Karori West Normal School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Karori West Normal 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

Karori West Normal School, located in Wellington, provides education for learners from years 0 to 8.

Karori West Normal School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• students who are bold, joyful and connected and have a strong foundation in our values
• students who are achieving at their potential in their learning and socially
• teachers who are passionate, thoughtful, inspirational, innovative and reflective
• a board that is focused on student progress and achievement and upholds our vision.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the new leadership team promotes a community of learning where student learning and wellbeing outcomes are prioritised, equitable and sustainable.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that the school has identified the need to work collectively to review current practices, consider how best to raise student outcomes, determine and put in place improvement strategies.

The school expects to see the capability of all leaders and teachers further strengthened through:

• the use of a range of reliable evidence from evaluation, inquiry and knowledge building activities to select, develop and review strategies for improvement
• developing and pursuing shared goals related to the acceleration of learners at risk of underachievement
• the building of collective capacity and agency across all levels of the school: leaders, staff and students.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how effectively the new leadership team promotes a community of learning where student learning and wellbeing outcomes are prioritised, equitable and sustainable:

• senior leadership is actively building relational trust and setting up systems and processes that support the learning and pastoral care of all students and their whānau
• a range of effective, reciprocal communication strategies is being developed to engage with and strengthen learning-centred partnerships with whānau
• the introduction and trialling of digital devices and ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (2021) is enabling students to show and manage their learning with increasing independence. 

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• strengthening effective ‘assessment for learning’ practices, and the use of curriculum documents and observations to identify learning needs and make accurate judgements about student achievement and progress in mathematics
• building evaluative capability and teacher expertise to ensure that assessment information is used to guide effective teaching practice
• develop a strategic framework in consultation with our whānau rōpū to further deepen and enrich culturally responsive practices and competencies that support Māori learners to achieve success as Māori.

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.

Kathy Lye
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

9 March 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