Grants Braes School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

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

Grants Braes is a Years 1 to 6 contributing school in Waverley, Dunedin. Its vision is kia tūhura, kia kite, kia mahi kātahi|to explore, discover and learn together. The school has been gifted a cultural narrative which underpins its curriculum and sense of place on the Otago Peninsula. 

Grants Braes School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• all students will be actively engaged in the school’s curriculum and progressing towards their highest levels of educational achievement   
• to strengthen whānau participation as valued partners in their children’s learning.  

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of the school’s local curriculum through extending current evaluation knowledge and practices.  

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• that strong ongoing partnerships with whānau and rūnaka have been established and nurtured to support teaching and learning and local curriculum development  
• the school wants to ensure its curriculum is meeting all the needs of its current learners  
• leaders want to extend teachers’ evaluation practices and understanding, to ensure consistency across the school.  

The school expects to see:

• further development of the school’s localised curriculum reflecting national curriculum changes  
• the effectiveness of its local curriculum in supporting all students to progress to their highest levels of educational achievement
• a sustainable approach to evaluation being used across the school.  

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to evaluate the impact of the school’s local curriculum through extending current evaluation knowledge and practices.  

• The effective teaching and learning practices that are responsive to all learners’ needs and accelerate progress for those students who need this.  
• Leaders and teachers are improvement focused and consistently reflective in their practice to adapt to the changing needs of learners.  
• The collaborative way in which staff work together to support learners and their whānau.  
• The ways in which the school shows it commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Te Ao and Mātauranga Māori to support learners’ language, culture and identity.  

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• characterising its local curriculum to reflect its vision, values, cultural narrative, aspirations of tamariki, whānau and current national curriculum changes   
• clarifying key baseline information that will be used to identify where the school is at with respect to their local curriculum development  
• developing and trialing an evaluation approach that can used school wide.  

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.

Kathy Lye
Acting Director Review and Improvement (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

14 April 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