Bankwood School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 14 months of the Education Review Office and Bankwood 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 

Bankwood is a Year 1-6 contributing school, situated in the northeast of Hamilton City. Established in 1966, it caters for a diverse community. A new principal has been recently appointed.

Bankwood School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to strengthen and grow:

• teacher capabilities and competencies
• student capabilities
• community engagement
• the school environment.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively data is being used to inform teaching and learning programmes and support student progress and achievement.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• internal systems and processes across the school are currently being reviewed

reporting of student progress and achievement to the community needs to be refined.

The school expects to see a regular cycle of data analysis being used to inform teaching and learning programmes, so that students can confidently communicate what level they are at and articulate next steps.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal of using data more effectively to plan teaching and learning programmes and improve levels of student achievement:

• well established Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) to support student wellbeing and relationships
• professional development to support teachers to improve teaching and learning practices
• teachers that are open to change to improve student outcomes.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• implementing a termly cycle of data review and analysis to inform teaching and learning programmes
• developing a common language of learning progressions, supported by suitable assessment tools
• the review of student lead conferences and the involvement of parents and whānau.

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

20 September 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