Limehills School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background

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

Limehills School in Central Southland provides education for students from Years 0 to 8. The principal was appointed in 2022 and a new senior leadership team was appointed in 2023. The school’s mission is: “Our tamariki will have a ‘can-do’ attitude and take ownership of their learning”.

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

• strengths in literacy and numeracy and improve all students’ learning outcomes
• skills in te reo Māori and to have a greater understanding of tikanga Māori and Te Tiriti ō Waitangi. 

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school’s writing programme supports learners to meet the expectations of the Literacy Learning Progressions.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• over the last two years the school has implemented ‘Structured Literacy’ in the four junior classrooms, and ‘The Code’ across all learning areas and wishes to evaluate the impact of both on student outcomes
• staff have identified a need to improve learners’ writing fluency and the inclusion of surface and deeper features to better meet the expectations of the Literacy Learning Progressions in all contexts.

The school expects to see:

• a programme that enables all ākonga access to the curriculum through strong foundational literacy skills and knowledge
• increased engagement, progress, and achievement for ākonga in literacy.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to achieve improved learning outcomes for all ākonga in literacy:

• a collaborative teaching team who have high expectations for all students to achieve
• a strong partnership between the community and school that supports learning and wellbeing
• a consistent approach to literacy teaching schoolwide, that is supported by regular professional development for teachers and learning assistants
• the delivery of a structured literacy programme that aligns with the school’s strategic direction and priorities.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• a collaborative approach to planning, assessment and data gathering to monitor and evaluate the impact of the literacy programme on students’ learning
• a tracking process to ensure ongoing support for identified groups of students not making expected progress. 

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

23 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