Waitara High School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 20 months of the Education Review Office and Waitara High 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 

Waitara High School is a co-educational high school located in Waitara, Taranaki. It caters for learners from year 9 to 13. The school’s vision is to develop active and inspired lifelong learners who have a strong sense of belonging and belief.

Waitara High School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• to raise the attendance, engagement, and achievement of all students to attain their personal best
• to ensure Māori students can attain NCEA Level 1 Numeracy and Literacy in Year 11 and at least NCEA Level 2 overall as an exit qualification
• to ensure a culturally responsive and safe environment where all resourcing supports improved student achievement and wellbeing
• to strengthen relationships and partnerships within the school; with iwi and hapū; and in the local and wider community
• to develop excellence in teaching, leadership, management, and governance to support improved student achievement and wellbeing.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent that all learners attain their personal best.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• learners attaining their personal best is a strategic aim
• the school wants to identify and action culturally responsive and effective strategies that engage all learners to achieve their goals.

The school expects to see:

• deliberate selection and use of culturally responsive teaching strategies to engage and challenge all learners to achieve their personal best
• increased rates of attendance, engagement, wellbeing, and achievement along with increased proportions of endorsements in NCEA
• strengthened learning relationships between whānau, kaiako and ākonga to collaboratively develop clear plans that support each learner to achieve their goals.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the extent that all learners attain their personal best:

• a relational culture of trust that supports learning and is increasingly culturally responsive
• a planned approach to professional learning that uses internal and external expertise
• processes and systems that track the achievement of all learners
• school leaders who are focused on achieving excellence and equity for all by systematically identifying and mitigating barriers to learning.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• continuing to embed and sustain a culture of high expectations
• evaluating the effectiveness of culturally responsive strategies that best engage learners
• further building the capacity of ākonga, whānau and kaiako to collaboratively develop clear plans that support each learner to achieve their personal best
• ongoing identification and mitigation of barriers to learning to further ensure equitable access to learning.

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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

16 February 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