Gore High School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within fifteen months of the Education Review Office and Gore High 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 

Gore High School is a Years 9 to 13 co-educational secondary school in Gore. The school is in the process of merging with the local intermediate school. A new principal will be appointed for the new Years 7 to 13 school. A significant building redevelopment programme has begun on the Gore High School site.

Gore High School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• improving teaching strategies to accelerate the progress of learners who need this, with a particular focus on aspects of literacy and mathematics in Years 9 and 10
• ensuring learners are well prepared with the skills, attributes and characteristics that will serve them well in their future learning.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate accelerating progress for junior students in reading, writing and mathematics through effective assessment and other teaching and learning practices.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that the school:

• has identified some groups of students are not achieving at appropriate levels and progressing as well as some others
• wants all students to have the necessary foundation literacy and mathematics learning to achieve senior school national qualifications
• wants to know the impacts of the significant ongoing professional learning staff have participated in to understand learning progressions in literacy and mathematics.

The school expects to see:

• teachers using culturally responsive approaches to engage learners
• teachers being better able to target strategies to accelerate the progress for individual learners
• increased proportions of learners making accelerated progress in reading, writing and mathematics
• improved learner readiness to achieve senior qualifications
• teachers being better able to evaluate the impact of their teaching on outcomes for their learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to improve learner outcomes:

• a specific plan to build staff capacity to understand learning progressions
• high quality professional learning and development for staff who are committed to achieving the best outcomes for their learners
• the availability of data and teachers’ analytical skills to determine patterns and trends in learner achievement and progress, and be responsive to this
• leadership capability and willingness to engage in systematic evaluation for improvement
• the way in which the school is working with the community and the local intermediate as reciprocal partners.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• teachers collaboratively identifying the teaching strategies which are effective in accelerating learners’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics
• teachers consistently using the above identified strategies for learner outcomes
• extending partnerships to ensure effective transitions for students into the school at Year 7
• ensuring the school’s redeveloped environment and curriculum is flexible and able to be adapted to best meet the needs of all learners going forward.

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

5 August 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