Burnside High School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and Burnside High 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

Burnside High School is located in Christchurch and provides education for 2300 students in Years 9 to 13. Due to the retirement of the long serving principal in 2022 there have been recent changes in leadership. A significant building programme is underway on the campus. The school hosts the Specialist Music Programme (SMP).

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

• foster a climate of safety, care and connectedness for all through the BHS values

• commit to the growth, dignity, inclusion and mana of all, guided by the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi

• provide future-focused, flexible and student-centred learning

• strengthen relationships and collaboration between BHS and the community.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of its school-wide use of internal evaluation and reporting for improvement and innovation as it implements the new, visionary strategic plan for its future.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that the school aims to strengthen its use of systematic and collaborative inquiry, monitoring, and reporting to better know the impact of its strategic decision making.

The school expects to see valid and useful evidence of the outcomes and impact of its strategic priorities especially for Māori and Pacific learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate the effectiveness of its school-wide use of internal evaluation and reporting for improvement and innovation:

• representation and partnership with Māori so leaders can know and respond to whānau aspirations for Māori learners

• the extent to which it provides an inclusive, values-based, student-led culture with high expectations for all learners

• established systems for review of teaching and learning programmes that ensure student needs are met in a timely, responsive way.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• monitoring, regular evaluation and reporting against valued outcomes for learners through a strengthened evaluation framework.

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 Schools

28 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