Ravensbourne School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 17 months of the Education Review Office and Ravensbourne 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 

Ravensbourne School is situated on the outskirts of Dunedin, overlooking the Otago Harbour. It provides education for students in Years 1 – 6. A principal was appointed in January 2023. The school’s vision is Kia kaha, Kia maia, Kia manawanui | Be strong, Be brave, Be willing.

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

• have high aspirations for every learner / ākonga and support these by partnering with their whānau and communities to design and deliver education that responds to their needs and sustains their identities, languages and cultures

• ensure every learner / ākonga gains sound foundation skills including language, literacy and numeracy

• encourage students to develop self-management to meet the challenges of learning independently and collaboratively

• develop new technologies to enhance classroom engagement and increase digital fluency.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school’s mathematics curriculum supports equitable and excellent outcomes for learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• recent assessment information shows that learners are achieving less well in maths than in other curriculum areas

• the school has recently adopted the PRIME Maths programme and wishes to evaluate its impact on improving outcomes for learners

• the school is part of the Ōtepoti ki te Raki Kāhui Ako, which is supporting a network of schools to refresh their mathematics curriculum.

The school expects to see increased teacher confidence and capability to deliver high quality learning programmes in maths and improved outcomes for all learners, particularly those learners who are yet to meet achievement expectations.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to evaluate how effectively the maths curriculum supports equitable and excellent outcomes for learners:

• Learners’ needs are well understood and responded to through 1:1 and small group teaching opportunities.

• Strong partnerships with outside agencies and within the Kāhui Ako are supporting the growth of teacher capability.

• Staff are willing and able to move quickly to effect and embed positive change.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• professional learning to grow teachers’ collective capabilities to teach mathematics effectively

• embedding new systems for gathering, analysing, using and sharing high quality assessment information in mathematics

• refining strategies to help learners develop increasingly positive self-efficacy about themselves as successful learners, particularly in mathematics

• continuing to build learners self-management skills, including making effective use of 1:1 digital devices

• consultation with students and parents to better understand from their perspectives what is working well and what is not in mathematics.

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

9 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