Burnham School - Te Kura o Tiori

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Burnham School - Te Kura o Tiori 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 

​​Burnham School​ is located south of Rolleston in a semi-rural setting and provides education for years 0 – 8. The school offers bi-lingual Māori provision and small class sizes in a family atmosphere. The Learner Actions of Respect, Effort and Pride are promoted in the school. 

Burnham School - Te Kura o Tiori’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• empowering teacher’s growth and capacity to improve student achievement, delivering a quality future focused curriculum  
• equipping learners to feel confident as participants in their learning 
• engaging whānau and community to be connected as partners in learning. 

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Burnham School - Te Kura o Tiori’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effect of the school’s writing programme and use of assessment for learning to increase student achievement in writing.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• increasing student engagement, progress and achievement in writing in Years 0-8 
• building teacher capability in the use of assessment information to inform teaching and learning programmes. 

The school expects to see:

• students actively engaged and challenged in their learning, equipped with clearly identified goals and their next steps. 
• increased student progress and achievement in writing in Years 0-8  
• teacher use of authentic assessment information to inform teaching and learning programmes and enable student agency. 

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to increase student achievement in writing: 

• the introduction, development, and ongoing in-school support of the school’s writing programme 
• building teacher capability by prioritising professional development in ‘assessment for learning’ to further develop teaching pedagogy that has a direct link to student achievement outcomes. 

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• the development of a localised curriculum with focus on a graduate profile that speaks of the school’s values, local tikanga and aspirations of the school’s community 
• continued professional development in assessment for learning to build teacher capability in using assessment information to inform teaching and learning programmes and increase student achievement. 

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 (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

19 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