Waihi Beach School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within eight months of the Education Review Office and Waihi Beach 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 

Waihi Beach School is located in the Western Bay of Plenty and provides education for students in Years 0–6. The school appointed a first-time principal in 2019. The vision ‘Let each star in the sky shine its own light’ is at the centre of the school’s new strategic plan and its emerging localised curriculum.

Waihi Beach School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• to create an environment where ākonga are at the centre of their learning
• to develop, grow and enhance the hauora (wellbeing) or our ākonga to navigate their world
• to create cultural sustainability through meaningful opportunities whereby Matauranga Māori is learned, experienced, demonstrated and shared within the whānau whānui (school community).

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively student achievement information is used to shape literacy teaching practices that respond to student need and drive equitable outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• an ongoing commitment to pursuing excellent and equitable outcomes for all learners, with a particular focus on Māori learners
• the need to enact the strategic focus on placing ākonga at the centre.

The school expects to see:

• collaborative inquiry practices supporting teachers to engage with student achievement information to identify learner needs
• teachers adapting their literacy teaching practices deliberately in response to student achievement information
• a clearly articulated improvement agenda and ongoing review shaping teaching practices to promote increasingly equitable and excellent outcomes.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to put ākonga at the centre of their learning:

• an inclusive learning environment built on positive, nurturing relationships
• a commitment to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi through deliberate action
• a local curriculum that increasingly affirms students’ language, culture and identity.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• establishing consistent and robust assessment, moderation and data analysis processes
• developing collaborative inquiry practices that support teachers to engage with and respond to student achievement information
• using evaluation to support ongoing refinements to teaching practices that promote more equitable learning outcomes.

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

29 November 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