Goodwood School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 4 months of the Education Review Office and Goodwood 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

Goodwood School is located in a rural setting, close to the Waikato town of Cambridge and provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. The school’s senior leadership team is unchanged since the last review. The school is a longstanding member of Te Kāhui Ako o Te Oko Horoi.

Goodwood School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• successfully implement a rich and responsive curriculum that supports and extends all students (explorers)

• sustain and enrich a trauma informed approach with a focus on Mātauranga Māori health models to support the needs of all explorers

• build upon strong existing partnerships with whānau, mana whenua and the wider community to support learning and wellbeing.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent to which a trauma informed approach is improving student learning and wellbeing outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• this is part of the strategic direction of the school

• community survey data shows the need to focus on mental health

• Mātauranga Māori models used demonstrate ongoing commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

The school expects to see an increase in students able to articulate strategies for self-regulation. A range of data will be analysed to identify the impact of trauma informed approach on student learning and wellbeing. The school also expects to see an individual and collective responsibility to embed Mātauranga Māori models into teaching and learning programmes.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to improve student learning and wellbeing outcomes.

• Ongoing commitment to culturally responsive practices to give full and systemic effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

• A collaborative and highly effective teaching team, working in a culture of inquiry and data-based decision making.

• Well established community partnerships, including with mana whenua and other schools.

• An experienced and supportive leadership team that promotes student centred decision making and a focus on learning and explorer agency.

• A welcoming and engaging learning environment where explorers feel they belong and have agency in their learning.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• unpacking Mātauranga Māori health models to plan and implement cohesive school wide practice

• utilising the strong self-review systems within the school to evaluate the impact on learning and well-being for explorers, team and community.

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

15 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