Rakaia School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 20 months of the Education Review Office and Rakaia 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 

Rakaia School is set back from State Highway 1 on Dunford Street, Rakaia. The school provides education and care to students in Years 1 to 8. The school has a focus on developing students who understand the values of the school and can enter secondary school as confident, numerate, literate and communicative learners.

Rakaia School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• the students will be excited, motivated, happy risk takers driving the school values
• the Board of Trustees will effectively govern by providing inspirational direction and culture
• the staff will be relationship centred, nurturing and confident. They will collaborate and use real life context
• the community will be present, supportive and inclusive, working in partnership.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively teaching and learning supports equity and excellence in student outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• consistent curriculum delivery across the school is identified in the strategic plan as a focus for review
• to achieve equitable and excellent outcomes for all ākonga by continuing to strengthen and develop a learner focused partnership
• to ensure the Rakaia School Curriculum reflects the whenua, vision, values and aspirations of ākonga and whānau.

The school expects to see:

• the strengthening of a consistent approach to curriculum delivery and assessment
• a continuing improvement of teacher’s analysis of ākonga progress and achievement data to inform teaching and learning
• continued improvement in equitable and excellent outcomes for all ākonga.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate how effectively teaching and learning supports equity and excellence in student outcomes.

• An effective and collaborative senior leadership team who identify barriers to learning and put programs in place that will impact positively on student achievement.
• An active, supportive board of trustees focused on improving outcomes for all ākonga.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• the further strengthening of curriculum delivery to ensure greater consistency and coherence in practices across the school
• professional development for teachers in data analysis to better inform teaching and learning and improve parity between groups of ākonga.

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

1 June 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