Tauriko School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and Tauriko 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 

Tauriko School is located at the base of the Kaimai range on the Southern boundary of Tauranga and caters for students in Years 1 to 8. In recent years the city has grown closer to the school, a neighbouring school has been established and this has created fluctuations in the roll and the demographics of the community. The school is focused on successfully transitioning and navigating through external factors to best meet the needs of its changing community. Leadership is experienced and staffing is stable.

The school is focused on providing a rich curriculum to achieve the vision of ‘Learning, Leading and Succeeding’.

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

• to refine and further embed a local curriculum promoting learners with dispositions that enable them to think critically and problem solve collaboratively

• to focus on hauora/wellbeing, developing confidence, identity and belonging supported by learning focused partnerships with whānau

• growing teacher practice to foster innovation and collaboration.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well refinements to the local curriculum are supporting teaching and learning to enact the school vision for children to ‘Learn, Lead and Succeed’.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

The school continuously works to review and improve its curriculum and the extent to which it meets the needs of students. The school has been deliberate in ensuring equity and excellence within a bicultural context and has engaged with the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories curriculum with a focus on local history and the National Education Learning Priorities. The school has sought and been involved in innovative teacher professional learning in recent years. Priority has been given to evaluating the aspects of practice that are working best for children, in order that they are confident, curious and articulate learners. This evaluation will inform the refinement of an evidence-based curriculum, taking into account community aspirations.

The school expects to see:

• students supported to engage in challenging, purposeful learning opportunities within real life contexts

• inclusive learning environments facilitated by innovative teachers

• whānau engaged in learning focused partnerships that promote equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners

• students who have a strong sense of identity, know their strengths are confident to ‘learn, lead and succeed’.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to further refine and implement its local curriculum:

• Collective capacity to use evidence to inform ongoing improvement.

• Communication focused on learning centred, nurturing relationships among students, teachers and whānau.

• Strong systems and practices that provide individualised learning for a range of needs, within an inclusive environment.

• A responsive Hauora strategy that supports staff and students to develop life-long, positive, effective strategies for wellbeing.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• understanding which aspects of the local curriculum are most effective in promoting equitable and excellent outcomes for learners

• developing a consistent school identity that reflects co-operative, collaborative teaching and learning practice

• the refinement and embedding of the local Tauriko curriculum in collaboration with community networks.

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

23 August 2022

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