Te Puru School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

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

Te Puru School is located in a small coastal settlement north of Thames, providing education for students in Years 1 to 8. The school incorporates their unique seaside environment into their localised curriculum.

Te Puru School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• to embrace an inclusive culture that enhances well-being and resilience

• to enrich learning experiences and outcomes for all through an authentic, localised curriculum

• to empower learners to become kaitiaki of each other, themselves and their environment.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively equitable learner outcomes continue to increase through the delivery of an authentic, culturally inclusive localised curriculum.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• the school’s commitment towards achieving equity and excellence for all

• the priority to continue developing a unique personalised learning approach through valued connections with mana whenua and the environment.

The school expects to see positive and equitable outcomes for all learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to continue enhancing a positive, inclusive learning culture for all ākonga:

• collaborative leadership that is open to change and focused on implementing consistency of practice to raise achievement across all learning areas

• caring, supportive partnerships that promote a strong sense of belonging and connection to the local iwi, community and environment

• a culturally inclusive, localised curriculum that empowers students to be kaitiaki of their coastal environment.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• embedding systems and processes to sustain the consistent delivery of the school’s holistic, place-based curriculum

• further strengthening collaborative, school-wide teaching practices to enable equitable student learning outcomes

• strengthening evaluation capability to inform planning for continuous improvement.

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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

4 April 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