South New Brighton 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

South New Brighton School is a state coeducational school located in South New Brighton on the east of Christchurch. The school provides education for learners in Years 1 to 8. The school roll is 400 and 25% of learners identify as Māori.

The school’s vision of Riding the Waves Together reflects its coastal location and its student-driven focus. Its values are Caring, Connected, Courageous, Creative and Curious. 

A new deputy principal began in 2023 and a new principal in 2024, after a period with an acting principal and a Limited Statutory Manager working with the school for a year from May 2023.

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 1 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 school is behind the target of 80% regular attendance.
• The school has a suitable plan in place 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 uses an appropriate approach and reliable practices to 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

This section is about how well the school supports all learners to make sufficient progress.

• The school has good quality planning to increase the rate of progress for all groups of students.
• The school has significantly improved achievement and progress for those learners most at risk of not achieving since the previous review.
• The school has significantly 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

Strong focused leadership team committed to improving learner outcomes through:

• establishing clear and consistent systems to ensure learner progress, attendance and wellbeing are appropriately assessed, tracked, monitored and responded to
• the deliberate building of middle leadership capacity and supporting staff to have confidence in curriculum and teaching changes
• improving communications with whānau and the wider community
• building relational trust across the school by providing clarity of roles and expectations and leading a strong imperative for improvement
• establishing and implementing a structured and consistent approach to behaviour management.

Key priorities 

• Ensure consistent systems supporting the attendance, learning and wellbeing of all learners are normal practice across the school.
• Collectively explore and implement key teaching strategies across the school in order to ensure high quality teaching.
• Improve outcomes for Māori learners.
• Review the breadth and depth of the curriculum to ensure it is meeting the needs of all learners and reflects the New Zealand Curriculum requirements for careers education and a second language.
• Build the capacity of leaders and teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of systems and programmes to improve outcomes for all learners. 

Actions to bring about improvement 

Within three months:

• check with teachers how well the new tracking and data systems are working consistently across the school
• school leaders and staff to explore and identify key teaching strategies to improve outcomes for learners, in particular Māori learners
• analyse attendance and behaviour data to identify trends and patterns
• plan and begin to implement a curriculum review
• ascertain the evaluative capacity of the teachers and begin a plan to develop capacity accordingly

Every six months:

• ongoing review of systems and their efficacy in meeting the desired outcomes
• developing teacher capacity to effectively use key teaching strategies to engage learners and improve outcomes
• begin to analyse data from Curriculum review to inform improvement focused decision making
• analyse behaviour and attendance strategies for their impact 

Annually:

• evaluate school systems to ascertain how effectively they meet the needs of the school to improve outcomes
• evaluate the effectiveness of the professional learning programme
• evaluate the wellbeing outcomes for students
• evaluate effectiveness of the curriculum in engaging learners and covering all requirements
• evaluate impact of behaviour strategies and attendance initiatives over time.

Expected outcomes 

• Greater engagement and achievement through improved assessment, monitoring and teaching practices.
• Improved learner attendance and positive behaviour for learning.
• Improved outcomes for Māori learners.
• An improved capacity across the school to evaluate programmes and practices for their impact on improving outcomes. 

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 meeting regulatory and legislative requirements in the following areas:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

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

8 December 2025