Mangakotukutuku College

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.

About the school  

Mangakōtukutuku College opened in South-West Hamilton in January 2024 and provides education for learners in Years 7 to 13.

Mangakōtukutuku College was established as part of a strategic response to educational and demographic shifts in south-west Hamilton. In late 2023, Melville High School and Melville Intermediate were closed due to declining enrolments and merged to form a single Year 7 to 13 school on the same site, led by a newly appointed leadership team and school board. Mangakōtukutuku College was established with the aim to promote resilience, cultural identity, leadership, and personal excellence for all learners. The school’s vision is Te Kura Whaikaha, and values are Whaimana, Whaiora and Whaiara.

During its first year, Mangakōtukutuku College faced significant operational challenges in staffing, leadership capability and the establishment of school systems and processes to effectively cater for the needs of its foundation students. Since 2024, establishing and maintaining a positive and safe emotional and physical climate and high quality and engaging curriculum and teaching for learners has remained a priority. 

In April 2024 the Ministry of Education appointed a Limited Statutory Manager (LSM) to work with the Mangakōtukutuku College Board in their governance function and leadership of teaching and learning. Three new deputy principals have joined the school since its opening, and a new principal started at the school in July 2025.

The school roll is 847, with 35% of learners identifying as Māori, 30% as Pākehā/NZ European, 17% Asian, 14% of Pacific heritage and 3% Middle Eastern, Latin American or African.

The school provides offsite learning opportunities for students through a partnership with Te Kōhao Health.

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, wellbeing and foundation school conditions, including any education in Rumaki/Reo Rua settings. The judgments are based on the ERO School Improvement Framework and evidence provided to ERO during the evaluation.

Learner Success and Wellbeing

This section provides a summary of learner success and wellbeing. 

• Less than half of students achieved National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) at Level 1, 2, or 3 in the school’s first year and very few students achieved University Entrance (UE).
• There is disparity for Māori students’ achievement across all outcome measures.
• The school is yet to develop a clear understanding of progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics for students in Years 7 to 10. Of the students who were assessed, less than half of the students meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.
• Less than a third of students attend school regularly and nearly half of students are chronically absent. Although attendance has slightly improved since 2024 the school must urgently take action to improve attendance. 

Conditions to support learner success

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

• The new leadership team are establishing priorities and improvement goals and updating strategic and annual plans to guide the school and support leadership growth. Leaders work together to develop their leadership capability and build effective teams across the school.
• Leaders are taking steps to strengthen the quality and consistency of teaching and learning.
• Leaders are in the early stages of providing a positive, settled school environment to maximise learning.
• Leaders are in the early stages of establishing systems and oversight for assessment, curriculum, and provision for learner support.

• Students in the senior years are provided a well-developed curriculum with different options and pathways to support their progress and achievement.
• The junior curriculum is in the early stages of being developed to provide adequate literacy and numeracy teaching for students to develop foundational skills and to support their successful progression.
• Leaders and teachers are beginning to improve student engagement and achievement by fostering positive relationships and behaviours for learning. This is supported by ongoing professional development to grow staff capacity. 

• The school is still establishing a physically and emotionally secure and inclusive environment for all learners. School systems are beginning to support students through restorative and responsive practices. Positive behaviour for learning is improving, and serious behavioural incidents have reduced noticeably. However, this remains a priority for the school.
• Teachers, leaders, and support staff are building relational trust, improving communication systems, and beginning to take collective responsibility for learner outcomes.
• Learners needing additional support are identified and some supports are in place. More tailored approaches are needed to accelerate students’ progress.
• The school should further develop a comprehensive assessment system that helps guide teaching and planning, and tracks students’ achievement to better enable staff to know how students are progressing.

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 identifies key priorities and actions for improvement.

Key priorities 

The school needs to act immediately to:

• strengthen strategic and action planning to deliberately include:
  • developing systems and processes for pursuing measurable goals and targets for student attendance, engagement, achievement, progress and retention
  • aligning and strengthening school systems, processes and organisational conditions to support these goals
  • creating a reporting framework that provides visibility about the progress being made towards goals.

This plan should include actions to:

• further implement and consistently use agreed behaviour management and restorative practice
• improve regular attendance and reduce chronic absence levels
• improve the design and delivery of the junior curriculum
• improve teaching practices, assessment and systems to raise achievement, engagement and retention
• improve assessment practices and use reliable achievement data to monitor and track the impact of initiatives on student attendance, achievement and progress
• improve learning support provision
• strengthen leadership capability to bring about improvement and achieve strategic goals and targets.

Priority actions to bring about improvement 

Within three months:

• the school Board and leaders develop a clear action plan to address identified areas for improvement
• leaders and teachers implement and consistently use agreed behaviour management and restorative practice
• leaders and teachers review current assessment practices, identify areas for improvement and adjust systems and processes as required
• leaders and teachers review the design and delivery of the junior curriculum, identifying where time and resources for literacy and numeracy programmes can be embedded
• leaders and teachers identify barriers to attendance and adjust strategies and implement the school’s attendance plan to improve attendance
• leaders, with teachers, develop a schoolwide system for collecting, analysing and reporting reliable student attendance, engagement, progress and achievement data
• identify leadership roles, lines of accountability and development needs, to build capability to deliver on improvement plans, aligned with strategic and government targets
• leaders review and establish clear expectations for teaching practices, classroom assessment approaches, and support systems to ensure consistency and effectiveness

Within six months:

• leaders work with staff to implement an improved junior curriculum, including intervention programmes in reading, writing, and mathematics
• leaders work together to ensure their roles and responsibilities are effectively implemented through consistent practices across the school
• teachers and leaders use student assessment information to monitor progress and guide teaching and learning
• leaders develop and implement a system for regularly observing teaching and learning and using feedback and support to improve teaching practice
• using reliable information, review the impact of initiatives on student attendance, engagement and achievement, report progress against school and government priorities and plan next steps.

Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in significant improvement in:

• achievement outcomes for all students
• levels of attendance and engagement in learning
• school culture, wellbeing and safety, with behaviour management practices being consistently applied
• the quality of curriculum and teaching practice, effective assessment practices and support for students with additional learning needs
• leadership, with a clear understanding of progress, informed decision-making, and continuous improvement toward achieving strategic goals.

Recommendation to the Ministry of Education 

ERO recommends that the Secretary for Education maintains the ongoing support of the Limited Statutory Manager, as outlined in section 171 of the Education and Training Act 2020, prioritising:

• strengthening leadership capability across the school
• urgent development of curriculum, quality of teaching and assessment practice.

ERO will undertake a review to monitor progress within the next year. The next public report on ERO’s website is due within 12 months.

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