Redwoodtown School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

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

Redwoodtown School is a full primary school situated on the outskirts of Blenheim. The school’s vision of Effective Learners, Effective Citizens aims to provide students with learning opportunities to enable them to contribute positively to the society in which they live, now and in the future.

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

• to provide learning pathways for confident, engaged and connected learners
• to build learning focused partnerships in and out of school
• staff collaborating to shape responsive learning environments.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of a balanced back-to-basics approach in the teaching of mathematics, especially number knowledge for accelerated progress across the school.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• teachers’ reflective practice around learner progress and achievement in mathematics indicated the need for explicit teaching of place value and number knowledge across the school and to include parents and whānau as partners in the learning focus.

The school expects to see:

• learners increasing their knowledge and understanding in number leading to improved confidence in mathematics
• opportunities for learning partnerships with whānau to enable opportunities for them to participate as partners in their children’s learning
• learners making consistent and sustained progress in their mathematics achievement
• teachers having agency to apply their capabilities and strengths in mathematics.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the impact of a balanced, back-to-basics approach in the teaching of mathematics:

• an experienced team that supports teachers through respectful strength-based leadership
• teachers who analyse learners’ progress and achievement and use the data to inquire into their practice
• Teachers who use an established cycle of data monitoring to provide useful feedback to learners about their progress and goals.

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:   

• progressive learning pathways in mathematics so that students are well prepared for a successful transition into college
• parents and whānau participating at school as valued partners in their children’s learning
• innovative ways to embed culturally responsive practices in order to sustain continual improvement across the school.

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

4 April 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