Our Lady Star of the Sea School (Howick)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Our Lady Star of the Sea School (Howick) 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

Our Lady Star of the Sea School (Howick) is state integrated Catholic school catering for students in Years 1 to 6, in Howick, Auckland. Established 176 years ago, the school is connected to the parish and local community offering academic, spiritual, physical, and emotional growth opportunities for the whole child.

Our Lady Star of the Sea School (Howick)’s vision for learners is ‘Confidently living, learning and serving with Jesus as our guide’.

The strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• Growing the wellbeing of our community
• Growing our rich curriculum to ensure all learners succeed as children of God
• Growing our Catholic community to serve God’s world. 

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Our Lady Star of the Sea School (Howick)’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school works in partnership with parents and whānau, from all cultural backgrounds to further strengthen learner outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

• continue to ensure every learner feels a strong sense of belonging
• further empower every learner to be connected to their culture and identity
• further develop reciprocal learning relationships with all community members to enhance the growth of the whole child.

The school expects to see:

• a continuation of whānau engagement across a student’s learning journey that ensures every student feels connected to their culture, school and spiritual growth
• leaders and teachers continuing to utilise new insights from professional learning opportunities to further enhance student wellbeing, belonging, engagement and achievement.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal of evaluating how effectively it partners with whānau, from all cultures, to further strengthen learner outcomes:

• leadership and governance that effectively enacts the school vision, special character and strategic direction
• respectful learner centred learning environments focused on the wellbeing of all learners
• consistency of teacher practice across the school
• effective assessment processes and analysis of achievement information to inform teaching practice and learning outcomes
• well considered and robust consultation systems that support learning partnerships and engagement of whānau.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• continuing to provide relevant professional learning opportunities to further enhance outcomes for learners
• further enhancing effective learning partnerships with whānau from all cultures to continue strengthening outcomes for learners.

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