Hawea Flat School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

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

Established in 1882, Hawea Flat School plays a central role as a community hub, drawing its learners from Queensberry in the south to the neck of Lake Hāwea in the north. It is a rapidly growing state contributing school catering for Years 0-6. The school’s vision is for everyone “to be the best they can be”.

Hawea Flat School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• placing Learners at the centre and empowering ākonga for the ever-changing world
• quality teaching and learning through strengthening leadership, teachers and staff to deliver a future focused curriculum
• providing a safe physical, emotional, and sustainable environment
• providing barrier free access to learning through an inclusive, respectful and culturally responsive community and learning environment.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of the school’s learner profile on improving student agency and progress.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• achievement information has indicated an area for further development is to increase understanding of the learner progression pathway
• a need to establish a clear and visible learning framework that provides the foundation for learning across the school
• to increase students’ ownership of their learning, fostering intrinsic motivation and ensuring each student has a positive learning disposition.

The school expects to see:

• ākonga actively and positively engaging in their learning pathways
• teachers building their data literacy to inform understandings and transparency about learning progressions across year levels
• all stakeholders working collaboratively towards a positive impact on individual learner progress.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the impact of the school’s learner profile on improving student agency and progress:

• innovative learning environments that are not bound by four walls and promote engagement through using learners’ strengths and interests
• a collaborative team culture that is open to ongoing professional learning, has a clear direction for improvement for ākonga, and builds staff’s capability to develop consistent practice
• active community connections with a shared commitment to enhance engagement and support student attendance and learning.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• gathering and analysing student achievement data to measure the impact of student agency on learning
• reviewing the consistency of teacher practices and strengthening inquiry processes so teachers collaboratively work towards sharing best practice to meet the needs of all learners
• partnering with parents and whānau to construct a collective view of learner agency and how together both school and family can contribute to building agency.

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

9 August 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