Bishop Edward Gaines Catholic School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 6 months of the Education Review Office and Bishop Edward Gaines Catholic 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 

Bishop Edward Gaines Catholic School is a small school located in the South Waikato town of Tokoroa, within the boundaries of Ngāti Raukawa. It caters for students in Years 1 to 8. A first-time principal is in the first year of her role. The school operates under a shared stewardship arrangement with another Catholic school in a nearby township.

Bishop Edward Gaines Catholic School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• to implement principles of learner agency to accelerate achievement across the curriculum

• to show Faith in action

• to use data and learner agency to inform and improve teaching practice and student learning across the curriculum.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Bishop Edward Gaines Catholic School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well assessment data is used by the board, leaders, teachers and students.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• Improve students’ ability to take responsibility for their own learning

• increase the progress and achievement of students who are at risk of under-achieving.

The school expects to see systems and processes strengthened for: improved board targets and tracking and monitoring of student progress; and a greater school wide focus on those students whose progress needs to be accelerated.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to improve the use of assessment information:

• a positive and inclusive culture for learning

• a strong and vibrant Catholic character

• a rich curriculum which provides a wide range of opportunities for children to experience success.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• clarifying school wide achievement expectations in literacy and mathematics

• reviewing the school’s learning progressions framework, ensuring learner have cohesive learning pathways in literacy and mathematics.

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

13 June 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