Otamarakau School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background

This Profile Report was written within 14 months of the Education Review Office and Otamarakau 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

Otamarakau School, located in the Western Bay of Plenty, provides education for students in Years 0 to 8. The whānau-focused school embraces its rural context and actively promotes its AROHA values: Awesome, Respect, Ownership, Honesty and Active Learner.

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

• Curriculum development - implement an innovative, localised curriculum that is personalised to the needs and interests of our learners
• Learning support - support and provide learning opportunities for all learners
• Cultural responsiveness - enhance all students’ sense of belonging to Ngāti Mākino and support them to become confident with te reo Māori and in te ao Māori settings
• Wellbeing - build resilience within Otamarakau School.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school’s localised curriculum is strengthening student engagement in learning, confidence in their culture, language and identity, and learning outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is the need to:

• develop a more relevant curriculum that supports students to feel confident in their language, culture and identity 
• enact responsibilities under Te Tiriti o Waitangi to support all learners to engage in the curriculum.

The school expects to see

• the development of a curriculum around contexts in which Ngāti Mākino knowledge, stories and histories are embedded, and which normalises Māori tikanga and language in everyday school life
• increased professional capability in te ao Māori and Ngāti Mākinotanga supporting the effective delivery of the localised curriculum
• increased student engagement in learning, and confidence in their language, culture and identity leading to more equitable student achievement outcomes.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to implement a localised curriculum:

• clearly articulated values which are shared with the school’s supportive, rural community
• strong ties to the Te Puke Kāhui and Ngāti Mākino
• systems and practices to ensure that students with diverse needs are well supported
• the professional capability to adapt curriculum and teaching to meet the interests and needs of learners.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• continuing to develop the localised curriculum in consultation with Ngāti Mākino and whānau
• investing in professional development opportunities to build teacher capacity in te reo, tikanga and Ngāti Mākinotanga
• evaluating and refining the curriculum in response to learner outcomes and stakeholder voice.

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