Heddon Bush School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Heddon Bush 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 

Heddon Bush School is a small rural school located in Central Southland. It provides education for children in years 1-8. The school’s vision for students is that they are supported to reach their full potential, socially, physically, emotionally, intellectually and technologically, and that they become confident, connected, and actively involved life- long learners.

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

• meeting all students’ unique learning needs through provision of a rich and varied curriculum, in a positive and safe learning environment which fosters students’ social, physical and emotional development
• building educationally powerful connections and communications with parents and whānau to improve learning outcomes for students
• improving and developing appraisal, inquiry, reflection and self -review systems to continue to improve practice.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well the school’s curriculum and teaching is supporting student progress and achievement in literacy and the development of skills to manage their own learning and wellbeing.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that the school:

• has a number of students whose families move regularly and they want to make sure these students have the best foundations for ongoing success in learning
• wants to lift achievement and accelerate progress in literacy – particularly for boys.

The school expects to see:

• students who are new to the school settle quickly, make friends and begin to make progress in their learning
• all students progressing and achieving at expected levels in literacy
• students feeling increasingly confident to manage their own learning and wellbeing.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to lift achievement in literacy and foster the development of students’ self-management skills:

• board members, school leaders and teachers who are committed to meeting the diverse needs of learners
• a positive, inclusive school culture that is welcoming and accepting of new students and their families
• a teaching team that is fully engaged in ongoing professional learning to improve the quality of teaching and student learning outcomes.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• continued professional development for teachers to deliver effective literacy teaching and to foster students’ wellbeing and self-management skills
• effective evaluation to know about how well teaching and learning programmes are working to achieve expected learning outcomes
• ongoing curriculum development to ensure effective practices become embedded and can be sustained over time.

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

14 August 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