Purakaunui School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 14 months of the Education Review Office and Pūrākaunui 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 

Purakaunui School serves a small rural coastal community 25km north of Dunedin. It provides education for students in Y 1 – 8. Its vision statement is: One waka – one crew – many journeys. A new principal was appointed to the school in 2022.

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

• student engagement – children who love learning and are fully engaged in the school and community
• student achievement – ensuring every learner / ākonga gains sound foundation skills, including language, literacy and numeracy
• community – using the local environment and bringing the community into the waka.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent of the school’s progress towards developing a culturally responsive learning community, where te reo and tikanga Māori are valued, practised and celebrated.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• leaders wish to develop a curriculum that truly honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi and better reflects Aotearoa New Zealand’s bi-cultural heritage
• the school has recently become a part of the Māori Achievement Collaborative, which is committed to the goal of Māori educational success as Māori.

The school expects to see:

• teachers developing culturally responsive practices that are effective for all learners
• Māori students and their whanau will see their language and culture is valued at Purakaunui School
• Māori students experiencing success as Māori.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the extent of their progress towards developing a culturally responsive learning community:

• the Principal is establishing meaningful relationships with Rūnaka ki Puketeraki to grow learning partnerships, inform the school’s curriculum plans and support rich and authentic outcomes for all learners
• deliberate actions to ensure resourcing, staffing and planning support the implementation of strategic goals for school improvement
• a collaborative teaching team, who are working together to strengthen their cultural capabilities and develop the te ao Māori curriculum.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• engaging with whānau to explore and define how students might experience success as Māori
• developing a curriculum plan for te ao Māori, which includes te reo progressions through the school and provides clear guidelines for teachers
• developing schoolwide tikanga to establish and embed culturally appropriate protocols within the school context
• professional learning for staff to continue to strengthen their confidence and capability in tikanga and te reo Māori
• developing a rubric of culturally responsive teaching practices to clarify schoolwide expectations and generate useful information for evaluation and continuous improvement.

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 June 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