Glenorchy School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Glenorchy 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 

Glenorchy School is situated at the head of Lake Wakatipu, 45 km north of Queenstown. The school provides education for students in Years 1 – 8. Their vision is to foster lifelong learning through quality teaching, while engaging the community and acknowledging the environment.

The school’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• further develop their vision and values with a focus on wellbeing

• foster lifelong learning and an inquiring mind.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school’s curriculum supports students to meet literacy progression milestones by the end of Year 3.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• the school has recently implemented the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA) and wishes to evaluate its impact on reading and writing outcomes for all students, particularly those in Years 1 – 3

• increasing numbers of junior students have not been meeting achievement expectations in recent years.

The school expects to see:

• teachers developing a shared understanding of literacy progressions throughout the school

• teachers continuing to reflect and refine their teaching practices in response to learners’ needs and their growing knowledge of BSLA

• improved reading and writing outcomes for all students, especially those who are not currently making sufficient progress to meet achievement expectations in Years 1 – 3.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how effectively it supports students to meet literacy progression milestones by the end of Year 3:

• leaders and teachers have high expectations for equitable and excellent learning outcomes for all groups of learners

• the school makes use of the unique alpine environment to provide rich, authentic contexts for learning

• students’ needs are known and responded to with strategic interventions to support them in their learning and accelerate their progress.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• professional learning for teaching staff to grow their knowledge of BSLA and embed high quality and consistent professional practice across the school

• review curriculum documentation to reflect the BSLA approach to provide clarity and guidance for teachers and other stakeholders

• using high quality progress and achievement data analysis to inform teaching and learning and improve outcomes for learners

• sharing information with the community to ensure the school’s new approach to literacy is well understood by whānau, to inform and strengthen their engagement with children’s learning.

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

17 May 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