Netherton School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background

This Profile Report was written within nine months of the Education Review Office and Netherton 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 

Netherton School, located in the Hauraki District near the town of Paeroa, provides education for students in Years 0 – 8. The school values, Resilience, Excellence, Self-awareness, Persistence, Empathy, Courage and Thinking, support students to ‘Take Pride’ and underpin the vision of ‘growing and empowering our future’.

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

• promote the wellbeing of all our students and staff across the school
• strengthen whānau and community partnerships
• build the capacity of our students to own and be responsible for their own learning
• grow teacher capability as part of their professional development.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent to which a localised curriculum is aligned with whānau aspirations and is supporting students to engage and succeed.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is the need to:

• continue to pursue an environment in which Māori leaners can thrive 
• explore the impact of improvements on targeted students over time 
• ensure that the ongoing development of the curriculum reflects community aspiration.

The school expects to see students engaging and succeeding as a result of:

• a varied and engaging localised curriculum that:
  • is centred on the values co-constructed with the school community
  • is linked to the whenua, prioritises te ao Māori and promotes student confidence in their language, culture and identity
  • applies a trauma-informed understanding of wellbeing to support resilience, optimism and engagement
• whānau being supported to engage with, understand and shape the ongoing development of the localised curriculum.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to ensure all students engage and succeed:

• leadership that maintains a culture of professional knowledge building, drives continuous improvement and fosters innovation
• consistently effective teaching practices that are regularly adapted to pursue equity and excellence
• a culture of inclusion underpinned by a commitment to meeting learners’ individual social, emotional and learning needs.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise: 

• continuing to develop and enact a curriculum that aligns with the school values, prioritises te ao Māori and reflects the context of the school
• applying understandings from trauma-informed professional learning in the development of a framework for consistent, schoolwide practices in wellbeing
• developing systems and practices for deliberate and regular partnership with whānau.

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

7 February 2024 

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