Hikuai School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 9 months of the Education Review Office and Hikuai 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 

Hikuai School is located near Pauanui on the Coromandel Peninsula and provides education for children in Years 1 to 8. The school TOTARA values underpin the vision for children to ‘strive towards my pinnacle’.

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

• raise student achievement through quality teaching both inside and outside the classroom
• create partnerships between the board of trustees, community and teachers to raise student achievement
• provide future focused learning that is accessible to all
• implement positive behaviour for learning (PB4L) schoolwide.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well learning focused partnerships and a localised curriculum are contributing to improved outcomes for learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• to continue to respond to community aspirations to strengthen a sense of identity, belonging and connection to Hikuai School and the local environment
• to continue to inform and refine aspects of the localised curriculum in partnership with the community.

The school expects to see:

• reciprocal relationships fostered between students, whānau and community organisations and learning networks
• learners experiencing a responsive, rich, broad and deeply localised curriculum supported by learning focused partnerships
• ongoing systematic evaluation processes informing continuous school improvement focused on equity and excellence for all.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goals:

• A caring and nurturing environment focused on the individual learning and wellbeing needs of all students.
• Leaders focused on ensuring ongoing organisational capacity building for continuous improvement.
• A well-resourced school that is located within a rich and diverse natural environment.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• further response to student voice and information to provide highly engaging, localised, child-centred learning opportunities
• continuing to strengthen community collaboration focused on reciprocity and the enhancement of the curriculum.

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

18 May 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