Review 7 May 2025
LatestSchool 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.
About the School
Cust School is located in North Canterbury and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 8. New Zealand European/Pākehā make up the largest proportion (96%) of the schools approximately 140 learners. 11% of students identify as Māori. The school’s school vision is Be Your Best with the school values referred to as Piko’s TIPS (Think, Independent, Participate and Solve problems) sitting alongside. A new principal has recently been appointed.
Part A: Parent Summary
How well placed is the school to promote educational success and wellbeing?
| How well are learners succeeding? | The school is working towards high levels of success and progress for all learners. |
| What is the quality of teaching and learning? | Learners benefit from high quality teaching practice that improves progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics.
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| How well does the school curriculum respond to all learners needs? | Learners have sufficient opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the curriculum. There is an increasingly consistent focus on supporting learners to gain skills in literacy and mathematics. Learners with complex needs are well supported to achieve their education goals. |
| How well does school planning and conditions support ongoing improvement? | School planning and conditions to support ongoing improvement to the quality of education for learners are well established. |
| How well does the school include all learners and promote their engagement and wellbeing? | The school reasonably promotes learners’ engagement, wellbeing and inclusion. |
| How well does the school partner with parents, whānau and its community for the benefit of learners? | The school is improving its reporting to parents / whānau about their child’s learning, achievement and progress. The school is improving its collection and use of information gathered through community consultation to inform strategic planning and curriculum decisions. |
| Student Health and Safety | The school board is taking reasonable steps to ensure student health and safety. |
Achievement in Years 0 to 8
This table outlines how well students across the school meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.
Foundation Skills | |
| Reading | Most learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are not yet equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Writing | Almost all learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are not yet equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Mathematics | Almost all learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are equitable for all groups of learners. |
Attendance
The school is behind 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 not yet reducing over time.
Assessment
The school is improving its approach and the reliability of its practices to accurately find out about achievement against the curriculum.
Teachers are developing assessment information to adjust teaching practices to ensure ongoing improvement in teaching and student progress.
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 not extended achievement and progress for learners working at or above curriculum levels since the previous review.
The school is meeting Government reading, writing and mathematics targets and/or pānui, tuhituhi and pāngarau targets set for 2030.
An explanation of the terms used in the Parent Summary can be found here: Reporting | Education Review Office
Part B: Findings for the school
This section of the report provides more detail for the school to include in strategic and annual planning for ongoing improvement across the school.
Areas of Strength
School leadership has established effective systems and is strengthening relational trust and effective collaboration to support the school’s strategic goals, with high expectations for learning and behaviour.
Structured literacy and mathematics practices across the school are supported by a clear focus on high impact teaching strategies.
Schoolwide learning themes, informed by teacher and learner feedback, provide meaningful learning opportunities for curriculum integration.
Appropriate professional learning opportunities, teacher collaboration and feedback from observations build effective teaching practice.
Key priorities and actions for improvement
The agreed next steps for the school are to:
- review assessment and reporting practices to align with learning programmes
- accelerate the progress of identified groups to achieve equitable outcomes for all students
- strengthen teacher capability to integrate tikanga Māori, te reo Māori, te ao Māori and local history in school learning programmes
- develop and implement a plan to improve regular school attendance.
The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.
Within six months
- review teaching, assessment and reporting practices to align with the curriculum
- develop a plan to improve regular school attendance that includes involvement of whānau and learners
Every six months:
- track and monitor the progress of identified groups of learners to know how well achievement is being accelerated
- leadership provide staff with further opportunities to develop their confidence and capability in te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and te ao Māori to strengthen school learning programmes
- report on student attendance to the board; review the attendance plan, identify effective initiatives and plan actions for improvement for the next six months
Annually:
- analyse assessment and wellbeing data to evaluate the impact of teaching on student learning and wellbeing and make changes as necessary
- monitor and report to the board on the consistency of use of te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and te ao Māori in learning programmes school wide
- report on student attendance to the board; evaluate the effectiveness of the attendance initiatives and develop a plan for the following year.
Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:
- aligned learning programmes, assessment and reporting
- accelerated progress and achievement for identified learners and equitable outcomes for all learners
- tikanga Māori, te reo Māori and te ao Māori is used consistently and embedded throughout the school’s learning programmes
- improved rates of regular attendance which meet government targets.
Part C: Regulatory and Legislative Requirements
Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements
All schools are required to promote student health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
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 and the board have identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process:
Evidence of identity and checking and sighting original qualifications as part of workforce safety checking
[Sections 25, 26 and 27 of the Children’s Act 2014: Safety checks of children’s workers, Regulations 5 – 8 of the Children’s (Requirements for Safety Checks of Children’s Workers) Regulations 2015]
The board has since addressed the areas of non-compliance identified.
ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Evaluation Report and is due within three 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 (Acting)
7 May 2025
Education Counts
This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home