Review 27 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
Haast School is a Years 1 to 8 school situated on the edge of a world heritage site. The school’s current roll is 9, with 45% Māori and 55% European | Pākehā learners. The school draws its learners from Haast township and the surrounding district. It has a strong community focus and uses its unique natural environment to enhance learning.
Part A: Parent Summary
Progress since the November 2023 ERO report
ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate the impact of developing the school as a community of learners in order to enhance each child’s progress and achievement.
The school expected to see:
- a strengthening of the school’s capacity to support student wellbeing and learning
- gains in children’s personal growth to build confidence and make progress in their learning
- an increase in the role of student feedback in learning.
During the course of the evaluation, students benefitted from developing self-management and independence, as well as collaborating effectively with others in learning tasks. Students were more able to articulate what the school’s values of curiosity, determination, respect and integrity looked like when exemplified by them both in the classroom and in school events.
Teachers have been more explicit about learning intentions, ensuring that all students understand what progress and success looks like for them as individual learners. Students’ learning successes and their reflections on their learning have been increasingly highlighted and shared with whānau, resulting in a growth in learners’ confidence.
How well placed is the school to promote educational success and wellbeing?
| How well are learners succeeding? | Improvements are required to ensure all learners are engaged, making sufficient progress and achieving well. |
| What is the quality of teaching and learning? | The school is improving teaching and learning. |
| How well does the school curriculum respond to all learners needs? | Learners have rich opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the curriculum. There is an increasingly consistent focus on supporting learners to gain foundational 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? | The school is establishing planning and conditions that support improvements in the quality of education for learners. |
| How well does the school include all learners and promote their engagement and wellbeing? | The school successfully 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 | A small majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are becoming more equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Writing | Less than half of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are becoming more equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Mathematics | Less than half of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are becoming more equitable for all groups of learners. |
Attendance
The school is behind the target of 80% regular attendance.
The school has a suitable plan in place to improve attendance.
Regular attendance is not yet improving towards or beyond the target.
Chronic absence is 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 to some extent extended achievement and progress for learners working at or above curriculum levels since the previous review.
The school is not 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.
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
- Staff foster a supportive and inclusive school culture.
- Learners benefit from a rich curriculum centred on the local environment.
- The school is increasingly building a community of learners, where students effectively support each other in their learning activities.
- The school is committed to strengthening connections with whānau, as well as within and beyond its community.
Key priorities and actions for improvement
The agreed next steps for the school are to:
- improve levels of progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics for all learners, with a particular focus on accelerated progress for target learners not yet meeting curriculum expectations or making sufficient progress
- continue to improve regular attendance for all learners to meet Government targets.
The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.
Within three months:
- closely and regularly monitor the progress of all learners in reading, writing and mathematics, and particularly that of individual target learners; implement interventions to accelerate their progress
- integrate reading, writing and mathematics learning across the full weekly teaching and learning programme to offer increased opportunities to accelerate progress
- implement strategies in partnership with the school community to encourage and sustain regular attendance
Every six months:
- review and refine approaches used to develop all learners’ reading, writing and mathematics to align with learner needs and support the implementation of actions for continued progress
- monitor the impact of strategies used to improve regular attendance
Annually:
- evaluate reading, writing and mathematics progress and achievement data, using trends identified to inform strategic priorities and annual planning
- evaluate patterns in attendance for all learners; use this information to identify next steps to continue to increase regular rates of attendance.
Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:
- more learners achieving at or above expected curriculum levels in literacy and mathematics, including improvements in progress for target learners
- improved rates of regular attendance.
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
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 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)
27 May 2025
Education Counts
This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home