Kakanui School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background 

This Profile Report was written within eight months of the Education Review Office and ​Kakanui 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  

Kakanui School is situated on the North Otago coast and caters for students from Years 0 to 8. Their vision is to create learning in an environment that enhances imagination, challenge and success. The school has recently joined the Whitestone Kāhui Ako. 

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

• develop and grow effective teacher practice around a structured literacy approach 

• promote student agency so that learners know their next learning steps and the purpose of their learning 

• build learners’ resilience and enhance their wellbeing. 

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school’s curriculum supports learners to meet literacy progression milestones by the end of Year 3. 

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is the school has recently implemented the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA) and wishes to evaluate its impact on reading and writing outcomes for all learners in Years 1 – 3. 

The school expects to see: 

• teachers continuing to reflect and refine their teaching practices in response to learners’ needs and their growing knowledge of BSLA 

• improved reading and writing outcomes for all learners, especially those who are not currently making sufficient progress to meet achievement expectations in Years 1 – 3. 

Strengths  

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how effectively the school’s curriculum supports learners to meet literacy progression milestones by the end of Year 3: 

• strong enactment of pastoral care with a resolute focus on students’ wellbeing and sense of belonging  

• school systems and processes support teachers to collaborate well and work towards achieving valued outcomes with a sense of collective ownership 

• the school makes use of the unique coastal environment to provide authentic contexts for learning. 

Where to next? 

Moving forward, the school will prioritise: 

• sharing information with the community to ensure the school’s new approach to literacy is well understood by whānau, to inform and strengthen their engagement with children’s learning  

• using high quality progress and achievement data analysis to improve outcomes for learners and to support decision making for continuous improvement 

• professional learning for teaching staff to grow their knowledge of BSLA and embed high quality and consistent professional practice 

• reviewing schoolwide curriculum documentation to reflect new approaches and to ensure teaching continues to be responsive to the needs of learners across the whole school. 

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​ 

​​31 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