Waterloo School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within two years of the Education Review Office and Waterloo 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 

Waterloo School is a contributing primary school for learners in Years 1-6 in the central Hutt Valley area.

Waterloo School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• strengthen the learning culture and environment to ensure wellbeing is at the heart of the kura

• create a culturally inclusive curriculum that empowers and excites students to be successful.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of new literacy teaching strategies being trialed throughout the school.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is a desire to:

• raise the achievement of students across the school in reading, and spelling

• continue to improve the effective teaching of literacy in Waterloo School.

The school expects to see students who are engaged and enjoying reading and spelling with teachers who utilise strategies proving to be the most effective in the teaching of literacy. They also expect to see a rise in student achievement and confidence in reading across the school. This will include the impact of new teaching practices on teacher efficacy and student achievement known. It will also include the development of community understanding of literacy learning and how whānau are best able to support their children with their literacy learning.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to raise student achievement in literacy and to continue to improve the effective teaching of literacy.

• Staff who are open to professional learning and are moving to an evidence-based approach to teaching and learning.

• Leadership that is supportive and seeks continuous improvement and better outcomes for students, both social and educational.

• A Board of Trustees that is committed to supporting students and raising achievement through ongoing targeted resourcing.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• the integration of key strategies into teaching and learning programmes throughout Waterloo School that raise literacy achievement levels in reading, writing, oral language and spelling

• workshops and increased discussions between staff that result in informed changes to teacher practice.

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

2 June 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