Primary#

Excellence in Raising Student Achievement#

Manurewa School

Manurewa Intermediate School clearly measures its impact, empowering students to understand their data and track their own progress. Through a highly transparent, data-driven approach, the school uses insights across learning, wellbeing, and attendance to inform decisions, strengthen teaching practice, and ensure every learner is supported to succeed.

Excellence in Student Engagement and Attendance#

Kaihere School

Primary U1-3

Kaihere School demonstrates the power of deeply committed, community-centred leadership, creating a place where students feel valued, whānau feel connected, and attendance has risen from 13% to 71%. Through strong relationships, clear purpose, and consistent use of data, the school has become a vibrant hub at the heart of its community.

Kaiti School

Primary U4

Kaiti School has been recognised for its culturally grounded, community-led approach, shifting from a deficit model to one built on the strengths of iwi and whānau. Through distributed leadership, targeted use of data, and a strong focus on identity, belonging, and whakapapa, the school has built a deeply connected community with shared responsibility for student success.

Runner up

Rāroa Intermediate School 

Rāroa Intermediate has taken a thoughtful, research-informed approach, recognising that the challenges they face are not unique, and that they must build their own systems to respond. Through a strong focus on adolescent development, collaboration, and continuous improvement, the school is creating responsive systems that meet the needs of every learner.

Iqra School

Drawing on the strengths of its special character and culture, Iqra School has built an attendance strategy that truly reflects and works for its community. With clear expectations and strong partnerships with parents, the school has created a values-driven approach that is shifting attitudes and strengthening engagement.

Excellence in Quality Teaching and Instruction#

Sommerville School

“Growing great people equals great outcomes for our learners.” Sommerville School brings this to life through a cohesive, system-wide approach, aligning recruitment, leadership development, and professional learning to ensure consistent, high-quality teaching across all campuses. With strong gains in structured literacy and a clear focus on staff growth and retention, the school demonstrates the power of investing in people to deliver outstanding outcomes for students.

Excellence in Educational Leadership#

Goodwood School

A lighthouse school for structured literacy, with low variance and high engagement. Leaders place themselves first as learners, taking a strategic and thoughtful approach to change.

Runner up

Manurewa Intermediate

Individually, many of the leadership team aspire to principalship, but collectively they are committed to being the best leadership team they can be — like the All Blacks, focused on leaving the jersey in a better place. This is reflected in their highly effective, distributed leadership model, strong focus on equity and capability building, and a cohesive, forward-thinking culture where data is used strategically and high expectations drive success for both staff and students.

Gulf Harbour School

Gulf Harbour School has shown a strong and deliberate commitment to supporting diverse learner needs, particularly through initiatives like the STRIVE centre, with a clear focus on wellbeing and inclusion. Their approach reflects a focus on “holding the line and not getting distracted by shiny things,” as they respond to immediate challenges while continuing to build toward stronger, future-focused leadership impact. 

Commendations

Bayswater

A commendation is awarded to Bayswater School for the establishment of Te Rerenga Wai | The Connecting Waters, a bilingual learning space launched in 2023.

Mairangi School

Mairangi School received more community nominations than any other school. The school was recognised with a commendation for their focus on student engagement and attendance. The school has strong links to Iwi, and they successfully use their garden and quiet spaces, alongside sport and cultural activities to actively engage their students.

Rotokawa School

A commendation is awarded for the strategic integration of Artificial Intelligence alongside the development of a sequenced Local Curriculum to address inconsistency in teaching and learning across the school.

Secondary#

Excellence in Raising Student Achievement#

Auckland Grammar

Auckland Grammar School demonstrated a disciplined, evidence-based approach to improvement, achieving sustained gains over time while effectively addressing equity and access challenges, and bringing both students and the wider community along on the journey.

Long Bay College

Long Bay College presents a highly professional and research-informed approach, with a clear focus on reducing variability in teaching practice and embedding consistent, high-quality approaches across the school.

Rutherford College

Rutherford College has driven meaningful improvement by strengthening teaching practice through data-informed insights, with a notable shift in staff mindset that has increased confidence, collaboration, and optimism across the school.

Excellence in Student Engagement and Attendance#

Maniatoto Area School

Maniatoto Area School has achieved significant gains through a highly collaborative and community-driven approach, where students, whānau, staff, and leadership are collectively invested, and where data-informed, locally tailored initiatives are making a tangible difference.

Nelson College for Girls

Nelson College for Girls has made strong progress by embedding a whole-school approach to attendance, centred on knowing each learner, empowering staff, and actively engaging the wider community to support sustained improvement.

Excellence in Quality Teaching and Instruction#

Avondale College

Avondale College has developed an innovative and highly structured professional learning model, combining staff voice, evidence, and evaluation to create a consistent, scalable approach to improving teaching practice across a large and complex workforce.

Runner up

Long Bay College

Long Bay College shows strength in building a cohesive and reflective teaching culture, with clearly defined frameworks supporting consistent practice, leadership alignment, and ongoing professional growth across the staff.

Albany Junior High School

Albany Junior High School demonstrates a well-coordinated and research-based approach to teaching improvement, with structured literacy and community engagement at the centre of a coherent strategy to address achievement challenges.

Excellence in Educational Leadership#

Westlake Girls' High School

Westlake Girls' stands out for its deliberate and well-executed focus on developing the whole learner, delivering strong academic outcomes alongside building confidence, leadership capability, and personal responsibility in students, all underpinned by clear, cohesive leadership. 

Runner up

Nelson College for Girls

Nelson College for Girls shows a clear and authentic commitment to improvement, with a strong focus on learning support as a driver for student success, reflecting a leadership team deeply motivated to lift outcomes and continue building capability.

Rolleston College

Rolleston College demonstrates intentional and forward-thinking leadership, successfully building a unified school culture across a dual-campus model, creating a strong sense of belonging, pride, and connection for students despite the complexity of multiple sites.

Commendations

Christchurch North

Christchurch North College is driving an innovative shift by redefining attendance as a wellbeing and recovery process, focusing on root causes rather than compliance.

Ōpunake High School

Ōpunake High School demonstrates a deeply relational and strengths-based approach, focusing on positive engagement with students and whānau and actively working to reconnect learners by ‘loving them back to learning.’