Outram School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

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

Outram School is a semi-rural full primary school located approximately 25 km west of Dunedin City. It provides education for students in Years 1-8. The board appointed a new principal in 2020 and a new leadership team in 2022. The school’s vision is from strong roots we grow children who love learning, develop passions, and reach their potential. The school is focused on ‘Play is the Way Life Rafts’ and living each day through the values of respect, kindness, resilience and integrity.

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

• by participating with whānau the school identifies and responds to strengths, progress and needs of tamariki so they can reach their full potential

• to protect the well-being of tamariki, teachers and whānau by strengthening hauora

• to continue to develop a partnership with whānau and community that delivers inclusive and responsive learning opportunities for all.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching practices and curriculum change on improving learner progress and achievement, with the inclusion of a new structured literacy approach.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• the school needs to build on teacher capabilities and its systems and assessment practices in literacy to confidently measure learner progress and achievement

• the junior school has begun to implement structured literacy and needs to measure the impact of this in an ongoing way on outcomes for students

• the Years 4-6 classes are implementing the science of reading through spelling and writing programmes.

The school expects to see the structured literacy approach fully implemented into its curriculum and for all tamariki to have evidence of foundational skills in literacy.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to improve outcomes for learners in literacy:

• a clear understanding of assessment for learning across all areas of the school

• strong leadership and experienced teaching teams that work collaboratively for schoolwide improvement

• consistent support from the board, whānau and the wider community that strengthens learning partnerships and enriches the local curriculum.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• continuing the understanding and implementation of the structured literacy approach

• ensuring all staff have ongoing opportunities to further develop and extend teaching practices

• strengthening learning partnerships through student voice and whānau participation.

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

15 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