Vardon School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Vardon 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 

Vardon School is located in the Hamilton suburb of St Andrews, within the boundaries of Ngāti Hauā. It caters for students in Years 1 to 6. The established leadership team continues in the role. A new board has recently been elected.

Vardon School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• develop culturally responsive learners who live our vision and values by supporting Māori students to succeed as Māori
• enhance and extend the professional capabilities of our staff by developing teacher leadership capabilities
• continue to strengthen effective learning for our students by embedding the localised curriculum.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent to which new approaches to the teaching of literacy are embedded in classroom programmes to improve outcomes for all.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• to continue to develop evidence-based practice to accelerate student progress and raise achievement for all students
• to improve the consistency of teaching and learning practice across the school.

The school expects to see a greater number of students making accelerated progress in literacy, especially those at risk of underachieving.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support this evaluation:

• the collation and use of assessment data to identify those students who are at risk of underachieving and their specific learning needs
• a robust curriculum that provides clear expectations and support for teacher practice
• a positive and caring culture for learning.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• ensuring that all teachers follow the scope and sequence of the new literacy framework
• adapting the school’s assessment systems to new literacy expectations.

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

19 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