St Clair School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within twenty months of the Education Review Office and St Clair 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 

St Clair School in Dunedin provides education for students from Years 1 to 6. The physical learning environment supports a collaborative approach to teaching and learning. Since the 2015 ERO review, the school has experienced significant changes in leadership including a change of principal.

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

• provide all students with the opportunity to succeed to their highest potential
• develop a learning partnership between whānau and the school to enhance the learning experiences of ākonga
• involve all members of St Clair School’s staff and board in professional learning to further extend their capabilities in their various roles.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the teaching and support programmes are accelerating the progress of students who need extra help to succeed in learning.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is the school:

• wants all students to reach their highest potential
• achievement data shows there are groups of students who would benefit from extra support to succeed
• needs to know what practices and programmes are having the greatest impact on accelerating students’ learning.

The school expects teachers being able to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching practice and respond quickly and appropriately to meet the identified learning needs of individual students.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to reach its goal to support students to succeed in their learning and be confident, capable, and creative contributors to the community:

• a growing awareness, stronger understanding, and implementation of genuine bicultural practice amongst all staff to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi
• high achievement in literacy and mathematics for most students in relation to the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) which enables them to access the wider curriculum
• staff who are passionate about supporting students to see themselves as successful learners and to be excited about learning
• students being able to talk and make decisions about their learning which enables them to take greater responsibility for their progress and achievement.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• continuing to develop knowledge and practice of te ao Māori across the school so that students’ learning is supported by culturally responsive practice
• growing the partnership between the community and the school to further enhance the wellbeing and learning of students
• building a consistent approach to evaluation so that practices and programmes which have the greatest impact on accelerating students’ learning are known and used.

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.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

15 November 2022 

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