Ahuroa School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background

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

Ahuroa School is a small rural school situated in the Makarau area southwest of Warkworth, Auckland. It caters for local children in years 1 to year 8. A new principal was appointed in 2022. The school vision: E Tiputahi Ana Tatou, together we grow, underpins the work of the school.

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

• Enabling each student to achieve their full potential by providing learning programmes that allow for the development of the whole child.
• Providing a safe supportive and enjoyable environment.
• Developing meaningful and effective relationships with our community.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic plans on Ahuroa School’s website. 

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively teaching staff use formative practice to improve outcomes for all learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is for teachers: 

• to use consistent approaches to teaching and learning across the school
• to strengthen their inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning 
• and students to have greater ownership of their learning.

The school expects to see:

• students who can speak confidently about their learning, achievement and know their next learning steps
• teachers who know their students and are providing targeted learning programmes for all students
• a school board who will monitor, scrutinise achievement reports and respond appropriately to improve positive outcomes for all learners. 

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how effectively teachers use formative practice to improve outcomes for all learners:

• the highly supportive school and local community
• staff committed to raising learning outcomes for all students
• engaged students who enjoy school life.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise: 

• governance training for the new school board
• professional learning that strengthens formative practice for teachers
• opportunities for staff to grow their leadership capabilities and capacity
• establishing with staff what the common practice model, professional standards for teaching and the New Zealand Curriculum look like at Ahuroa school.

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

21 November 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