Mt Eden Normal School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 24 months of the Education Review Office and Mt Eden Normal 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 

Mt Eden Normal School, in Auckland City, provides education for students in Years 1 to 6.

Post Covid the school’s strategic priorities were reconnecting, reengaging, and restoring. Mt Eden Normal School are in the process of consulting their school community, parents and whānau to inform their future direction and strategic planning.

Mt Eden Normal School continues to work with the University of Auckland and its initial teacher education programme.

Mt Eden Normal School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• curriculum development: building staff capacity through specialist curriculum teams and professional development

• heritage and identity: embedding local and bicultural identity through curriculum development

• outdoor space and environment: developing the school environment to promote creative play and learning.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well the school’s implementation of specialist curriculum teaching teams is supporting the learning, engagement, and equitable achievement for all learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

• support teachers to design and deliver an engaging and differentiated programme that is well informed through subject expertise

• evaluate the implementation of the Aotearoa Histories and the NZ Curriculum refresh and build internal evaluation capacity

• inform the continued development of the school localised responsive curriculum.

The school expects see a planned delivery of a local knowledge rich curriculum, including the Aotearoa Histories Curriculum. The school want to ensure their curriculum is engaging and responsive to the local community and context. The school is committed to delivering a consistent and coherent curriculum that includes a richness of experiences, high levels of engagement and enjoyment.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to:

• positive learner outcomes are well-promoted through highly effective teaching and learning strategies

• a professional staff culture with high capability and expectations for themselves and learners

• learners experience an inclusive and caring school culture that supports a sense of belonging and engagement in learning.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• the establishment of curriculum specialist teams

• the appointment of a Curriculum Lead Teacher role to work alongside the senior leadership team

• a continued focus on teacher pedagogy through targeted professional development and resourcing and the induction of new staff.

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 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

This school has links with Faculty of Education of the University of Auckland and provides student teachers with practical components of pre-service training.