Hamilton East School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within three months of the Education Review Office and Hamilton East 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 

Hamilton East School is located in the east side of the central city of Hamilton and provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. A new associate principal was appointed for 2023 to join the experienced senior leadership team. The school celebrated its 150^th anniversary in 2022 and is proud of its history and connection to Māori and the diverse multicultural community.

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

• reduce disparity of outcomes for learners

• target programmes for boys, Māori and Pasifika students

• increase engagement with whānau to further support learning and growth of children.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively school programmes and practices are improving equitable outcomes for all learners and raising achievement. Increasing rates of attendance is an ongoing priority for the school.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• the opportunity it provides to respond increasingly effectively to trends and patterns in school data to enable equity in the achievement of identified groups of students

• to support the school’s commitment to working with whānau and support agencies to minimise barriers to learning and improve attendance.

The school expects to see increased attendance, improved equitable outcomes and success for all learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to improve equitable outcomes for all learners:

• leadership that promotes an inclusive school, celebrates cultural diversity, and prioritises the holistic needs of ākonga and their whānau

• teaching and learning programmes that identify and support the individual needs of learners and contribute to a positive learning culture

• school-wide data analysis that informs decision making and targeted actions to raise achievement.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• continuing to grow and strengthen collective capability to meet the needs of all learners and support accelerated outcomes, particularly in writing

• continuing to engage with whānau to further strengthen responsive strategies that increase rates of attendance

• continuing to strengthen the use of evaluation and inquiry to sustain improvement in outcomes for all learners, with a specific focus on the achievement of boys, Māori and Pasifika ākonga.

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 October 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