Greymouth Main School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 24 months of the Education Review Office and Greymouth Main 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 

Greymouth Main School, also known as Te Kura Matua o Māwhera, is an urban school in Greymouth catering for students from Year 1 to Year 8. Greymouth Main School provides a cultural pathway for students with support from local runanga who provide regular professional development for our board and staff. As a result of this relationship the kura provides opportunities for our akonga to learn Mau Rakau, Nga Tipu Totara, Kapahaka, and visits to our local Marae.

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

• foster a strong love of learning based on a structured framework (PB4L) and our school family values Manaakitanga and Excellence

• ensure that student achievement is monitored and evaluated to accelerate progress for our target learners and at risk learners

• continue to sustain the ‘Learn, Create, Share’ pedagogy

• continue to work towards becoming a culturally responsive school through developing and understanding the Ngati Waewae educational strategy.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the learning environment fosters the physical, social, emotional and academic growth of ākonga and in particular boys.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

• identify the barriers to full participation and engagement for boys ensuring they reach their full potential

• evaluate how effective the strategies and approaches currently in use for boys

• investigate further the whānau and family aspirations for boys' education

• review the types of feedback boys receive and how effective this is in motivating and inspiring reliance in boys.

The school expects to see boys further engaged and learning with confidence along with enhanced emotional and academic outcomes.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to effectively create a learning environment which fosters the physical, social, emotional and academic growth of ākonga and in particular boys.

• Strong evaluative reviews around localised curriculum and assessment to ensure the needs of the ākonga are being met.

• Positive Behaviour 4 Learning (PB4L) framework enhances learning relationships throughout school.

• Teacher commitment to supporting high expectations for student achievement along with effective staffing that focuses on ongoing improvement to achieve equity and excellence for all learners.

• Strong distributed leadership at all levels of the school and aligned with high quality teaching and learning that ensures students’ progress and achieve well across the curriculum.

• The school is a highly active member of the Māwhera Kāhui Ako, collaborating across schools to reflect, learn and enact strategies that further enhance student outcomes.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• rebuilding community cohesion and face-to-face engagement with learning to ensure educationally powerful partnerships are maintained and improved outcomes for all ākonga

• strengthening assessment and monitoring systems to ensure a fit for purpose curriculum, including EnviroSchools, with a focus on pūrūkau

• strengthen schoolwide evaluation for improvement practices to promote greater implementation fidelity across the school through our PB4L 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 of Schools

22 August 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