Portland School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background 

This Profile Report was written within 11 months of the Education Review Office and Portland 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 

Portland School, near Whangārei, provides education for ākonga in Years 1 to 6. Most ākonga identify as Māori and whakapapa to Ngāpuhi. 

The school values of ‘Pono - I am Trustworthy, Kaitiaki - I am a Guardian, Manaaki - I Uplift the Mana of Others and Kawenga - I Am the Best I Can Be’ serve to empower ākonga as lifelong learners with a deep connection to the environment. 

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

• Wellbeing - Hauora: To empower all learners to recognise, and understand the need for continuous personal growth in an inclusive and nurturing manner 
• School Culture - Ahurea: Focus on approaches that promote an inclusive, positive, culturally responsive environment that is conducive to learning and engagement 
• Curriculum and Evaluation - Marautanga me Arotakenga: Review and sustain effective learning programmes and initiatives through authentic localised curriculum with meaningful experiences. 

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how a culturally responsive and inclusive local curriculum can engage and inspire ākonga.  

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is: 

• ensuring the school curriculum is culturally responsive 
• improving student achievement for all ākonga through engaging and adaptive teaching and learning practices 
• creating opportunities where ākonga can lead their own learning through following their interests 
• strengthening learning-focused partnerships with whānau to improve progress and achievement of all tamariki. 

The school expects to see: 

• ākonga who are self-motivated learners and empowered for success 
• ākonga who are engaging in a local curriculum that provides meaningful learning experiences and builds on their progress 
• staff who use teaching and learning approaches that improve student achievement especially for those learners at risk of not achieving 
• a community and whānau who have a strong sense of connection to the school through learning-focused partnerships. 

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how a culturally responsive and inclusive local curriculum can engage and inspire ākonga. 

• A well-established school culture that promotes a sense of belonging through strong connections between the school, whānau, community. 
• Staff, whānau, and ākonga that value high expectations for teaching, learning and behaviour. 
• Positive and useful support accessed with the wider community including local hapū to improve learner outcomes. 

Where to next? 

Moving forward, the school will prioritise continuing to: 

• develop and implement bi-cultural concepts, te ao Māori, across the curriculum to enhance contexts for learning 
• supporting leaders, staff and ākonga to learn, grow and use te reo Māori as part of the school’s everyday language 
• make greater use of evaluation processes to improve curriculum development and school initiatives.  

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 

​​30 April 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 

Portland School is part of the Ngā Kura mo te ako o Whangarei Kāhui Ako.