Balmoral School (Auckland)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within five months of the Education Review Office and Balmoral School (Auckland) 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 

Balmoral School is a large urban school in Central Auckland. It has a primary and an intermediate campus. After a complete redevelopment, in 2022, there was a move to flexible teaching and learning spaces. 

The school is led by its vision, to value diversity and to develop curious, confident and connected learners.

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

• to provide high quality learning opportunities for success which recognises achievement in all its forms and keeps learners at the centre.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Balmoral School (Auckland)’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the literacy programme caters for the diverse needs of all learners. 

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to: 

• support all learners to make progress and achieve success by equipping them with effective literacy skills
• provide staff with opportunities to continue developing their teaching practice
• ensure processes and systems are robust and support equitable outcomes for all learners.

The school expects to see:

• teachers who consistently adjust their practice and respond to the needs of all learners
• literacy skills embedded in the school’s local curriculum
• all learners making progress and experience success over time
• equitable outcomes for all learners.

Strengths

To evaluate how effectively the literacy programme caters for the diverse needs of all learners, the school can draw from the following strengths:

• a senior leadership team focussed on the needs of all learners
• a strong sense of belonging for learners, staff and the school community
• a highly valued and well-established local curriculum where promoting critical thinking with learners is fostered
• strong partnerships with professional networks that support the school’s direction.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• targeted professional learning and development for all teachers
• monitoring the effectiveness of classroom teaching practice on outcomes for all learners
• reviewing the local curriculum to ensure that literacy skills are embedded
• an audit of oral language resources to ensure that these meet the needs of all learners.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

11 December 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

This school has Central Auckland Specialist School onsite.