Elmgrove School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within seven months of the Education Review Office and Elmgrove 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 

Elmgrove School is a Years 1 to 6 contributing school in Mosgiel. The school’s vision for its learners is that they will be resilient, caring and engaged and that they will learn skills and attitudes that enable them to participate positively within their community. A new member of the leadership team was appointed and began in 2020.

Elmgrove School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• provide strong foundational learning for all students with a particular focus on students’ early years of schooling

• ensure learner wellbeing is investigated and prioritised, so learners are happy and engaged in all aspects of their schooling.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate educationally significant partnerships between the school and its community with a particular focus on collaboration between whānau, hapū and iwi.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• leaders are responding to information gathered as part of wider community consultation to strengthen community and whānau engagement with the reporting of student progress and achievement

• leaders and teachers want to strengthen educationally significant connections and practices to support all learners in their cultural identities

• the school has established a ‘Māori Tanga’ focus group of teachers to lead the school in its enactment of Te Tiriti o Waitangi

• teachers are being supported to strengthen culturally responsive practices in relation to Te Ao Māori

The school expects to see

• teachers with greater confidence to support learners in te ao Māori

• strong effective partnerships between the school, iwi and whānau

• students feeling that their language, culture and identity are reflected and valued in the school

• greater awareness and engagement with students’ learning and achievement by whānau.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to strengthen educationally significant partnerships between itself and its community with a particular focus on collaboration between whānau, hapū and iwi.

• Leaders and teachers are consistently using systematic comprehensive evaluative approaches to know how their programmes and practices are impacting on student learning and achievement.

• The board prioritises resourcing to improve student outcomes.

• Staff work in collaborative ways to extend teaching practice and learner outcomes.

• The responsiveness of its curriculum which is resourced to meet the changing needs of its learners.

• Teachers use very effective teaching practices and systems to support students in their learning, progress and achievement.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• enhancing the responsiveness of the localised curriculum; providing rich, deep, authentic learning which responds to students' culture, language and identity

• educational partnerships with whānau to build shared understandings and engagement with their children’s learning and achievement. 

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

30 March 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