Tahuna School

School Evaluation Report

Tēnā koutou e mau manawa rahi ki te kaupapa e aro ake nei, ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa. Mā wai rā e kawe, mā tātau katoa.

We acknowledge the collective effort, responsibility and commitment by all to ensure that the child remains at the heart of the matter.

Context 

Tahuna School, situated in a small settlement north of Morrinsville, provides education for learners in Years 1 to 6. Since the previous ERO report of 2020, the board appointed a new principal. The school’s vision of ‘Learning for life’ is underpinned by their rural ‘ICARE’ values. 

There are two parts to this report.

Part A: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings. 

Part B: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle. 

Part A: Current State 

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

• Most learners achieve at or above expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics; the school is focused on improving achievement in writing. 
• Learners express a positive sense of belonging and pride in their school that supports their wellbeing and engagement with learning.  
• The large majority of students attend school regularly; the school is yet to meet the Ministry of Education’s 2024 target for regular attendance. 

Conditions to support learner success

• Leadership promotes a positive culture of shared responsibility among board and staff that extends learner wellbeing and achievement outcomes. 
• The principal actively supports teachers in their professional learning and development, strengthening their capacity to implement the school’s improvement goals. 
• Leadership and teachers implement and use effective systems for tracking and monitoring student achievement that enables all learners who need more support to achieve expected outcomes.  

• Learners benefit from purposeful learning through a meaningful curriculum that provides them with a wide range of opportunities. 
• Staff know learners well and integrate a range of responsive teaching practices that ensure learners make progress in their learning. 
• Teachers effectively use schoolwide learning progressions in reading, writing and mathematics that enables learners, their parents and whānau to know and understand progress, achievement and next steps. 

• The board and leadership take deliberate and well-considered actions that include the implementation of an aligned approach to strategic planning and schoolwide systems and processes.  
• Teachers and the principal regularly work together to inquire into their practice and evaluate the impact of actions on learner outcomes. 
• Parents and whānau, as key partners in their child’s learning, take an active role in the life of the school. 

Part B: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• continue to refresh the school’s curriculum so that local contexts and te reo Māori and mātauranga Māori continue to be effectively integrated into curriculum planning
• further develop and integrate the teaching of structured literacy approaches to raise student achievement, particularly in writing
• continue to strengthen initiatives to improve students’ regular attendance. 

The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.

Within six months:

• review the current curriculum in consultation with the school community to ensure it reflects student, teacher, parent and whānau aspirations
• review initiatives to improve students’ regular attendance.

Every six months:

• monitor progress with implementing the school’s refreshed local curriculum to identify next steps for refinement 
• continue to provide relevant professional learning opportunities that strengthen teachers’ understanding and use of structured literacy approaches 
• evaluate the impact of strategies and initiatives on student attendance to inform further actions.

Annually:

• review and report to the board on the attendance, progress and achievement of all learners, with a particular focus on writing outcomes
• evaluate progress on the implementation of the school’s local curriculum and its impact on teaching and learning programmes within the Aotearoa New Zealand context. 

Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:

• improved regular student attendance
• excellent and equitable achievement outcomes for all learners, particularly in writing
• a refreshed local curriculum that reflects the aspirations of the school’s rural community and integrates te reo Māori and mātauranga Māori within learning contexts. 

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.

Me mahi tahi tonu tātau, kia whai oranga a tātau tamariki
Let’s continue to work together for the greater good of all children

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

9 December 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