Waterlea Public School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 8 months of the Education Review Office and Waterlea Public 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

Waterlea Public School in Māngere Bridge, caters for children from Years 1 to 6. The school’s vision is for great learning to happen at Waterlea through connecting to the community, culture, the world and the future. The MANA values, Manaakitanga, Aumangea, Ngākau Pono and Ako underpin all learning.

Waterlea Public School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• Deliver success for all students by creating an engaging and integrated local curriculum to improve student outcomes.
• Nurture productive community partnerships to enhance learning.
• Create a vibrant environment where great learning happens.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well collaborative, consistent teaching and learning practices, focussed explicitly on developing literacy and numeracy capability, impact positively on learner outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to review and explore how well:

• learning progressions are providing explicit expectations and processes that the school wants to evaluate in terms of learner outcomes 
• equity outcomes for ākonga learning needs are met through regular tracking and monitoring for accelerated achievement
• literacy and numeracy applications are taught in authentic contexts through school wide inquiry foci
• ākonga learning needs drive school wide innovation
• explicit and precision teaching and learning practices embedded and sustained to meet individual needs.

The school expects to see:

• ākonga relationships underpinned by culturally responsive teaching and the school’s MANA values
• targeted teaching and learning for ākonga who require accelerated progress
• an ongoing focus on excellent and equitable learning outcomes supporting all ākonga to achieve success in who they are
• consistent strength-based teaching and learning processes and practices
• whānau aspirations for their tamariki continue to guide school strategic direction.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate how well collaborative, consistent teaching and learning practices provide quality learning and learner outcomes:

• student voice embedded into school wide literacy programmes ākonga can express their opinions in critical and creative ways
• teachers committed to developing the school’s MANA values and building understanding for what that looks like for their learners
• informed leadership supports effective knowledgeable teachers and quality teaching a supportive community.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• a localised curriculum that supports ākonga knowing and valuing their place, identity, and culture
• nurturing the leadership in classrooms to further support growing school- wide leading capacity 
• furthering teacher’s knowledge around responsive pedagogy and the importance of cultural relationship development 
• continuing to grow teacher capability in analysing their assessment for learning practices 
• teachers collaborative sharing of practice and the development of coaching capability to support colleagues
• keep progressing and strengthening community, whānau and iwi partnerships.

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

22 January 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