Whataroa School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Whataroa 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

Whataroa School is a small Year 0 to 8 school situated in South Westland. The school draws its learners from throughout the local region. Its mission is “to gift our children the passion to be the best they can be in all areas of learning.”

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

• sustain a future focused, local and culturally responsive curriculum
• empower learners to make powerful and positive choices about their future
• foster a strengths-based reciprocal relationship between school, whānau and the wider community.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of the school’s localised curriculum on developing learners’ key competencies and foundational skills.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• learners and whānau have identified the values and attributes the school should develop for its learners to thrive in a future focused world
• to build these competencies, together with foundational literacy and numeracy skills, through the context of Aotearoa New Zealand histories.

The school expects to see:

• an increase in learners’ knowledge of both local and national histories, as well as the development of inquiry skills
• further development of productive partnerships with parents, whānau and the community to contribute to children’s learning and improved achievement in foundational literacy and numeracy skills.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the impact of its localised curriculum on developing learners’ key competencies and foundational skills:

• Commitment to strengthen learners’ connections to local tāhuhu kōrero and whenua / history and place.
• Enthusiasm to build on learners’ curiosity in and engagement with learning through an Aotearoa New Zealand histories lens.
• High levels of confidence and support from the school community.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• developing success indicators that highlight growth in learner confidence, competencies and foundational skills, which enable the school to evaluate the impact of their localised curriculum
• developing teacher capability and collective capacity in embedding an integrated approach to building learners’ competencies and foundational skills through Aotearoa New Zealand histories contexts.

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 March 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