Wakari School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 15 months of the Education Review Office and Wakari 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 

Wakari School is situated in the hill suburbs of Dunedin. It provides education for students in Years 1 – 6. The school has a vision for happy, confident learners - ngā akonga harikoa, ngā ākonga māia hoki. The school is currently undergoing significant property improvements. An Acting Principal has been appointed until a permanent Principal appointment is made in 2023.

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

• provide classroom learning programmes that reflect a commitment to high-quality teaching and learning

• perform to the highest professional standards - critically reflecting, adapting and implementing change

• provide the staff and pupils of Wakari School with the best facilities and resources to enable a full and rich curriculum delivery.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of the Mathematics curriculum across all levels of the school.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• school leaders have identified a need to improve teachers’ collective pedagogical knowledge of mathematics teaching and improve the consistency of teacher practice across the school

• the school has recently implemented the PRIME Maths programme and wishes to evaluate its impact on learning outcomes for all students.

The school expects to see consistent and effective Mathematics teaching practices embedded across the school and that the positive trends, recently identified in the school’s achievement data for Mathematics, are sustained and extended.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the effectiveness of the Mathematics curriculum across all levels of the school:

• a strategic, collaborative approach to improving outcomes for learners

• a stable and experienced staff, who are adaptive and responsive to the needs of their students

• the pedagogical expertise to lead curriculum change from within the school.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• continued professional learning for teachers to further compliment the existing Mathematics programmes

• the refinement of the school-wide basic facts programme, with a renewed focus on division, in line with the recent achievement gap analysis

• continuing to extend and challenge learners to exceed expectations 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.

Kathy Lye
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

22 March 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