Cobden School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Cobden 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 

Cobden School is a full primary school, located on the West Coast of the South Island north of the Grey River. It provides learning for students in years 1 to 8. The school’s vision is to be a community of learners where wellbeing and relationships encourage ākonga to be confident, engaged, and caring, critical thinkers. The school’s values are referred to as the three “C’s”: manaakitanga – we care; mahi ngātahi – we cooperate; kōrero mai – we communicate. The school is led by an experienced principal.

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

• build a strong partnership with iwi and strengthen cultural capabilities
• strengthen links between home and school to increase engagement
• provide a safe physical and emotional learning environment.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of their refreshed curriculum, which is working to align community aspirations and local stories, on student engagement and achievement.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that community, staff, and student consultation identified the need to strengthen the partnership with iwi and strengthen cultural capabilities.

The school expects to see:

• strengthened cultural capabilities of students and staff, aligned with a Māori world view, through a localised curriculum
• increased engagement and achievement for all learners
• accelerated progress leading to equitable outcomes for Māori learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate the impact of their refreshed curriculum:

• the school analyses, uses, and shares with its community, a range of qualitative and quantitative wellbeing and achievement data which informs decision-making and next steps
• a culture of working collaboratively to review and seek to improve practice
• commitment to targeted professional learning which is informing curriculum revision
• established links with local iwi who are supporting professional learning that is deepening the understanding of localised curriculum
• reciprocal connections with the community for consultation that is informing school improvement.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• schoolwide professional learning, supported by local iwi, Ngāti Waewae, to identify and grow cultural capabilities and inform the curriculum refresh
• gathering and analysing a range of valid data to determine how well ākonga are present, participating, and making progress to inform next steps, monitor and report on the sufficiency of progress.

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

20 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