Our school has recently been reviewed by the Education Review Office (ERO). The link below will take you to our Evaluation Report (2025) and Board Assurance Report (2025).

ero.govt.nz/institution/1846/ngakuru-school 

Context 

Ngakuru School is a small rural primary school situated south of Rotorua and provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. The school values being the hub of their rural community and encourages positive community relationships and engagement. Ngakuru School’s vision, values and learner dispositions focus on students striving for personal excellence.

Current State

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

Almost all learners are achieving outcomes of equity and excellence.

• Highly positive learner outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics are sustained over time, with increased numbers of learners achieving above expected curriculum levels.

• Learners requiring additional learning assistance are well supported and consistently show progress against their goals, and improved outcomes.

• The school continues to work towards meeting the Ministry of Education attendance targets.

Conditions to support learner success

Leaders foster a collective culture focused on high quality teaching and learning.

• Leaders build and sustain trust and collaboration within the school and community to support strategic vision and positive outcomes for learners.

• Professional learning initiatives are informed by assessment data and aligned to school strategic planning that focus staff on continually improving practice for better outcomes for learners.

• Leaders and teachers have established processes and strategies to ensure collective expectations for high quality teaching and learning across the school, resulting in continued positive outcomes for learners.

Teaching is intentional and responsive to the different needs of learners.

• Teacher planning meets the needs of learners, enabling learners to confidently engage in learning, grow new knowledge and consistently progress.

• Respectful and collaborative teacher-learner relationships foster an inclusive environment that promotes student engagement in learning.

• Teachers collaboratively monitor learners’ progress and achievement to support consistent planning and high-quality teaching that is focused on next steps for learners.

The school has well established conditions that underpin school improvement.

• Positive outcomes for learner wellbeing and engagement in learning are well supported and enhanced through established programmes and processes that grow learners’ sense of belonging, resilience and skills for self-regulation.

• Student self-management of learning at school and home is enhanced through access to a digital platform that contains planning that responds to students’ interests and learning needs.

• Leaders and teachers involve parents, whānau and community in sharing aspirations for their children; this information informs school decision making to strengthen engagement and positive outcomes for learners.

• Leaders and teachers use information from a range of sources to effectively analyse and evaluate the impact of actions focused on improving outcomes for learners, and to plan for ongoing improvement.