Oamaru Intermediate

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 8 months of the Education Review Office and Oamaru Intermediate 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 

Oamaru Intermediate provides education for students in Years 7 and 8 and is located in the North Otago township of Oamaru. The school’s vision for students is that they will: enjoy learning; have a positive image of themselves as learners and an appreciation of others; feel a sense of belonging to a community; experience challenge, success and equity and strive for excellence.

The school’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• prioritising and sustaining a caring culture of inclusivity.

• curriculum review that is informed by data, observation and teacher inquiry

• strengthening evaluation processes to identify practices that most effectively support positive outcomes for all learners.

At the time of this report the school was in the process of consulting with its community on new strategic priorities. You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Oamaru Intermediate’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well its inclusive curriculum and teaching practices are supporting all learners to make progress and experience success in literacy learning.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• a significant proportion of students need targeted learning support to achieve at expected levels in reading and writing

• the school has a diverse roll and leaders and teachers want to ensure curriculum and teaching responds effectively to all students’ needs, culture, language and identities.

The school expects to see students:

• make expected or accelerated rates of progress in literacy learning

• engaged in learning that is authentic and connected to their lives and experiences

• have a sense of belonging to the school community, success as a learner and pride in their identity.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to improve literacy learning through inclusive curriculum and teaching:

• inclusive learning culture, underpinned by clear and consistent expectations, that fosters students’ sense of belonging, emotional wellbeing and positive relationships with others

• responsive curriculum and targeted programmes that respond to the diverse learning needs of students

• good use of community partnerships to enhance the school’s ability to meet students’ wellbeing and learning needs

• school leaders and teachers committed to providing equitable opportunities to learn and succeed for all learners.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise continuing to strengthen:

• teacher capability particularly for teaching literacy, assessment for learning and cultural responsiveness

• planning and implementation of upcoming changes to curriculum to ensure they meet the diverse needs of students

• school practices and systems for collecting, analysing and reporting on progress and achievement in order to know about the effectiveness of teaching for diverse learners.

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

6 September 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