Taihape Area School

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 

Taihape Area School provides schooling for students in Years 1 to 13. The school vision is ’Step forward together to nurture our potential’ is underpinned by school values of Rangatiratanga, Manaakitanga, Whanaungatanga and Wairuatanga. The school roll is 247 students, 58% of students identify as Māori, 34% as New Zealand European/Pākehā, 5% have Pacific heritage and 3% are from other ethnic groups.

The school has a appointed an experienced principal who had been acting in the role for most of 2024. A Limited Statutory Manager (LSM) was appointed in September 2023 to support board operations in employment, curriculum management, teaching and assessment, property management, communications and finance. The LSM completed their work with the school Board in October 2025.

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.

• A large majority of students in Years 1 to 8 achieve at expected levels reading, writing and mathematics; strategies to accelerate students’ progress are developing.
• Recently implemented strategies contributed to more students experiencing accelerated progress in literacy and mathematics; increasing equity in boys and Māori outcomes remains an ongoing focus.
• National Certificates in Educational Achievement (NCEA) in Level 2 rose in 2024 but declined for Levels 1 and 3 with less students meeting NCEA literacy and numeracy requirements; lifting senior students’ success in NCEA and University Entrance are key next steps.
• Regular attendance has recently improved from just over a third to over 50%, including a marked reduction in chronic absences; more targeted planning and actions will be required to meet the Government’s 80% target for 2030.

Conditions to support learner success

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

• Strategic leadership focuses on improving student access to quality teaching and lifting outcomes; building schoolwide professional leadership capability, including middle leadership, is an ongoing priority.
• Higher and clearer schoolwide expectations for effective teaching practice are beginning; continuing to develop high quality teaching programmes and practices and high expectations for student achievement schoolwide remains a priority including success for learners involved in learning support programmes.
• Well-paced change management processes contribute to a share sense of professional purpose from increased relational trust; staff, parents, whānau and student views are beginning to guide schoolwide developments.

• Structured literacy and mathematics programmes support students’ purposeful engagement in learning in the primary area; more focused strategies for the middle and senior school students are in the initial stages of redevelopment.
• Teachers are improving their use of assessment information to better plan and target their practices; schoolwide analysis, evaluation and reporting of progress and achievement is an ongoing next step.
• Student views, teacher and whānau voice are in the early stages of informing the redevelopment of the school curriculum framework based on te ao Māori principles and local iwi knowledge.
• Teachers and staff are involved in better targeted professional development and teacher learning groups; peer support practices include specific feedback to improve teaching practices.

• Student leadership structures are growing; increasing students' ability to self-manage and understand their learning is an area for further development in the school curriculum.
• Partnerships with parents are strengthening through better communication, a whānau group and more avenues for sharing information that supports students’ learning.
• A sustained relationship with Mōkai Patea, a coalition of local iwi, contributes to an increased understanding of the importance of mana whenua as a basis for improving Māori student success.
• Board membership has stabilised; strengthening their collective focus on school improvement by monitoring the impact of the strategic plan in lifting student achievement and outcomes is a key next step.

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 

• Strengthen annual planning for improvement with specific actions that focus on measurable learning and wellbeing outcomes including ongoing monitoring and reporting of the impact on students and what needs to happen next.
• Develop a culturally responsive school curriculum framework that increases high quality teaching practices and use of assessment with high expectations for all students to experience success.
• Build professional leadership and staff capabilities through specific measures and actions within the professional growth cycle, including access to relevant professional learning and development.
• Strengthen attendance planning and supporting actions to increase regular attendance and reduce chronic absences.

Actions to bring about improvement 

Within three months:

• develop a more detailed annual implementation plan with specific actions for each term matched to measurable learner outcomes and staff accountabilities; actions include responses to the results from a student and staff wellbeing survey
• extend the curriculum framework, including improved use of progress and achievement data to better target teaching programmes for Years 1 to 13
• focus on building a professional school culture that supports schoolwide leadership for high quality of teaching and learning through clear accountabilities and expectations for teachers and leaders
• regular and chronic attendance reporting to show progress and reset actions for the next term

Every six months:

• monitor and report to the board on the impact of the annual plan and reset specific actions to increase progress and achievement
• review and report on ongoing curriculum and staff professional development and their impact on progress and achievement
• review and report on progress in building a positive school culture, including using a wellbeing survey to measure this
• review and report on the progress in lifting regular attendance and identify specific strategies that increased attendance and engagement in learning

Annually:

• review the impact of the annual plan improvement targets on students’ progress, achievement and survey measures of their wellbeing
• review and continue to develop the school’s curriculum, including assessment strategies and expectations for effective teaching for Years 1 to 13, including vocational pathway success
• report on the impact of professional development on improving teaching practices and learning support, particularly in literacy and mathematics for Years 1 to 10 and NCEA results
• annual review of attendance planning and its impact on key groups of learners that needed targeted attention to improve their regular attendance. 

Expected outcomes 

• Increased student progress, achievement and wellbeing driven through strengthened annual planning.
• A culturally responsive curriculum framework that supports high quality teaching schoolwide and high expectations for student’ learning opportunities and programmes that improve outcomes.
• Improved professional leadership and staff capabilities schoolwide.
• Increased regular attendance and reduced chronic absences.

Recommendation to the Ministry of Education 

Taihape Area School have made improvements to student attendance, accelerated progress in literacy and numeracy and the foundational school conditions that support success. As a next step to bring about sustained improvement ERO recommends that the Secretary for Education consider providing specialist help listed in section 171(1)b of the Education and Training Act 2020 in order to bring about the following improvements: 

• annual planning with specific outcomes measures, actions and accountabilities for leaders and staff including ongoing monitoring, evaluation and reporting of progress each term
• set up systems to maintain health and safety systems for managing hazards, analysis and reporting of trends and patterns of accidents and completion of regular trial evacuations
• support for property developments for the planned rebuild of the school premises
• attendance planning to further sustain the recent lift in regular attendance.

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 

19 November 2025