Mimi 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

Mimi School is a small rural school. The school acknowledges Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama as mana whenua. The roll at the time of this review was 34, with approximately 30% identifying as Māori. Mimi School has two classrooms for students from Years 1 to 6. A new principal started at the beginning of 2025.

The school’s vision, ‘Learning and teaching where the country, coast and classroom meet,’ is underpinned by the key values of Ngakau mahaki (respect), Kia Maia (courage), Mana Motuhake (independence), Kia Manawanui (perseverance), and enacted through the statement, ‘Think, Ask, Do, Discover, Together’.

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 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.

Achievement in Years 0 to 8

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.

• The small majority of learners attend school regularly.
• The school is approaching the target of 80% regular attendance.
• The school is yet to have a suitable plan to improve attendance.
• Regular attendance is improving towards or beyond the target.
• Chronic absence is reducing over time. 

Assessment

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

• The school is improving its approach and the reliability of its practices to accurately 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 is developing good quality planning to increase the rate of progress for all groups of students.
• The school has to some extent 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/or pānui, tuhituhi and pāngarau 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

• Learners have a strong sense of belonging and pride in their school; learners experience a well-resourced, positive and inclusive learning environment.
• School staff work together to create a collaborative and settled learning environment; positive and mutually respectful relationships are highly visible and support leaners to seek help from others when needed.
• Experienced teachers use a range of effective teaching methods including purposeful questioning to scaffold learning; learning time is used well, and learners engage in tasks aligned to their strengths and needs.
• Learners have meaningful opportunities to learn across the curriculum with priority given to literacy and mathematics; the local curriculum reflects the values and aspirations of their community.

Key priorities

• Review and develop the literacy and mathematics programmes.
• Engage in professional development to build understanding of new national curriculum requirements.
• Evaluate schoolwide assessment systems to generate better progress and achievement information.  
• Improve regular attendance. 

Actions to bring about improvement

Within six months:

• the School Board and leaders work in partnership with the school’s community to develop and implement a plan to improve regular attendance at school
• teachers use information from professional learning to review and develop the Year 4 to Year 6 structured literacy and school mathematics programmes
• leaders develop clear, streamlined processes for reporting achievement and progress to support teaching decisions, resource allocation, and improving learning outcomes, with a focus on boys

Every six months:

• leaders collect, analyse and succinctly report achievement, progress, acceleration, wellbeing and attendance information to the School Board

Annually:

• the School Board and leaders review achievement, attendance, and wellbeing data, and report to the community through the annual report, directly aligning improvement priorities with the school's strategic goals.

Expected outcomes

• Increased levels of attendance, wellbeing, achievement, and progress for all learners.
• Progress towards strategic goals and next development steps are clearly identified and well communicated to the school community. 

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 some 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:

• A suitable risk assessment required as part of the safety checking process for new employees could not be verified as having been completed
  [Children’s (Requirements for Safety Checks of Children’s Workers) Regulations 2015, s8].

The Board has since addressed the area of non-compliance identified.

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

31 October 2025