Arohena School

School Evaluation Report 

Tēnā koutou e mau manawa rahi ki te kaupapa e aro ake nei, ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa. Mā wai rā e kawe, mā tātau katoa. 

We acknowledge the collective effort, responsibility and commitment by all to ensure that the child remains at the heart of the matter. 

Context  

​​Arohena School​ is located in a rural community of Waikato and provides education for students in Years 1-8. Since the previous report of June 2022 there have been significant staffing changes. A new principal was appointed towards the end of 2023. Board members have remained consistent in their roles.  Arohena’s vision for learners is to make learning memorable. The school’s PRIDE values focus on developing students to have perseverance, respect, innovation, drive and empathy.  

There are three parts to this report. 

Part A: A summary of the findings from the most recent Education Review Office (ERO) report and/or subsequent evaluation.  

Part B: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings.  

Part C: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.  

Part A: Previous Improvement Goals  

Expected Improvements and Findings  

Since the previous ERO report of June 2022, ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate how well the school’s local curriculum is enabling equitable outcomes for all learners, with a specific focus on student achievement, engagement and wellbeing. 

The school expected to see: 

Further actions implemented to enable students to have effective, sufficient, and equitable opportunities to learn and succeed through a responsive school curriculum. 

• An increased focus on building resilience has enabled high levels of wellbeing for students. 
• An ongoing commitment to engaging with parents, whānau and the Māori community to gather views and aspirations for students’ learning, supports the development of the localised curriculum. 

Part B: Current State  

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement. 

Learner Success and Wellbeing  

• The majority of all students achieve at the expected curriculum levels in literacy; half achieve in mathematics. 
• Significant disparity in the achievement of Māori students is evident in reading, writing and mathematics compared with their non-Māori peers; boys achieve at significantly lower levels than girls in literacy. 
• Wellbeing data shows that most students have a strong sense of belonging, positive relationships with teachers and feel safe at school. 
• Students with additional needs are well supported and make appropriate progress in relation to their learning goals. 
• Attendance is well below the Ministry of Education target; improving rates of regular attendance for the majority of students is an urgent priority for the school. 

Conditions to support learner success 

• The principal and board work collaboratively to identify and respond to the needs of the learners and community. 
• Strategic professional development opportunities are being prioritised to support teachers and strengthen assessment capability. 
• Connection with the local community, Māori and Ngā Uri o Raukawa enriches learning in language culture and identity for students. 

• Clear identification of students at-risk of not achieving and individualised planning support home and school learning partnerships. 
• Positive relationships between teachers and students promote calm and orderly classroom environments. 
• Opportunities for students to make some decisions in their own learning contribute to positive levels of engagement and behaviour. 

• Leaders and teachers have developed an assessment schedule to ensure consistency of practice and reliability of data. 
• Analysis and reporting of school-wide achievement enables the board to make informed decisions for resourcing equitable opportunities for students to learn and succeed. 

Part C: Where to next?  

The agreed next steps for the school are to:  

• further engage with parents and whānau to implement effective strategies to increase rates of regular attendance and improve learning outcomes 
• develop effective analysis of school achievement data to inform targeted planning for learners and raise achievement, especially in mathematics  
• build collective teaching capability to accelerate learning, respond effectively to the needs of Māori students and boys and increase equitable outcomes in their achievement. 

The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows. 

Within three months: 

• set clear targets and actions for improvement in attendance and achievement 
• strengthen assessment practices and extend data literacy skills to analyse rates of student progress 
• review and strengthen teacher planning to respond to the ongoing needs of Māori students and boys 

Every six months: 

• monitor the rates of student attendance, progress, and achievement to inform further planning and action 
• review and develop explicit teaching strategies to support accelerated learning, especially in mathematics 

Annually: 

• evaluate the effectiveness of actions to raise achievement and attendance to inform next steps for improvement. 

Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in: 

• increased rates of regular student attendance 
• improved overall levels of mathematics achievement 
• effective use of student progress and achievement data to support differentiated planning and teaching, and internal evaluation for continuous improvement in equitable learner outcomes, particularly for Māori students and boys. 

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Evaluation Report and is due within three years. 

Me mahi tahi tonu tātau, kia whai oranga a tātau tamariki 
Let’s continue to work together for the greater good of all children 

Shelley Booysen 
Director of Schools 

​​29 July 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