Stella Maris Primary School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 16 months of the Education Review Office and Stella Maris 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 

Stella Maris Primary School is a state integrated Catholic primary school located in Silverdale, Auckland. It provides education for students in years 0 to 6. A new leadership team has been appointed over the past 2 years.  

The Catholic charism of the school is “Stella Maris, Star of the Sea” which guides and leads all learning, and the Marian Values underpin all teaching.   

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

• to ensure all students are actively engaged in their learning in order to make progress and achieve to their full potential
• to ensure teaching is in line with current best practise and reflective of our school values.
• to have a collaborative leadership team that communicates a clear, consistent educational vision that can deliver a supportive environment
• to provide a safe physical and emotional environment where all students, staff and other members of the school community feel valued, included and respected, regardless of their individual cultures and circumstances
• to provide opportunities for all our parents, whānau and school to actively engage in an inclusive environment.

You can find a copy of the School’s Strategic and Annual plan on Stella Maris Primary School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well schoolwide teaching and learning programmes consistently support and enhance all students’ progress and achievement, with a particular focus on literacy.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• after Covid interruptions, schoolwide data shows some cohorts of students require adaptations and targeted support in literacy programmes
• teaching and learning programmes that enable students to make choices and decisions about their learning to improve their achievement
• supporting teachers to use reliable assessment information to track, monitor and respond to students’ learning needs and progress.

The school expects schoolwide teaching and learning programmes to consistently support all students to progress and achieve in literacy, and to achieve equitable and excellent learning outcomes.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate how well ERO schoolwide teaching and learning programmes consistently support and enhance all students’ progress and achievement, with a particular focus on literacy:

• classroom learning culture characterised by respect, inclusion, empathy, collaboration and safety
• professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of all students
• staff experience in collaborative inquiry processes and professional learning opportunities align with school vision, values, goals and targets
• school and community engaged in reciprocal, learning-centred relationships.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• adapting teaching and learning programmes, and targeted support in literacy, to meet the needs of all students
• using formative teaching and learning assessment practices to develop student agency.  

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

27 July 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