Coastal Taranaki 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

Coastal Taranaki School is a rural co-educational area school located in Ōkato, Taranaki. The school has a provides education for students from Years 1 to 13 and has a role of 322. 78% of students are Pākehā | New Zealand European and 21% are Māori. The school’s vision is mā te whānau te tamaiti e puawai (through collaboration our learners will thrive).

A new principal was appointed in Term 4 2023. Currently, the school is led by an acting principal. A Limited Statutory Manager (LSM) was appointed in April 2025 to support the School Board with employment, curriculum, including teaching and assessment, communications and policies and procedures.

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

Improvement and Progress

This section is about the progress the school has made since May 2023 ERO report. It includes an explanation of the expected improvements and findings.

The school have been working to evaluate how effectively the school is improving learner outcomes through the school’s teaching and learning approach of learn, create, share (Manaiakalani).

Expected improvements

The school expected to see an improvement in achievement, especially for learners not yet at expected levels, and improve engagement and attendance. They also focused on refining teaching practices to better support each student.

Findings

The school has made progress. The majority of students from Years 1 to 10 meet expectations in reading, writing, and maths. The school identifies and supports those who are not yet meeting expectation. Reading and writing results are equitable across all groups, but some students still do not achieve as well others in mathematics.

Teachers know their students well students and use assessment data and structured approaches to support learning. Although all teachers are trained in the school's teaching approach, additional support is needed to better address complex learning and behavioural needs.

Student progress is shared with families through meetings, reports, and online learning platforms. The community is reengaging in school events, helping everyone connect and understand learning better.

Attendance rates remain below the Government’s target of 80% attendance. The school plans to improve this with a new attendance strategy. Currently, the school does not formally track student engagement but plans to start doing so.

Other Findings

The school found that continuing to improve school leadership is fundamental to embedding and sustaining new ways of teaching and learning and raising student outcomes.

The greatest shift is having useful schoolwide data with agreed measures that show progress made by groups of learners in the foundation areas of literacy and mathematics.

What we know about learner success

This is a summary of learner success, which guides the School Board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings.

Less than a third 

Less than half 

Small majority 

Large majority 

Most 

Almost all 

0 to 33%

34 to 49%

50 to 65%

65 to 79%

80 to 90%

Over 90%

Learner success and wellbeing

This section provides a summary of learner success and wellbeing. 

The school is working towards improved outcomes for learners.

• The majority of learners in Years 1 to 10 achieve in reading, writing and mathematics. Progress information shows that acceleration of learning is evident for some year groups.
• Equity for groups of learners in Years 1 to 10 is evident in literacy, while disparity for mathematics remains.
• Less than half of students achieved National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 1, most achieved Level 2 and a small majority achieved Level 3 Iin 2024. Disparity exists for groups of learners at Level 3, University Entrance and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
• At the time of the review, wellbeing information had not yet been collected and analysed, and behaviour information was no longer regularly analysed to inform responses that support learner engagement. A ‘behaviour coordinator’ has since been appointed to analyse and inform responses to behaviour information.
• Attendance is behind the Government target of 80% regular attendance. An attendance plan has been implemented to support more strategic responses to improve attendance.

Conditions to support learner success

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

The school needs stable leadership to drive sustainable improvements, secure effective systems and processes and to support high quality teaching and learning.

• Acting senior leaders are focused on day-to-day operations and are establishing clearer expectations for learning and behaviour.
• Clarity of roles and stable and consistent leadership is needed. Support networks to sustain leadership will be a key next step.

Initiatives in teaching and learning approaches benefit learners.

• The schoolwide approach of ‘learn, create, share’ is evident in planning and helps learners to make their learning more visible to whānau.
• Learners benefit from structured approaches to teaching and learning. Teachers in Years 1 to 8 are working towards more coverage and consistency of approaches to literacy and mathematics.
• An increasing focus on foundational literacy and mathematics for NCEA is evident in the senior school curriculum.

A shared school and community vision for education.

• Community consultation is required to re-establish a shared vision for education and to rebuild trust. Shared goals need to be visible in the school’s strategic and annual plan with easy-to-understand reporting that shows progress against priorities for learners.
• Governance systems and processes need strengthening. The Board have sought external support to help with their governance role and policies.

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 actions for improvement.

Key Priorities

• Appoint senior leaders and other leadership positions.
• Provide professional development for teachers to help them to respond to more complex learning and behaviour needs.
• Collect and use information gathered through community consultations to inform strategic planning and curriculum decisions.
• Review and strengthen systems and processes used for governance and management.
• Systematically gather engagement and wellbeing information to inform curriculum design.
• Implement an attendance plan to improve regular attendance at school.

Actions to bring about improvement

Within three months:

• the School Board recruit for leadership positions with external support
• the School Board and leaders and prioritise, review and implement strengthened governance and management systems and processes
• leaders and the Board implement an attendance plan that shows deliberate steps to be taken to reduce absences and share this with the school’s community

Within six months:

• the Board secures leadership appointments and roles are clearly defined
• the Board ensures community consultation is well planned and ready to be undertaken
• leaders secure professional development for teachers to respond to learners with complex needs
• leaders collect and analyse wellbeing information to inform decision making

Every six months:

• leaders and teachers collect and analyse attendance, wellbeing, achievement, engagement, retention and behaviour information across the school and report to the Board to inform decision making

Annually:

• the Board and leaders consult with the community to inform strategic and annual plans
• the Board and leaders share attendance, wellbeing, achievement, engagement, retention and behaviour information with the community using accessible formats to clearly show progress and what further responses the school needs to take.

Expected outcomes

• Stable leadership and a shared vision of success for learners that is embraced across the school and community.
• Improved attendance, achievement, engagement and retention for learners.
• Improved partnerships for learning with whānau and the community.
• Cohesive systems and processes that support quality teaching and learning.

The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Evaluation Report and is due within 4 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 

15 September 2025