Best primary schools in Otago & Southland
157 primary schools ranked by the SchoolsNearMe composite — a 5-axis score (academic, outcomes, retention, wellbeing, trajectory) compared against EQI-band peers. Methodology.
Data refreshed from Education Counts 2026-05-27. Schools without enough data to score on the composite are omitted from this page but still appear in the directory.
- View profile →
96
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory100ERO review89 - 2Halfmoon Bay School
Half Moon Bay · Full Primary · 42 students · EQI 450–474
View profile →94
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory100ERO review86 - View profile →
93
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory100ERO review83 - 4Five Forks School
Waitaki · Full Primary · 62 students · EQI 420–449
View profile →93
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory100ERO review83 - View profile →
91
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory100ERO review77 - View profile →
91
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory100ERO review78 - View profile →
91
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory100ERO review77 - View profile →
91
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory100ERO review77 - View profile →
90
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory100ERO review76 - View profile →
90
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory100ERO review76
View the remaining 147 ranked primary schools in Otago & Southland
- 89
- 88
- 88
- 88
- 87
- 87
- 87
- 87
- 85
- 84
- 84
- 84
- 83
- 82
- 81
- 81
- 80
- 80
- 80
- 80
- 80
- 79
- 79
- 79
- 79
- 79
- 79
- 78
- 78
- 77
- 77
- 77
- 77
- 77
- 77
- 77
- 76
- 76
- 76
- 76
- 76
- 76
- 76
- 76
- 75
- 75
- 75
- 75
- 74
- 74
- 74
- 74
- 73
- 73
- 73
- 73
- 73
- 73
- 72
- 72
- 71
- 71
- 70
- 70
- 70
- 70
- 70
- 70
- 70
- 69
- 69
- 69
- 68
- 68
- 67
- 67
- 67
- 67
- 67
- 66
- 66
- 65
- 65
- 65
- 65
- 65
- 64
- 64
- 64
- 63
- 63
- 63
- 62
- 62
- 61
- 60
- 60
- 59
- 59
- 58
- 58
- 58
- 57
- 56
- 55
- 55
- 54
- 53
- 52
- 52
- 51
- 49
- 49
- 48
- 48
- 48
- 47
- 46
- 45
- 44
- 44
- 44
- 44
- 44
- 43
- 43
- 43
- 43
- 42
- 42
- 42
- 41
- 41
- 41
- 40
- 40
- 39
- 38
- 37
- 37
- 36
- 35
- 34
- 33
- 32
- 31
- 22
About this ranking
SchoolsNearMe's composite combines five axes — academic achievement, post-school destinations, Y9→Y13 retention, wellbeing (low stand-down rate), and roll trajectory — into a single 0–100 score. The math compares each school against its EQI-band peers (12 bands covering NZ's socio-economic spread), so a school serving more disadvantaged students isn't unfairly penalised against schools serving the most-advantaged.
Schools below 30 students aren't given a rollup score (per-axis data is still on each profile). Schools without composite-eligible data don't appear on this page.
Source data: Education Counts (NCEA, retention, destinations, discipline, funding) · Ministry of Education (roll, EQI, identity).