Opua School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 10 months of the Education Review Office and Opua 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 

Opua School, in the Bay of Islands, Northland provides education for children from the wider local area in Years 1 to 8. The school has strong, diverse connections with the community.

Opua School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• Improving student learning and achievement.

• Improving the quality of learning experiences in Māori and for Māori.

• Focusing on improving well-being and hauora across our school community.

• Improving the school’s facilities.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school is supporting children to be connected learners active in their own learning progress.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

• strengthen engagement with our local community to support children’s sense of belonging

• support children to have a deeper knowledge and understanding of who they are and where they are culturally located

• assist children to focus, take responsibility for their learning and be risk takers.

The school expects to see:

• children who have a strong sense of who they are, engage positively and are future focused with their learning

• children who have a vigour for learning, increased confidence and are growing their resilience

• how this evaluation positively impacts on student learning, progress, and achievement.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths in its goal to evaluate how effectively it is supporting children to be connected learners active in their own learning progress:

• an informed school board who are proactive, set strategic direction and support and challenge school leaders

• an inclusive leadership team who enacts the school's vision

• a committed staff who support each child to be the best they can be.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• conducting a teacher inquiry to gauge ākonga autonomy

• building a partnership with the Ngāti Hine Education group, to better support outcomes for all ākonga

• investigating professional learning opportunities for staff that will support the growth of resilient communities.

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

19 September 2023 

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