Whakamarama School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

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

Whakamarama School is a small rural primary located north of Tauranga and caters for students in Years 1 to 8. The school curriculum is underpinned by the vision of ‘growing a positive learning attitude’.

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

• provide a responsive curriculum and effective teaching to raise student achievement and success for all
• develop and maintain a safe physical, emotional and quality school environment 
• foster effective partnerships within and beyond the school community to support student learning.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effective teaching and learning practices in literacy are resulting in improved outcomes for all learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is the need to:

• develop consistent and effective teaching practices as part of a whole-school approach to literacy
• build an understanding of the significant steps students take as they develop their expertise in reading and writing to ensure there are no gaps in a students’ learning.

The school expects to see:

• all students making progress towards learning at or beyond appropriate literacy curriculum levels
• accelerated progress of priority individuals and groups in literacy
• improved students’ self assessment and learning-to-learn capabilities.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to improve student progress and achievement in literacy:

• Collaborative leadership and staff who understand the need for, and are committed to, improving outcomes for all learners.
• Research-based evidence to effectively support all learners and make a bigger difference for diverse learners.
• Provision for professional learning and development, in class modelling, observation and feedback for teachers.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• setting targets to increase the number of students achieving at / above the expected New Zealand Curriculum levels for literacy
• engaging in learning conversations with the wider community that positively impact students’ learning journeys
• providing rich teaching and learning tasks, supported by the literacy learning progressions framework.

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

15 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