St Marcellin School (Wanganui)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background 

This Profile Report was written within 24 months of the Education Review Office and ​St Marcellin School (Wanganui)​ 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 

St Marcellin’s School is a co-educational, state integrated school of Catholic special character. Located in Whanganui, the school caters for learners from years 1 to 8. A new permanent principal began at the beginning of 2023. An elected School Board is now in place. 

​​St Marcellin School (Wanganui)​’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are: 

• Connected and Engaged: we will create a responsive learning environment that creates lifelong learners  
• Faith Centred: we will create an environment centred on Christ where all are treated with dignity and respect 
• Inclusivity: we will create an inclusive community that reflects our faith, our whānau and honours our turangawaewae 

You can obtain a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan from the school’s website. 

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent that each learner’s pathway of success is supported by reliable, useful and collectively understood, assessment information.  

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is because reliable, useful and collectively understood ways of assessing achievement and progress will help the school to better respond to each learner. This will help the school to know that learning is happening at expected rates.  

The school expects to see: 

• assessment tools used, collectively understood and analysed regularly to inform teaching and learning decisions 
• improved achievement and progress evident in reading, writing and mathematics assessment information 
• actively engaged learners who are able to articulate their learning and share it with whānau 
• learners supported to know what they are learning, why they are learning it and what their next steps will be. 

Strengths  

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school to evaluate the extent that each learner’s pathway of success is supported by reliable, collectively understood and useful assessment information: 

• a supportive learning environment, underpinned by the school’s special character, that celebrates diversity and prioritises a holistic approach to learning 
• a diverse and supportive school community who are committed to the school and share their expertise to enrich learning 
• increasingly useful systems and processes that support quality teaching and learning. 

Where to next? 

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:  

• engaging with external expertise to further build teacher capacity in the use of assessment 
• using assessment information to inform teaching and learning decisions 
• using assessment information with learners and whānau to collaboratively determine each learner’s individual pathway of success. 

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​  

​​30 April 2024​   

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