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Secondary (Year 7-15) · State

Otaki College

Mill Road, Ōtaki · Wellington

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Total roll 421
EQI 495
Founded 1959
50

Composite score

Developing

C+

Below median

Rank #1,922 of scored NZ schools

In summary

Otaki College's 2023 ERO review found strong leadership and learning partnerships supporting school goals. The school has long-standing, meaningful partnerships with local iwi and education providers, and is leveraging digital progress from Covid lockdowns to embed learning platforms and technologies in teaching practices.

Best suited for

Students aged 13-18 in Ōtaki looking for a state-funded setting.

Is Otaki College a good school?

Otaki College scores 50/100 on the SchoolsNearMe composite — a weighted average of 5 axes (academic, outcomes, retention, wellbeing, trajectory). Below median nationally. The full breakdown is below; every input links to its source.

Strengths from the latest ERO report

  • A clear focus and direction for the school in which students and teachers benefit from strong leadership, learning partnerships and an ongoing commitment to responsive curriculum
  • Kotahitanga - long-standing, meaningful and innovative learning partnerships with local iwi and education providers
  • Leveraging progress made with digital equity and capability during Covid lockdowns to embed shared use of learning platforms and digital technologies in teaching and learning practices

Summary derived from ERO reports + audited financials + MoE records. Every claim links to its source — see data transparency at the bottom of this page.

Score breakdown

6 axes, each scored 0–100 on a national absolute scale. As at 2025.

How this is computed
Academic
35%
L1 86% · L2 71% · UE 32% · near band median (n=109) · why?
Mean of latest NCEA Level 1 + Level 2 + UE achievement percentage from Education Counts. Year: 2024. Peer comparison: near band median (n=109).
69
Outcomes
25%
Uni 8% · Te Pūkenga 7% · Industry 8% · near band median (n=102) · why?
Share of leavers going to a New Zealand university + Te Pūkenga + Industry Training (capped at 100%). Counts are normalised when EC publishes raw cohort sizes instead of percentages. Source: Education Counts post-school destinations. Year: 2025. Peer comparison: near band median (n=102).
23
Retention
15%
71% to Y13 · below band median (n=115) · why?
Percentage of the Y9 cohort still enrolled in Y13 (all students). Source: Education Counts retention table. Year: 2024. Peer comparison: below band median (n=115).
71
Wellbeing
12%
standdowns 45.9/1k · suspensions 6.2/1k · exclusions 2.9/1k · below band median (n=468) · why?
Composite of stand-downs, suspensions, and exclusions per 1,000 students (lower is better). Formula: standdowns/1k + 2× suspensions/1k + 5× exclusions/1k. Small primary schools with no rows score top of band ("no incidents reported"). Source: Education Counts student engagement. Year: 2024. Peer comparison: below band median (n=468).
27
Trajectory
8%
-13.6% roll over 5yr (2020→2025) · bottom quartile of band (n=469) · why?
5-year change in total roll. −20% → 0 score, 0% → 50, +20% → 100. Source: Education Counts roll history. Year: 2025. Peer comparison: bottom quartile of band (n=469).
33
ERO review
5%
81/100 from ERO review 2019-10 · above band median (n=471) · why?
Composite score from the most recent Education Review Office report (Haiku-extracted 0–100 from the published review text). For primary schools this is the heaviest axis (40%) because NCEA-style outcomes data isn't applicable. Source: ERO via Wayback archive. Year: 2019. Peer comparison: above band median (n=471).
81

⚠ Insufficient EQI-band peers (n<10) to compute per-axis percentile context. The score above is absolute; treat it as a single-school read rather than a peer comparison.

Real ERO composite (from the latest review): 81/100.

