Review 22 September 2023
LatestTe Ara Huarau | School Profile Report
Background
This Profile Report was written within 2 years of the Education Review Office and Takitimu 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
Takitimu Primary School is a small, rural primary school for students in Years 1 to 8 located in Western Southland. It’s vision for learners is that they will be the best they can be and that they will demonstrate the school’s central value of kindness. At the time of this review the school was in the process of recruiting a new principal.
The school’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:
-
promoting students’ hauora|wellbeing
-
development and delivery of localised curriculum
-
provision of quality leadership and teaching to support positive outcomes for students.
You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Takitimu Primary School’s website.
ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well school stewardship and leadership are fostering the conditions for responsive curriculum, effective teaching and a safe and positive learning culture.
The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:
-
the school has experienced ongoing leadership and staffing changes that have impacted on the sustainability and continuity of aspects of curriculum development, teaching and the provision of a positive learning culture
-
internal evaluation processes are not sufficiently developed to support and inform ongoing school improvement.
The school expects to see:
-
students feel cared about as individuals, successful as learners and a sense of belonging in their school
-
students make appropriate rates of progress in literacy and numeracy learning.
Strengths
The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to strengthen the conditions for responsive curriculum, effective teaching and a positive learning culture.
Teachers who are actively engaged in professional learning to improve their teaching practice and curriculum knowledge
-
systems for promoting, recognising and monitoring positive behaviour expectations across the school
-
systems and interventions for identifying and responding to students who need additional support to make progress and achieve in literacy.
Where to next?
Moving forward, the school will prioritise strengthening:
-
strategic and annual planning, in consultation with the school community, to better provide direction for the school
-
reliability of assessment information, analysis and reporting to inform planning and improvement
-
guidelines and expectations for curriculum planning and implementation and effective teaching
-
professional support for teachers to continue to develop their teaching capability including for fostering a positive learning culture and using assessment skilfully to inform teaching and learning.
ERO has concerns about aspects of
-
strategic and annual planning, and self review; and
-
leadership of curriculum, teaching, and a positive learning culture.
Recommendation
To bring about the improvements identified ERO recommended that the Ministry of Education provide additional tailored support to the school in regard to governance, leadership of learning and curriculum for ongoing improvement.
The Ministry of Education is working alongside the school.
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
22 September 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