Tasman School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

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

Tasman school is located in the middle of the Tasman township, 45 kilometres from Nelson. The school caters for students in Years 1 to 8 and its vision is for learners to be happy, successful individuals who are active contributors to the community.

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

• connecting with our community - community is the focus.
• valuing culture – wellbeing is the focus
• sustainable environments – future is the focus
• engaging curriculum – creativity development is the focus
• student achievement – data leads decision making. 

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of consistently culturally responsive practices across the curriculum to improve outcomes for all students.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation:

• is to reflect the school strategic direction, which includes community voice, to support teachers to be more culturally responsive in their teaching practices
• teachers are undertaking professional development to support their own knowledge and practice to be more culturally aware and responsive to student needs
• the school is seeking to strengthen their knowledge around the local stories to support curriculum planning to make learning contexts more relevant for students.

The school expects to see:

• increased learner engagement and progress
• learners developing a strong sense of self identity
• improved teacher capability in culturally responsive practices  
• learners valuing and sharing their cultural understandings and knowledge with parents and whānau.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to evaluate the impact of consistently culturally responsive practices across the curriculum to improve outcomes for all students.

• an existing commitment from school leaders and teachers to improve culturally responsive practice across learning contexts
• the staff and the Board of Trustees are willing and engaged to further their own learning and apply this across and within the school community
• current teacher understandings of the relationship-based learning profile (RBL) to coach each other and to encourage teacher self-reflection.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• appropriate and timely resourcing in cultural understanding and te reo proficiency so that teachers are equipped to be culturally responsive 
• continuing to strengthen reciprocal relationships with Te Tauihu so that the school can best meet the needs of Māori learners 
• engaging with Māori whānau to know and respond to aspirations for their children.

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

8 May 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