Northland 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 

Northland College is located in Kaikohe, Northland and provides education for learners in Years 9 to 13. Most students are of Māori heritage and predominantly whakapapa to local hapū and Ngāpuhi iwi. The school’s values are Mana Tangata, Aroha, Whanaungatanga, and Kawenga Ako. Hiwa-i-te Rangi teen parent unit provides education for youth aged parents.

Since the last review, the school has worked with a Ministry of Education Student Achievement Function practitioner to progress their Change and Implementation plan. 

There are three parts to this report.

Part A: A summary of the findings from the most recent Education Review Office (ERO) report and/or subsequent evaluation. 

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

Part A: Previous Improvement Goals

Since the October 2023 ERO report, the school’s priority has been working to improve attendance, engagement and achievement. Strengthening schoolwide leadership was also a priority highlighted at that time.

Expected Improvements and Findings 

The school expected to see:

• a positive learning climate for students and staff
• improved attendance, progress, achievement, and the retention of senior students
• curriculum leaders, including the Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO), monitoring, and reporting to the board in relation to strategic priorities and annual improvement targets
• a curriculum that engages learners in high interest and meaningful programmes that encourage students to lead their own learning
• student and teacher voice regularly collected to make ongoing adjustments to improvement initiatives.

The school has made limited progress against these priorities. 

Part B: Current State 

ERO undertook a full onsite review of the school in late April 2025. The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.

Learner Success and Wellbeing

The school urgently needs to improve student progress and achievement. 

• Less than half of students achieve NCEA Level 1, a small majority achieve Level 2 and very few students achieve Level 3 or University Entrance (UE).
• Few students in Year 9 and 10 are at expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Very few students attend school regularly.

Conditions to support learner success

Strengthening leadership of learning is a key priority. 

• Leaders are yet to put in place the organisational conditions necessary to support strategic improvement, strengthen key areas and improve student outcomes.
• Leaders recognise the need to foster a culture of:
  • high quality teaching to support improved learner outcomes and engagement in learning
  • high expectations to support students’ success, raise attendance and achievement and students access to meaningful pathways.

Teaching quality is variable. The school is in the early stages of providing consistent, high quality teaching practices and a coherent curriculum.

• Leaders and teachers are at the early stages of:
  • collecting and using reliable achievement data to know about the strengths and needs of their learners and adjusting teaching practices to cater for these
  • using a range of evidence-based strategies to engage students in learning
  • delivering a coordinated and cohesive curriculum that emphasises the foundational skills of literacy and mathematics.
• Impacts from a focus on staff developing positive and mutually respectful relationships in the classroom are increasingly evident; the majority of students experience settled environments that support learning. 

School conditions require improvement. 

• The school is taking steps to provide an inclusive environment; the next step is to better identify, track and monitor of students with additional learning needs, to enable the provision of high-quality learning support.
• Leaders and teachers are beginning to communicate regularly with whānau; they continue to strengthen this engagement to support whānau to know about their children's learning, achievement, and engagement at school.
• Leaders and teachers are developing practices to better promote learners’ confidence in their identity, language and culture to improve engagement, retention and attendance.  

Part C: Where to next?

Next Steps

The school needs to act immediately to: 

• strengthen strategic and action and implementation planning to deliberately include:
  • setting and 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
• improve regular attendance and reduce chronic absence levels
• improve teaching practices, assessment and support systems to raise achievement, engagement and retention
• use reliable achievement data to monitor and track the impact of initiatives on student outcomes, monitor and report progress against school and government priorities
• strengthen leadership capability to bring about improvement, achieve strategic goals and targets and ensure the school is meeting its legislative requirements for health and safety.

Priority actions for the school’s planning and timeframes are as follows.

Within three months:

• develop a clear action and implementation plan to address identified areas for improvement
• develop a schoolwide system for collecting, analysing and reporting reliable student attendance, engagement, progress and achievement data
• identify leadership development needs to build capability to deliver on improvement plans, aligned with strategic and government targets
• review and refine teaching practices, school-wide assessment approaches, and support systems to ensure consistency and effectiveness
• review and update health and safety practices to manage risks and maintain compliance

Within six months:

• 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’ and levels of attendance and engagement in learning
• quality teaching, effective assessment practices and student support systems that raise learner outcomes
• strengthened leadership with a clear understanding of progress, informed decision-making, and continuous improvement toward achieving strategic goals. 

Recommendation

That the Minister consider intervention under section 171 of the Education and Training Act 2020 to bring about the following improvements: 

• leadership of learning and curriculum
• attendance, engagement, achievement and retention
• strategic and annual planning for improvement
• employment and health and safety.

ERO will revisit the school early 2026 to assess progress towards improvement goals and report to the school community within the next 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 (Acting)

16 July 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