Leamington School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 22 months of the Education Review Office and Leamington 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 

Leamington School, located in the Waikato township of Cambridge, within the boundaries of Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, has students in Years 1 to 6. An established senior leadership team continues in its role.

Leamington School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• increasing teacher capability by:

• increasing the ways teachers promote emotional intelligence and capability for each child

• strengthening the teaching of writing

• strengthening the use of documented school-wide practice expectations

• strengthening partnerships with parents.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of implementing the Aotearoa / New Zealand Histories curriculum and further embedding te ao Māori in all aspects of the school.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that:

• if all students better understand Aotearoa / New Zealand’s diverse history, stronger Tiriti based partnerships will be promoted

• research indicates that strengthening the cultural responsiveness of teaching and learning promotes more positive outcomes for all students.

The school expects to see greater levels of belonging, attendance, engagement and achievement for Māori students.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its evaluation of the impact of culturally responsive approaches:

• consistency of differentiated classroom programmes that allows teachers to respond effectively to students’ individual learning needs

• robust systems and processes to track and monitor student progress and respond effectively to their identified needs

• a well demonstrated commitment to addressing within-school equity issues through a more culturally responsive approach.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• identifying, in collaboration with the community, and facilitating opportunities for Māori students to enhance and deepen their understanding of their identity as Māori

• constructing a set of impact measures in relation to belonging, attendance, engagement and academic achievement.

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

19 July 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

This school is a signatory to the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students, 2019.