Opoho School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Ōpoho 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 

Ōpoho School is a contributing primary school located in the suburb of Ōpoho in Dunedin city. It provides education for learners in Years 1 to 6. In 2021 a new principal was appointed and in 2023 a new senior leadership team. The school's values are: ‘be kind, be responsible and be the best you can be’. Their mission is ‘to develop passionate and confident lifelong learners who possess a kete of skills and strategies to draw from in everyday life’.

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

• implement learning programmes that support, encourage, enrich and extend all tauira | learners to make progress and experience success in all areas of The New Zealand Curriculum
• give priority to tauira achievement in literacy and numeracy, as evidenced by progress and achievement against learning progressions and The New Zealand Curriculum.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching practices and curriculum change on improving learner progress, engagement and achievement in literacy following the inclusion of a school-wide, unified, systematic and consistent approach. 

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is: 

• plateauing results in writing have highlighted the need for a consistent and developmentally appropriate literacy programme across the school and professional development for support and implementation
• the need for enhanced teaching practices that meet the needs of a wider range of diverse tauira
• to help Ōpoho kaiako, rangatira and whānau to know what makes the most difference to improving outcomes for all tauira in literacy.

The school expects to see: 

• full and consistent implementation of a whole school approach to structured literacy and for all tauira to have strong foundational skills in literacy
• an evaluation of the impact of the structured literacy approach on improving students’ learning, progress, and achievement in literacy.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to maximise student engagement and improve outcomes for learners in literacy:

• a learning environment that is positive with well-established respectful relationships that promote learner engagement
• equitable and excellent progress and achievement outcomes are occurring for most learners across the curriculum
• effective, individualised plans are in place for those learners who need extra support.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• developing a strong school-wide knowledge and understanding of the structured literacy approach
• strengthening teacher practice in the effective teaching of literacy supported by evidence
• the development, implementation and evaluation of the structured literacy programme that maximises tauira engagement and enhances progress for all tauira.

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

29 February 2024 

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