Koru School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 6 months of the Education Review Office and Koru 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 

Koru School is located in Māngere, Auckland City and caters for Years 0 – 8 ākonga. The school’s vision is to develop critical thinkers; to encourage ākonga to be ambitious, creative, and curious; to promote collaboration and to foster a culture of respect, inclusiveness and belonging.

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

• Accelerated Learning

• Māori and Pacific Learners

• Special Needs

• Self-review

• Teacher development.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well the school, in partnership with whānau, meet the learning outcomes and holistic needs of all ākonga to achieve equity and excellence.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to extend:

• the school’s commitment to learner wellbeing and inclusivity

• teachers and leaders having a shared belief that every child at Koru can succeed and through teasing out data determining individual needs  

• cultural richness and ākonga diversity celebrated in the curriculum

• a continuous drive to include whānau and community in the direction of the school.

The school expects to see:

• ākonga agency explicitly evidenced in their learning

• attendance and, as a result of that, learning engagement maintained as a schoolwide focus

• teachers and leaders using data to inform explicitly, learning progress and achievement

• full effect given to Te Tiriti o Waitangi

• teachers given further opportunities through professional learning and coaching to fully develop their capabilities, knowledge and capacity to provide leadership and excellent learning outcomes.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the equity and excellence of learning and holistic outcomes for all ākonga:

• Ākonga experience belonging through an open and inclusive school culture.  

• Culturally empowered ākonga are given multiple opportunities to be successful in who they are.

• Collaboration is the essence of how the school works, to include ākonga, staff, whānau and community.

• Leadership is a team endeavour focussed on learners and their needs.

• Rich community engagement ensures whānau aspirations are valued.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• developing an holistic evaluation plan where analysed data guides the school wide internal evaluation of equity and excellence

• gathering and tracking data around the impact of school attendance and engagement on ākonga wellbeing

• reviewing opportunities to develop, enhance and sustain ākonga success in who they are - their culture, language and identity and the prior knowledge they bring to learning

• evaluating key transition points and school wide progressions in literacy and numeracy to enable teachers to further collaborate and personalise ākonga learning pathways

• Continuing to develop the school’s understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi supported by the Aotearoa, New Zealand Histories 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

12 October 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