Pukekohe High School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 13 months of the Education Review Office and Pukekohe High School working in Te Ara Huarau, an improvement evaluation approach used in most English Medium State and State Integrated Schools. For more information about Te Ara Huarau see ERO’s website. www.ero.govt.nz

Context

Pukekohe High School is located on the borders of South Auckland and Waikato, it provides education for students from years 9 to 13. The school promotes the values of manaakitanga, pūmautanga, arāhitanga and kotahitanga. The school is currently recruiting for a principal for 2024.

Pukekohe High School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• develop teaching capabilities to ensure that the needs of diverse learners are fully met
• enhance the ability of school leaders and staff to continuously improve and evaluate what they do as a school
• create a physical, social and emotional environment that supports innovative teaching and learning and a strong sense of wellbeing
• form meaningful and respectful partnerships with the whole community
• be an active treaty partner and example of biculturalism in the community. 

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Pukekohe High School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively professional learning is developing teachers and leaders’ capability to improve outcomes for learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to: 

• enhance strategies for effective pedagogy to improve levels of engagement and achievement for all, with a specific focus on Māori and Pacific schoolwide
• strengthen leadership capability to support and develop pedagogy across the school.

The school expects to see greater consistency of teacher practice, effective collaboration within learning teams, increased engagement and equitable achievement for all learners.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to improve student outcomes.

• A well-considered professional development plan is established, resourced by the school and board and is being enacted to support improvements in teaching capability.
• Systems and processes are in place to further support evaluation of learning programmes and outcomes.
• Consultation with whānau, hapū and iwi is in place to support ongoing partnerships in curriculum development and strategic direction of the school.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will:

• review and refine effective pedagogy framework to measure effective teaching and identify areas for further development to increase student engagement and achievement
• utilise the cycle of professional learning to provide opportunity for staff to collaborate and share shifts in practice
• continue to embed systems and processes for effective evaluation, that includes student voice, to identify what is working, for whom and next steps.

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. ERO will support the school in reporting their progress to the community. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report and is due within three years. 

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

7 March 2024 

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement.  educationcounts.govt.nz/home