Awatapu College

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within fifteen months of the Education Review Office and Awatapu College 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 

Awatapu College is a co-educational secondary school for students from Years 9 to 15. The college is located in the Riverdale area of Palmerston North. The college ‘challenges students to achieve personal excellence, develop a sense of self-worth, and become motivated and responsible global citizens’. It includes a significant resource for learners with additional needs, the Awatapu Special Needs Department.

Awatapu College’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• Have high aspirations for every learner/ākonga, and support these by partnering with their whānau and communities to design and deliver education that responds to their needs, and sustains their identities, languages and cultures.
• Ensure every learner/ākonga gains sound foundation skills, including language, literacy and numeracy.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how curriculum innovation and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can enhance outcomes for learners across a range of measures.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to: 

• provide equitable learning opportunities for all learners
• provide ongoing professional development to improve teacher practice and pedagogy
• increase engagement and attendance.

The school expects to see:

• improved attendance, engagement, achievement and retention of students through a curriculum that is relevant and accessible, and in which learners can see themselves reflected in what they are learning
• ākonga deeply engaged in the process of learning, experiencing success through equitable access to learning opportunities and tools, and supports to demonstrate their learning in ways that work for them
• improved equity and excellence of learner outcomes 
• knowledgeable and responsive teachers who value and understand learner variability.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to develop school wide coherence in teaching practices that are inclusive of all learners and result in success across and within a range of achievement indicators.

• A robust professional growth process in Manaaki Ki Te Tangata that supports building capacity and capability for teachers in culturally responsive and relational pedagogy.
• A programme of teacher professional development to promote culturally responsive practices working in a UDL approach to support the school to implement Te Mātaiaho | the refreshed NZ curriculum.
• Teachers are involved in a meaningful process of appraisal and review process, which involves ongoing reflection grounded in an effective teacher profile. 

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• working with leaders of learning to identify opportunities for the curriculum to draw on and make connections with the local area
• strengthening school systems and processes for a quality assurance and review framework to structure ongoing evaluation of the impact of curriculum changes on learner achievement
• consolidating and embedding classroom practice that implements Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

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

22 March 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