Owairoa Primary School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within seven months of the Education Review Office and Owairoa Primary 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 

Owairoa Primary School in Howick, is a culturally diverse school, providing education for learners in Years 1 to 6. The school has a long proud history within the Howick Community. 

The school is a member of the Te Ara Bucklands Beach Kahui Ako and hosts a satellite class of Sommerville Special School.

Owairoa Primary School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are: 

• Responsive Curriculum – raising levels of achievement for all students through effective teaching and learning
• Professional Capability – through staff professional development, implement a responsive curriculum that provides inclusive and balanced educational programmes
• Community Connections – strengthening school-community relationships to support learning pathways for students.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of literacy initiatives to further support equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners. 

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• to further raise levels of achievement in literacy for all learners through effective teaching and learning
• to accelerate the progress of all learners who are working towards curriculum expectations in literacy
• through professional learning continue to implement a responsive curriculum that provides all learners with a balanced learning programme.

The school expects to see:

• excellent and equitable outcomes for all learners in literacy
• consistency of effective teaching practice in literacy across the school
• enthusiastic and engaged learners, who see themselves as confident and capable readers and writers.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate the effectiveness of literacy initiatives to further support equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners.

• effective leadership that enacts the school vision, values and strategic direction for equitable and excellent learning outcomes for all learners 
• professional learning and development programmes that build staff capability and effective teaching focused on the learning all learners
• assessment systems are used to effectively identify, monitor and report student progress and achievement
• well-resourced indoor and outdoor learning environments that support the effective delivery of the New Zealand Curriculum
• a strong sense of belonging and family ethos enhances the wellbeing of learners and staff.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise: 

• continuing to provide relevant professional learning opportunities to further enhance outcomes for all learners, particularly in literacy. 

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

9 May 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