Maruawai 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.

Context

Māruawai College is a coeducational college for learners in Years 7 to 13 located in Gore. The college opened in 2024 following the merger of Gore High School and Longford Intermediate. Currently education is provided across two campuses – a Year 7 to 8 junior campus and a Year 9 to 13 senior campus.

The college aims to equip all learners for a changing world through promoting a sense of belonging and providing future-focused, connected learning. 

There are two parts to this report.

Part A: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings. 

Part B: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.

Part A: Current State

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

• Most school leavers achieve the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 2 and a majority gain Level 1, Level 3 and University Entrance (UE).
• The school has identified it needs to raise the achievement of learners in Years 7 to 10 in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Learning and engagement outcomes are not yet equitable for all groups of learners.
• A majority of learners attend school regularly but not yet at levels that meet the government’s targets; the school has strengthened systems and practices for supporting regular attendance.

Conditions to support learner success

• Staff report responsive, supportive and strengths-based leadership that encourages collaboration and innovation for improving the learning, wellbeing and engagement outcomes of all learners.
• The board and leaders engaged constructively with the school community, including local iwi Māori, to develop the vision and strategic direction of the new school.
• The board and leaders are establishing robust systems for monitoring and reporting on the school’s improvement and achievement goals and are using these increasingly well to inform strategic decisions.

• The school is in the early stages of introducing structured approaches to teaching literacy and numeracy and a more integrated, interest-based curriculum at junior levels to improve engagement and achievement levels.
• Overall learners learn in calm, orderly learning environments with clear expectations and routines and positive relationships with their teachers; a large majority of learners report feeling safe and cared about in their school.
• Strengthening the quality and consistency of teaching strategies that enable success in learning for learners with a wide range of abilities and needs is a next step.

• The board represents the school community, actively scrutinises the performance of the school, makes evidence informed decisions to support improved outcomes and has sound processes to be assured it meets its legal and regulatory obligations.
• Leaders and teachers are increasingly communicating with parents and whānau to build shared understandings of learners’ strengths and needs and to develop collaborative plans to respond to these.
• The school has appropriate policies, programmes and practices to support and promote learners’ wellbeing, inclusion, engagement and transitions into, across and beyond school.
• Leaders and teachers use evaluative evidence increasingly well to plan and implement actions for improvement and to monitor the progress and impacts of their actions.

Part B: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

• lift the achievement of Year 7 to 10 learners in literacy and numeracy through implementation of structured approaches to teaching, evidence-based interventions and rigorous planning and monitoring
• develop the college’s framework for effective teaching and use this to foster consistent, high-quality teaching with a focus on strategies that support engagement and success for diverse learners
• continue development of the college’s connected curriculum and evaluation of how well it is supporting intended outcomes for learners
• work in partnership with the school community to improve levels of regular attendance to maximise student’s success in learning.

The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.

Within six months:

• ensure explicit planning is in place and is regularly reviewed to accelerate the progress of learners receiving targeted teaching to lift their achievement in literacy and numeracy
• support the capability of teachers on the junior campus to implement structured approaches to teaching literacy and numeracy; and of senior campus staff to begin to integrate explicit literacy and numeracy instruction across the curriculum
• carry out the school’s planned internal review of the teaching of reading, writing and mathematics in Years 7 and 8 to identify strengths and areas for development
• begin the school’s planned internal review of its new Year 9 connected curriculum to know about how well it is being implemented and contributing to learner engagement and progress; particularly in literacy and numeracy
• progress development of the school’s expectations for effective teaching and begin to embed these in school systems for professional growth and school improvement monitoring and evaluation

Every six months:

• evaluate the progress of learners receiving targeted teaching to accelerate their learning in literacy and numeracy to inform teacher planning and make decisions and adaptations to learning support
• review and report on the progress and achievement of all junior learners in literacy and numeracy to identify barriers to learning and to inform targeted teacher planning
• through the school’s professional development systems, monitor the implementation of the school’s expectations for quality teaching and use this to plan relevant professional learning
• review and report on attendance and key engagement indicators to know about the effectiveness of planned strategies and school conditions for improving these

Annually:

• board and leaders evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, strategies and teaching on lifting literacy and numeracy achievement and use this to inform goals, targets, associated planning and resourcing
• board and leaders use attendance and engagement reporting to identify and promote effective strategies and practices
• leaders and teachers use the school’s evaluation of its junior curriculum to make adaptations to strengthen intended outcomes.

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

• improved attendance and engagement levels, particularly for Year 7 to 10 learners
• improved achievement in reading, writing and mathematics across Year 7 to 10 with more learners having success in the literacy and numeracy requirements for national qualifications
• teachers using a wider range of effective teaching strategies to remove barriers to learning and to support success in learning for diverse learners.

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) 

8 April 2025

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement.  educationcounts.govt.nz/home