Belmont School (Lower Hutt)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

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

School is situated in the Lower Hutt suburb of Belmont. It delivers learning opportunities to learners in Years 1 to 6. 

Belmont’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• for learners to experience teaching and learning programmes that are purposeful and responsive to each student while reflecting the Treaty of Waitangi and the diversity of the community
• to promote and respond to the wellbeing of all through the school culture and values with a focus on developing the strengths and potential of everyone.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively school practices are supporting the wellbeing and achievement of all students, especially that of Māori and Pacific students in reading and writing. 

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is a desire to: 

• identify and strengthen teaching practices to better support Māori and Pacific learners
• adapt classroom practices to better focus on the needs of identified learners and to ensure teaching practices are flexible and adapted to meet the needs of the diverse learners in each classroom
• develop systems to strengthen whānau voice to enable whānau Māori to further inform school practices and planning. 

The school expects to see an improvement in the wellbeing, engagement and achievement of all students through changes to classroom teaching practices and an increased engagement with whānau Māori. 

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate how effectively school practices are supporting the wellbeing and achievement of all students.

• Strong leadership that is supportive of individuals and constantly seeks to strengthen professional practice within the school.
• Strong systems and processes that promote and support learner and staff wellbeing.
• High levels of achievement that increases as students progress though their schooling.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise: 

• identification of students for whom additional strategies may be required to enhance outcomes
• the implementation of new teaching strategies to further strengthen teacher effectiveness
• provision of opportunities for further professional learning discussions about effective teaching including feedback to teachers about the effectiveness of their classroom practice
• re-establishment of the whānau group to inform school practices and planning.

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

7 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