Sherwood School (Auckland)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Sherwood 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 

Sherwood School, located in Browns Bay, Auckland, provides education for children from Year 1 to 6. The school values are Hauora, Effort, Aroha, Respect and Togetherness.

Sherwood School (Auckland)’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• Assessment for Learning practices are used effectively to support improvements in learner outcomes
• teachers and learners have knowledge of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Te Ao Māori, and the other cultures within the school
• to learn about and connect with the local community through inquiry learning.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school’s policies, procedures and practices give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and support equitable outcomes through a responsive localised curriculum.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• systematic, collaborative inquiry, internal monitoring, evaluation processes and practices can effectively be used to improve the outcomes for all learners
• the school is currently supporting learners to demonstrate more agency in their learning to improve their achievement outcomes
• teachers and leaders are including a more specific focus on Māori and Pacific student learning outcomes to ensure equitable outcomes.

The school expects to see:

• strengthened systems of how the school gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi
• embedded systematic and sustained school processes and practices implementing a culturally responsive curriculum
• excellent and equitable outcomes for all learners
• developing further educational connections with whānau, family and community focused on learners’ language, culture and identity.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate how effectively it gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi through a responsive localised curriculum.

• learners’ wellbeing and safety are consistently well-promoted and sustained through learners, teachers and parents taking ownership for living the school values in the school community
• the school has high levels of professional capability and collective capacity
• the school is strengthening its use of evaluation, inquiry, and knowledge-building approaches to improve learner outcomes
• leaders and teachers have a focus on equity and excellence for all learners and in particular Māori and Pacific learners, and learners with diverse learning requirements.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• ensuring systems are in place so that all learners are consistently well supported to achieve success with a strong secure sense of their cultural identity
• seeking further input from whānau to support equitable learner outcomes
• further strengthening culturally responsive engagement with learners
• ensure all teachers are consistently using effective teaching strategies and practices in adaptive ways to achieve excellent learner outcomes and support learners to have agency in their learning.

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.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

17 February 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