Maitai School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background

This Profile Report was written within 6 months of the Education Review Office and Maitai 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 

This report is part of a nationally coordinated evaluation of 27-day specialist schools during the second half of 2023. This included the development of day specialist school evaluation indicators by ERO with significant input from principals, staff and the Special Education Principals’ Association of New Zealand (SEPAnz).

Context 

Maitai School is a day specialist school in Nelson that caters for students eligible for Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) between the ages of five and twenty-one years who have a range of special needs. The school operates from a base school and has satellites operating from four local host schools. A transition centre operates for students aged 18 years and over. 

The school provides a specialist therapy team to support a transdisciplinary approach towards students’ wellbeing and access to learning. 

A specialist teacher outreach service team provides learning programmes for ORS funded students enrolled in schools across the Nelson, Tasman, Golden Bay, Marlborough and West Coast regions. 

The school continues to navigate and manage roll growth pressures along with the employment and property demands associated with this.

The school’s vision is ‘Our Waka, Your Journey’. This is enacted through the WAKA values of Waiora, Aroha, Kotahitanga, Ako and underpins all aspects of school culture and operation. 

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

• raise the achievement of all students by providing robust and rich evidenced-based teaching and learning experiences
• enact an engaging curriculum, develop collaborative and culturally inclusive pedagogies that meet the needs of all students at Maitai School
• increase student participation and learning, by further developing positive reciprocal partnerships with staff, community, therapists, whānau, iwi and ākonga
• continue to strengthen the strategic direction and grow leadership across all levels of the school.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of school leadership in developing consistent schoolwide localised curriculum and quality practices that support wellbeing, engagement and success for all students. 

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that leaders have identified through internal evaluation the need to:

• extend and enhance consistent practice after a period of innovation 
• increase opportunities to gather and use student voice to inform teaching and learning
• strengthen whānau engagement and partnerships for learning
• grow collective distributed leadership and agency connected to school vision and values.

The school expects to see consistently high-quality practices to ensure smooth pathways of learning as students transition through their time at school.

Students will: 

• experience a culturally responsive curriculum
• be competent communicators who have tailored communication systems.

Whānau will:

• see their voice and contribution as an integral part of their child’s learning
• inform school improvement priorities.

Leaders will:

• review, support and implement systems to sustain the positive impact of this evaluation focus for students.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate the impact of leaders developing consistent, high quality schoolwide practices to support wellbeing, success, and engagement.

• Students are well supported to achieve their individual learning goals and experience a sense of belonging through warm, respectful and caring relationships.
• Effective, collaborative and coordinated planning for learning and wellbeing which builds on transdisciplinary knowledge and whānau voice.
• Quality systems and practices evident across many areas of the school effectively identify and respond to the holistic and complex needs of individual learners.
• Responsive and reflective leadership provide well-established systems to support learning programmes and build teacher capabilities.
• Distributed leadership with clearly defined roles and responsibilities for middle leaders. 
• Students and whānau actively involved in and influencing decision making for transitions in, across and out of school.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise: 

• investigating and reviewing the effectiveness and consistency of current leadership practices to inform strategic priorities and future decision making
• leaders using evidence informed approaches to refine school plans, systems, and processes to support wellbeing, success, and engagement for all.

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

27 March 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

This school has satellite classes at Henley and Tahunanui schools and Nayland College.