Timaru Girls’ High School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within ten months of the Education Review Office and Timaru Girls’ High 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 

Timaru Girls’ High School is a state secondary school for girls in Years 9 to 13 located in Timaru. A number of students from outside the town reside in the on-site school hostel ‘The House’. 

The school’s vision is to develop confident learners who experience success. Its strategic priorities are to improve student attendance, achievement, literacy and numeracy skills and wellbeing through:

• engaging teaching and learning; and

• provision of a positive and inclusive learning environment.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well effective, relational teaching practice is contributing to improved student outcomes, including improved equity for Māori students.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation includes:

• concern about falling rates of attendance and student engagement in learning and the impact of this on achievement

• a need to improve the equity of outcomes for Māori students

• a collaborative, regional focus on fostering high-quality, effective, relational teaching as a means to achieving excellent and equitable outcomes for diverse learners.

The school expects to see improved:

• student attendance, engagement and retention

• academic achievement at all levels of the school

• equitable outcomes for Māori students; and

• students growing in confidence and resilience as learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to improve a range of student outcomes through effective, relational teaching practice:

• the school’s values are well known and actively promoted to foster a positive and constructive learning environment

• there are appropriate systems, practices and staffing to identify and respond to students’ personal and wellbeing needs and to support their engagement in learning

• the school has been building leadership capacity to foster effective, relational teaching practice in collaboration with external specialists and staff from other schools.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise leadership of:

• planning for the school-wide implementation of effective, relational teaching practice

• professional development for teachers – for effective, relational and culturally responsive teaching

• strengthening partnerships with iwi, whānau and ngā tauira Māori

• inquiry into and evaluation of the impact of relational teaching on student outcomes.

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

17 October 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