Review 21 September 2022
LatestTe Ara Huarau | School Profile Report
Background
This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Hillside Primary 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
Hillside Primary School is a small, rural school providing education for students from Years 1 to 8. Students learn in two multilevel classes. The school is going through a major upgrade of buildings.
Hillside Primary School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:
-
to ensure the school’s vision, values, and goals for equity and excellence are continually being developed and sustained through effective planning and self-review
-
to provide an environment which is well resourced to promote learning that is personalised, student centred, engaging, and connected to the real world
-
for students to succeed academically and socially in a way that supports their self-esteem and wellbeing.
You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Hillside Primary School’s website.
ERO and the school are working together to build consistency in the use of effective evaluation with mathematics as a context.
The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:
-
that mathematics may be delivered differently, and the school needs to know what is working well and what is not in an ongoing way
-
the school is currently involved in a one-year professional learning and development contract in mathematics.
The school expects to see a process of evaluation that determines how effective teaching strategies are supporting students’ learning in mathematics.
Strengths
The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to build consistency in the use of effective evaluation with mathematics as a context.
-
A family-like, inclusive environment, with supportive relationships at all levels of the school - Tuakana-teina|older students supporting younger.
-
Students achieve well academically.
-
Small classes where students develop strong foundations in literacy and numeracy.
-
The staff and board work collaboratively to support positive outcomes for students.
Where to next?
Moving forward, the school will prioritise:
-
increasing the use of a specific progress monitoring tool to support assessment and teaching practice in mathematics
-
strengthening evaluation skills to support ongoing 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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
21 September 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