and supported by robust school systems and processes for implementation.

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