Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls 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 

Te kura pi’opatanga o w’akaa’urangi, Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls, is located in the South Taranaki township of Stratford. The school is a state integrated Anglican school that caters for girls from years 9 to 13. The acting principal was appointed permanently to the position from the beginning of 2021.

Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls’ strategic priorities for improving outcomes for ākonga are:

• offering a 21st century education for 21st century leaders

• growing global citizens who are connected to Te Ao Māori through Te Tiriti o Waitangi

• cultivating student’s connection with all sectors of their community, encouraging them to actively seek opportunities to serve, lead, collaborate and learn

• embracing opportunities to challenge, nurture and empower every student at Taranaki Diocesan to embrace the Christian faith and be confident, resilient, and aspirational.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls’ website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively a 21^st century education is enacted through the junior curriculum to ensure it is meeting the needs of ākonga.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• to ensure that the junior curriculum remains strongly connected to the Christian faith and supports ākonga to become confident citizens in Aotearoa and beyond.

The school expects to see:

• a culturally responsive junior curriculum that deliberately builds the necessary competencies for living and learning in 21st century Aotearoa

• teaching and learning more deliberately designed and collectively enacted so that teachers carefully facilitate ākonga to confidently lead their own learning

• ākonga showing sustained or improved levels of achievement, engagement, attendance, and wellbeing.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to evaluate how effectively a 21^st century education is enacted through the junior curriculum to ensure it is meeting the needs of ākonga:

• an inclusive and supportive school culture and environment that is underpinned by its special character

• ākonga and kaiako who enjoy and respond positively to the relational culture of the school

• kaiako who have experience in catering for diverse needs within the classroom

• kaiako, leaders and board who are committed to enacting their strategic direction.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• developing and using a plan of action to guide and support this work

• seeking a wide range of voice, including ākonga and whānau to inquire into what a 21st century education could look like at Taranaki Diocesan School for Girls

• further building teacher capacity using appropriate expertise from internal and external sources

• creating and implementing a cohesive, culturally responsive, and broad junior curriculum that meets the needs of their 21st century 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

1 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