Taradale High School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Taradale High 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 

Taradale High School is located in Napier. The co-educational school provides education for ākonga from Year 9 to 13.

Taradale High School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• to further develop approaches for teaching and learning with a particular focus on the junior curriculum
• to further develop and embed the overarching value of whanaungatanga and guiding principles (manaakitanga, takakawe, waihanga, huritao) within and beyond the classroom
• to continue to identify best practice within the pastoral system and to increase consistency of implementation
• continue to strengthen partnerships between the kura and iwi, hapū and whānau.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent to which they are gathering, tracking, and monitoring achievement and acceleration information to inform teaching and learning strategies in Years 9 and 10.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• the need to strengthen systems and processes to gather achievement information to track and monitor progress and acceleration in the junior school
• the need to more clearly identify, share and use best practice teaching and learning strategies
• to ensure equitable outcomes for all ākonga in Years 9 and 10.

The school expects to see:

• evidence of equitable outcomes for all Year 9 and 10 ākonga
• accelerated progress for ākonga who need it
• a shared understanding and implementation of best practice teaching and learning
• the impact of proven teaching and learning strategies at the junior level demonstrated at the senior level with improved merit and excellence results in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA).

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate systems to gather data, track and monitor progress and acceleration to inform teaching and learning:

• kaiako and ākonga who are motivated and committed to further developing their learning in a culture of whanaungatanga
• well-developed systems and processes to support tracking and monitoring of progress in the senior school
• a range of achievement information and emerging monitoring and tracking processes in the junior school
• established communication and support systems to inform and enhance individual ākonga tracking and monitoring.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• detailed planning for the internal evaluation focus including progress milestones
• consideration of resourcing and professional learning opportunities to support the implementation of the evaluation plan that has a focus on equity and excellence in the junior school.

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

1 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