Opihi College

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and Opihi College 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

Opihi College is a co-educational Years 7 to 13 school situated in Temuka in South Canterbury.

Opihi College’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes are to:

• support improvement in the learning progress and achievement for all students
• actively promote collaboration and partnerships with all sections of the school community.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of internal evaluation in supporting school processes and practices which lead to excellence and equity in student achievement in national qualifications.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

• ensure that the school’s self-review processes are robust, comprehensive and contribute effectively to strengthening teacher capability for supporting equity and excellence in progress and achievement for all students
• strengthen school-wide practices for planning, delivering, assessing and reporting on progress and achievement
• improve student outcomes in Years 7 to 9 and NCEA
• develop clear and equitable shared expectations for student learning, achievement and progress.

The school expects to see that ongoing monitoring and evaluation of achievement, valued outcomes and other indicator data will show improved student achievement outcomes in terms of excellence and equity for all students and in the percentage of students gaining NCEA level 1 to 3 and endorsements.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to use internal evaluation to strengthen practices which lead to excellence and equity in student achievement. 

• Teachers are improvement focused and share enthusiasm for curriculum development.
• School leadership and teachers engage in professional learning and development to improve teacher practice.
• There is a school-wide commitment to growing the capability of the staff to support and promote student achievement and engagement.

Where to next? 

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• implementing a localised curriculum which is responsive to the aspirations of students, parents, and whānau
• fostering ongoing collection of whānau and ākonga perspectives on how well the curriculum supports all students' sense of belonging and engagement in learning
• strengthening school-wide practices for planning, delivering, assessing and reporting on progress and achievement.

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 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