Our Lady of the Snows School (Methven)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background 

This Profile Report was written within 24 months of the Education Review Office and ​Our Lady of the Snows School (Methven)​ 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  

Our Lady of the Snows School (Methven)​ is a Years 1 to 8 Catholic school located in Mid Canterbury. The school’s vision “Believing and Achieving” is underpinned by the CARE values - compassion, awhina, respect and excellence.  The school is part of the Opuke Kāhui Ako. 

​​Our Lady of the Snows School (Methven)​’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to: 

• create an authentic curriculum that will support ākonga|learners and kaiako|teachers to flourish 
• celebrate and promote the special character of the school and wider community, ensuring a collective approach to well-being|hauora. 

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on ​Our Lady of the Snows School (Methven)​’s website.  

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well ākonga are engaged, active participants in their learning and the curriculum, leading to achieving equitable and excellent outcomes. 

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:  

• ensure that ākonga voice is reflected and utilised in the local curriculum so that learning is relevant and engaging 
• respond to ākonga and staff feedback about the need to increase agency in learning 
• build on the existing commitment of teaching staff to develop their practice for engaging ākonga in their learning.  

The school expects to see all ākonga:  

• experiencing a curriculum integrating ākonga and community voice 
• being engaged and empowered to lead their own learning and follow their passions 
• confidently articulating what they are learning and what their next steps are 
• achieving equitable and excellent learning outcomes. 

Strengths  

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal of ākonga being engaged, active participants in their learning and the curriculum, and achieving equitable and excellent outcomes. 

• Supportive, student-focused board and leadership that prioritise and pursue a small number of goals and targets. 
• Ongoing professional learning around curriculum development and teaching practices to support student agency.  
• The school utilises partnerships and opportunities within the parish and local community to support learning. 

Where to next? 

Moving forward, the school will prioritise: 

• continuing to seek and act on ākonga and community voice to inform planning and the direction of learning so that it is relevant and engaging  
• professional learning for kaiako to further develop planning, assessment and practices that promote greater ākonga engagement and agency in their learning 
• regular monitoring and analysis of engagement and achievement data to evaluate the impact of their revised curriculum. 

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​ 

​​10 April 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