Waingaro School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 7 months of the Education Review Office and Waingaro 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

Waingaro School is in a rural location in the northwest Waikato and provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. The school promotes the values of co-operation, respect, fair play, resilience, humour and perseverance through the ‘Waingaro Way’.

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

• for the majority of students, including Māori, to be at/above their age/level in the core areas of reading writing and mathematics

• to continue to integrate te reo, matauranga Māori and Aotearoa histories across the curriculum, utilising the expertise and contacts of whānau in building relationships with local marae

• for students who require additional support to receive it.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the curriculum and planning are supporting learners to progress and achieve across the curriculum.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• to inform next steps for the learners

• to support the school’s implementation of New Zealand Curriculum changes

• the evaluation aligns with the strategic direction of the school.

The school expects to see:

• collaborative and reflective planning and design of teaching and learning to support all learners

• improved confidence of teachers in curriculum planning, design and implementation, evidenced by levels of students’ progress and achievement across curriculum areas.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to improve student outcomes.

• Collective teacher knowledge and experience that is open to ongoing learning and improving student outcomes.

• Student focused leadership that demonstrates a commitment to students learning at their own pace according to their needs.

• Established partnerships within the community to support teaching and learning opportunities.

• A sense of community and student belonging and connection to the school.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• collaborative curriculum planning, design and implementation to meet students’ needs and further embed New Zealand Curriculum changes into teaching and learning programmes

• ongoing internal evaluation to build on teacher strengths and capability, and to better understand what is working and for who.

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

16 August 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