Bunnythorpe School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Bunnythorpe 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 

Bunnythorpe School is a rural school situated between Feilding and Palmerston North and caters for learners in Years 1 to 8. The school seeks to provide quality learning that prepares students for their future. As an EnviroSchool, sustainability and connections to the whenua are promoted. A new principal was appointed in Term 4 of 2022.

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

• maintain strong community partnerships that reflect the school’s unique and rural setting

• create a safe and sustainable learning environment, where everyone and everything is respected and appreciated, where positive relationships and hauora are promoted

• deliver the national curriculum with a strong emphasis on literacy and numeracy

• recognise and honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and appreciate Aotearoa New Zealand’s diversity in cultural heritage.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively school-wide practices and the curriculum are responsive to the needs of each learner.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

• provide the conditions for increased levels of learner agency

• strengthen assessment for learning practices so that all staff can effectively address the needs of learners in a multi-level classroom environment

• ensure the development of a local curriculum guided by the aspirations of the wider school community.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to achieve excellent outcomes for all learners:

• A highly collegial school team that communicates effectively within the team about learner needs and successes.

• Children learn in a caring, collaborative environment and are at the centre of classroom decision making.

• School leadership has created and guides, systems, processes and practices focused on continuous improvement of practice.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• embedding consistent school-wide systems, processes and practices of assessment and moderation

• the use of learning progressions to guide teachers, learners and their whānau in next steps for learning

• strengthening partnerships with learners, whānau, hapū and iwi in order to further develop the local curriculum

• the board of trustees undertaking professional learning to fully understand and enact their roles and responsibilities.

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

3 July 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