Taieri Beach School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and Taieri Beach 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 

Taieri Beach School is a very small full-primary school in a rural setting. Its curriculum is underpinned by a nature-based philosophy, including learning within and relating to the natural environment.

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

• set up and deliver the ‘Structured Literacy’ programme
• establish a schoolwide understanding of student agency (students knowing about their progress and achievement and making decisions to support their learning)
• support learning through the Nature-based way of learning.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Taieri Beach School’s blog.

ERO and the school are working together to build teachers’ evaluation practice to determine how well the Nature-based learning approach and ‘Structured Literacy’ programme are supporting student engagement, progress and achievement, and wellbeing.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• the staff and community need to know that the Nature-based learning approach and the ‘Structured Literacy’ programme are having a positive impact on outcomes for students’ learning and wellbeing
• to establish an evaluation process that is appropriate for a very small school and supports continuous improvement in outcomes for learners.

The school expects to see:

• a fit-for-purpose, robust process of evaluation in place so that the staff and community can be confident the approaches they have embraced – ‘Nature-based Learning’ and ‘Structured Literacy’ are supporting students’ learning
• students engaging in challenging and purposeful learning opportunities that relate to real-life contexts, issues and experiences 
• students achieving well in relation to the school’s expectations in all learning areas.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support student engagement, progress and achievement, and wellbeing through the Nature-based learning approach and ‘Structured Literacy’ programmes.

• Students consistently receive individual attention, including teaching and programmes that are tailor-made to meet their interests and needs.
• Students taking ownership and direction of their learning within a supportive learning environment.
• The ‘Nature-based’ approach allows learning areas to be integrated, including real-world issues and experiences which support students’ learning.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• delivering and evaluating the ‘Structured Literacy’ programme which supports students’ reading and writing achievement
• further strengthening student agency through the Nature-based approach allowing all learning areas to be covered in a way that is meaningful to students
• developing and implementing processes and practices to support rigorous evaluation of the impact of Nature-based learning on outcomes for students’ learning and wellbeing.

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

9 December 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