Latest ERO review

2023-01-27 · Dr Lesley Patterson, Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

ERO report
  • Strong leadership, learning partnerships and responsive curriculum support school goals
  • Long-standing, meaningful and innovative learning partnerships with local iwi and education providers
  • Digital equity and capability progress from Covid lockdowns being leveraged to embed learning platforms and digital technologies
  • Common language established to describe competencies of creativity, citizenship, critical thinking, communication, collaboration and character
"a clear focus and direction for the school in which students and teachers benefit from strong leadership, learning partnerships and an ongoing commitment to responsive curriculum"
— ERO, 2023-01-27 (leadership)

Composite score across reviews

2 ERO reviews on file, 2016–2019. Click a point to read that review.

latest 81
0 25 50 75 100 20162019 2016-10-05 · 77/100 2019-10-08 · 81/100

NCEA achievement

School leavers with NCEA at each level. National average is ~85% (Level 1).

Education Counts

NCEA Level 1 · 2024

85.5%

53 of 62 leavers

-7.5pt vs prior year

NCEA Level 2 · 2024

71.0%

44 of 62 leavers

-13.2pt vs prior year

University Entrance · 2024

32.3%

20 of 62 leavers

-13.3pt vs prior year

Data: Ministry of Education / Education Counts, CC-BY-4.0

Stay-on rate

Percentage of students who stay at school until at least their 17th birthday — the standard NZ proxy for Year-9-to-Year-13 retention.

Education Counts

71.0%

2024 cohort · 62 students

-15.0pt vs 2023

Discipline (age-standardised, per 1,000 students)

Stand-down = sent home temporarily. Suspension = formal investigation. Exclusion = removed from school. National averages shown for comparison.

Education Counts

Stand-downs · 2024

45.9

33 this year · NZ avg ~37

Suspensions · 2024

6.2

5 this year · NZ avg ~5

Exclusions · 2024

2.9

2 this year · NZ avg ~1.5

Vocational Pathway Awards

School leavers achieving Vocational Pathway Awards by industry sector (2024).

Education Counts
  • Service Industries 4
  • Manufacturing and Technology 1
  • Creative Industries 1

Government funding

Crown funding only (school operations + teacher salaries + property). Excludes locally-raised funds, international fees and trading income — those are in the audited financial report above.

Education Counts

Total Crown funding · 2022

$5.50M

Per-student funding · 2022

$13,058

2018

$5.9M

2019

$4.7M

2020

$5.2M

2021

$5.9M

2022

$5.5M

Roll by year level

July 2025 roll return.

Education Counts
  • Year 07
    57
  • Year 08
    66
  • Year 09
    68
  • Year 10
    63
  • Year 11
    66
  • Year 12
    68
  • Year 13+
    45

Roll by ethnicity

Share of total roll. Students who identify with multiple ethnicities are counted once.

Education Counts
  • European/Pākehā
    62.0%
  • Māori
    53.0%
  • Pacific
    8.3%
  • Asian
    5.5%
  • Other / MELAA
    2.9%
  • International
    0.7%

International students

SIEBA member · Day school only

ESOL support

partial

Location

Mill Road, Ōtaki. Nearby schools marked in grey.

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Frequently asked

Is Otaki College a good school?

Otaki College scores 50/100 on the SchoolsNearMe composite — a weighted average of 5 axes (academic, outcomes, retention, wellbeing, trajectory). Below median nationally. The full breakdown is below; every input links to its source.

What does the latest ERO review say?

ERO's 2023-01 review identified 4 key findings. Strong leadership, learning partnerships and responsive curriculum support school goals

How do I enrol my child at Otaki College?

Contact the school directly on 06-3648204, email office@otakicollege.school.nz, or visit www.otakicollege.school.nz. For state schools, check your home address against the school's enrolment zone — some schools are in-zone-only.

What are the fees?

Otaki College is a state school. There is no tuition fee for domestic students; voluntary donations may be requested.

What is the roll size?

Otaki College has 421 students, with an EQI of 495 (mid-range socio-economic context).

When was the school last reviewed by ERO?

The Education Review Office last reviewed Otaki College in 2023-01, signed by Dr Lesley Patterson. 5 ERO reports are on file in our archive.

Data transparency

Every fact on this page links to its source. We never publish a claim without provenance — read our methodology for the full rules.

Last updated

27 Jan 2023

Source documents

5 cited

Spot an error?

Report a correction

Sourced from

  • ero.govt.nz
  • sieba.nz
  • schoolsdata.co.nz
  • otakicollege.school.nz
  • crimestats.co.nz