Silverdale Normal School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Silverdale Normal 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 

Silverdale Normal School is located in Hamilton and provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. The school roll includes a range of diverse cultures from the local community. The school has a long association with the University of Waikato in supporting initial teacher education. Specialist satellite classes of Patricia Avenue School are located onsite.

Silverdale Normal School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• to ensure that all students are successful and develop their potential
• to build a strong school culture of community, belonging and partnership
• to implement a rich, responsive, authentic localised curriculum.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively school processes and practices are contributing to improving equitable outcomes for all learners and raising overall levels of achievement. Strengthening culturally responsive practices and increasing rates of attendance are ongoing priorities for the school.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• the opportunity it provides to respond increasingly effectively to school data, to enable equitable outcomes for identified groups of students and raise achievement particularly in writing
• the school’s commitment to improving rates of attendance to minimise barriers to learning
• the strategic focus on embedding effective culturally responsive practices consistently across the school.

The school expects to see increased attendance and success for all learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to improve equitable outcomes for all learners:

• leadership that promotes an inclusive school whānau contributing to a sense of belonging and positive culture for learning
• teaching and learning programmes and practices that identify and support the individual and diverse needs of all students
• positive relationships and communication with parents and whānau that foster quality partnerships for learning.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• extending the analysis of student achievement data to support evidence-based evaluation and further inform targeted action for continuous improvement
• continuing to strengthen collective capability to address the needs of all learners and enable accelerated learning outcomes, with a specific focus in writing
• further engaging with parents, whānau and the community to support student learning and implement effective strategies to increase rates of attendance.

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

12 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