Waipu School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 17 months of the Education Review Office and Waipu 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 

Waipu School is in Whangārei, Northland and caters for learners in Years 1-6. Waipu School’s vision is ‘to be a learning community, where ākonga will be happy, successful, life-long learners who are connected, confident and engaged’. Waipu School partners with the Bream Bay Kāhui Ako. The school’s Māori and Scottish heritage are features of the school community and local region.

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

• provide strong foundations to enable students to be learners for life
• build a positive and inclusive school culture which is embraced by all
• build purposeful partnerships that support learning.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well the learning environment promotes and enables learner agency.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• well-managed learning environments to support learner engagement, agency, excellence and equity is a school goal
• professional learning with a focus on teaching practice that enables learner-led learning, a ‘can-do’ attitude and a sense of wellbeing
• parents, whānau and teachers can work together with learners to identify their strengths, learning needs and set goals.

The school expects to see engaged learners who have equitable access to learning, where they can talk about and plan their own learning progress.  All stakeholders will have a shared understanding of learner agency.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how well the learning environment promotes and enables learner agency:

• an inclusive learning environment where effective teaching practices support the progress and achievement of all learners
• a strong local curriculum that is responsive to learner language, culture and identity
• leadership that drives positive change and supports teachers to deepen their understanding of effective and equitable teaching and learning
• stewardship that acts strategically to strengthen and improve progress and achievement for all learners.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise continued:

• internal evaluation processes and practices that inform decision making, including the use of stakeholder voice
• teacher inquiry into strategies and tools that monitor and assess learner progress and achievement, including learner agency
• access to current and newly resourced technology where learners, teachers, parents and whānau share understandings of learner agency.

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

8 August 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