Elm Park School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background

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

Elm Park school in Pakuranga, Auckland is a culturally diverse school, catering for students in years 1 to 6. A new Principal was appointed in 2022.

Elm Park School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• curriculum development – deliver a responsive curriculum that ensures all students can achieve and develop capabilities
• cultural capability and responsiveness – ensuring equity frames our learning
• leadership building – leadership capabilities to increase capacity
• wellbeing – hauora – develop lifelong skills and strategies to manage and have an awareness of self
• continuous improvement – embedding a culture of continuous improvement with robust self-review and critical evaluative thinking.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well the school responds to students needs and lifts writing progress and achievement of all students.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

• enable equitable and excellent outcomes for all students in writing 
• ensure priority learners achieve equitable outcomes in writing
• support teachers to use data effectively to plan writing programmes
• accelerate the progress and achievement of those students who are not at the expected level in writing.

The school expects to see:

• teachers responding to students’ interests, strengths and needs so that students develop positive attitudes to writing
• teachers effectively using formative assessment practices and engaging in professional growth cycles to lift student achievement in writing
• consistency of school wide teacher practise, and subsequent impacts on student progress and achievement
• school wide lifts in writing achievement and greater equity for priority learners
• accelerated progress for students working towards curriculum expectation in writing.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to meet learning needs and lift writing progress and achievement of all students.

• leadership actions that reflect commitment to the school’s strategic direction and focussed on improving equity and excellence for all students
• clear and succinct guidance from a well-developed strategic plan 
• leaders effectively monitor and analyse student achievement information 
• leaders use coaching conversations to shift classroom practice.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• effectively implementing and evaluating learning programmes that lift student achievement 
• embedding and sustaining collective capacity, capability and practice of staff through ongoing and relevant professional learning and development programmes
• further developing and strengthening learning focused partnerships with parents and whānau to strengthen the local curriculum.

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

2 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