Eskdale School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 14 months of the Education Review Office and Eskdale 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

Eskdale School is semi-rural school on the outskirts of Napier. The school provides education for learners in Years 1-8. The school is guided by the vision ‘Today’s learners, tomorrow’s leaders’ and the values of care, aspiration, respect and excellence. The longstanding principal continues in the role.

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

• providing teaching and learning programmes that promote equitable outcomes for all groups of learners
• ensuring the local curriculum reflects the school community and the aspirations of the community
• providing an environment within which students develop skills and dispositions that enable them to be confident and experience success as learners
• enhancing inclusive partnerships.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent to which learning programmes and school practices support the transition of learners at key points as they move through their schooling.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• effective transition into school and between school levels greatly enhance learning outcomes
• the school recognizes there are a number of key transition points within a full primary school
• involving staff, students and whānau in strong partnerships strengthens transition practices
• changes in approaches to learning at key transition points require intentional support and guidance.

The school expects to see:

• positive and successful experiences for all learners at key transition points
• connected pathways of learning across the school supported by aligned teaching practices
• evidence of positive student wellbeing and continued academic progress at key transition points
• strengthened teacher collaboration between syndicates within the school.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to strengthen the transition process at key points:

• the promotion of excellent and equitable outcomes for learners is well supported by experienced and collaborative leadership and teaching teams 
• student progress and the identification of learning needs are supported by robust assessment and monitoring practices 
• learners with identified needs are well supported in an inclusive environment
• well established systems and processes to support school change initiatives.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise: 

• collaboration between teaching teams that focus on curriculum delivery guided by aligned practices
• strengthening processes at key transition points
• developing internal evaluation processes to measure the effectiveness of transition.

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

13 February 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