Loburn School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 11 months of the Education Review Office and Loburn 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

Loburn School is a full primary school, located in North Canterbury, that provides education for students from years 1 to 8. Learning aims to align with the school’s values of respect | whakaute, service | manaakitanga, participation | mahi tahi, and its desired qualities of learners being team players, communicators, investigators, high-performers, and thinkers.

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

• grow positive school and community relationships to support student learning and the development of a cultural identity

• develop a localised curriculum that is innovative and engaging for students and staff

• grow wellbeing practices to promote resilience and inclusivity.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of their localised curriculum development on student achievement and agency.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that the school has identified:

• the need to deepen understanding across the curriculum and raise achievement, particularly in literacy and mathematics

• a group of priority learners whose learning needs acceleration

• that the use of feedback and feed forward could be better used to inform planning.

The school expects to see:

• explicit learning outcomes expressed through a localised curriculum which increases student agency

• students engaged in purposeful learning, and achieving at their highest levels

• students articulating what they are learning, why, and their next steps.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the impact of their localised curriculum development on student achievement and agency:

• the school regularly partners with its community to gather their voice to inform decision-making

• data is examined to identify students’ needs, priority learners, and set achievement targets

• a whole school collaborative approach to teaching, learning, and assessment ensures consistency of practice and informs curriculum development

• a focus on hauora underpins learning, pastoral care, and school wide initiatives.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• targeted professional learning to strengthen teacher capability in literacy and mathematics to embed a whole-school approach

• continuing to grow positive school and community relationships which support student learning, cultural identity, and contribute to learning design

• creating a localised curriculum, supported by effective feedback, which increases students’ agency and high expectations of themselves.

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

13 November 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