Wairere School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

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

Wairere School is a rural school located north-east of Matamata.

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

• prioritising Mauri Ora – with the learner at the centre, providing ākonga opportunities to achieve equitable academic, cultural and wellbeing success (Cultural Relationships for Responsive Pedagogy)
• strengthening teacher capability, always striving for excellence
• enhancing and nurturing connections and relationships within our community to establish a sense of belonging with parents, whānau, mana whenua, wider community (home/school community collaborations).

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of mathematics professional learning and development in improving student outcomes and enhancing educationally powerful connections with parents and whānau.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• the analysis of student achievement data indicate historic low levels of mathematics achievement over time
• no focus on mathematics pedagogy for some time; teachers are enthusiastic to explore new strategies to improve student outcomes
• a general sense that of a lack of engagement between the school and parents and whānau; in particular learning-focused discussions.

The school expects to see improved student outcomes in mathematics, especially in Years 4 to 6, and increased engagement with parents and whānau focused on children’s learning.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to improve student outcomes in mathematics and improve parent, whānau and community engagement:

• improved internal evaluation processes to clearly identify the progress and achievement of children
• a clear focus on building teacher capability through relevant professional learning and development, to improve student outcomes and in particular mathematics achievement.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• further strengthening of teachers’ use of student achievement data to inform teacher practice to support students’ learning needs
• using the Mauri Ora framework to develop a student-centred approach for equity, excellence and sense of belonging.

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

14 June 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