Best primary schools in Palmerston North 2026
31 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 2026-07-12. Schools without enough data to score on the composite are omitted from this page but still appear in the directory.
- View profile →
82
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory63ERO review79 - View profile →
81
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory66ERO review74 - View profile →
80
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory46ERO review84 - View profile →
79
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory69ERO review68 - View profile →
78
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing72Trajectory76ERO review85 - View profile →
78
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing100Trajectory51ERO review75 - View profile →
76
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing93Trajectory41ERO review84 - View profile →
75
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing93Trajectory39ERO review82 - View profile →
73
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing82Trajectory64ERO review70 - View profile →
73
/ 100 composite
Wellbeing92Trajectory53ERO review70
View the remaining 21 ranked primary schools in Palmerston North
- 72
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- 70
- 63
- 63
- 63
- 62
- 57
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- 55
- 55
- 50
- 43
- 43
- 43
- 40
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- 33
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- 30
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).