Ararira Springs Primary- Te Puna o Ararira

School Evaluation Report

Tēnā koutou e mau manawa rahi ki te kaupapa e aro ake nei, ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa. Mā wai rā e kawe, mā tātau katoa. 

We acknowledge the collective effort, responsibility and commitment by all to ensure that the child remains at the heart of the matter. 

Context  

​​Ararira Springs Primary- Te Puna o Ararira​ caters for students in Year 1 to 8 and is located on the south side of Lincoln township. The core values of caring, curiosity and capability were co-constructed alongside Te Taumutu Rūnanga. The school’s gifted name reflects these core values and the cultural narrative connected to the Ararira waterways. 

There are two parts to this report. 

Part A: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings.  

Part B: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.

Part A: Current State  

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement. 

Learner Success and Wellbeing

• Most students are achieving at or above expected curriculum levels in mathematics and writing; a large majority achieve at or above these in reading. 
• Disparity for boys remains in writing; reducing this is a priority for school leaders. 
• Learners express a strong sense of belonging and wellbeing; learners participate confidently and contribute meaningfully in a range of contexts within the local and wider community. 
• A large majority of learners attend school regularly; however, leaders have policies and procedures in place to improve attendance as the school is not yet meeting the Ministry of Education target for regular attendance. 

Conditions to support learner success

• High levels of relational trust, collaboration and a focus on purposeful professional learning among leadership and staff supports a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. 
• Strong leadership actively engages with learners, staff, parents, whānau and local iwi to ensure the school’s vision, goals and priorities reflect community aspirations; parents and whānau are respected and valued partners in their child’s learning. 
• The school provides an inclusive learning environment that promotes a caring culture and effectively meets the diverse needs of students.

• Learners engage well in the localised and culturally relevant curriculum that targets individual learning needs and interests. 
• The comprehensive curriculum reflects local contexts in ways that students can see themselves, their identity and culture across all learning areas. 
• The systematic collection and management of data is used to evaluate the impact of teaching strategies and programmes on students’ success and to identify further areas for improvement.

• The board is strategic, and highly outcome focused; comprehensive information is well used to make effective resourcing decisions to target what is best for students. 
• Leaders and teachers confidently collect, analyse and interpret data from a range of sources using broad and innovative data systems to inform teaching and learning. 
• Student feedback and ideas are gathered and specifically used to inform the learning context, experiences outside of the classroom and sustain the positive school culture. 
• The board and leaders have embedded a strong culture of evaluation, strategic governance and effective professional learning to sustain high quality teaching and learning. 

Part B: Where to next?  

The agreed next steps for the school are to:  

• implement curriculum changes to ensure a shared understanding and alignment with reporting and assessment practices; particularly for students and groups of students who need their achievement accelerated 
• deepen knowledge and understanding of the wide range of cultures in the school’s community so that all students have a stronger sense of belonging and feel their culture is valued 
• embedding strong transition processes for students, whānau and teachers joining the school to ensure a strong sense of wellbeing for learning is developed 
• continue to improve attendance rates through positive strategies and implementation of caring attendance procedures. 

The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows. 

Every six months: 

• gather and analyse engagement and achievement data to monitor the impact curriculum change is having on students and groups of students who need additional support to progress and increase their levels of achievement 
• continue to gather feedback and ideas to monitor the impact of the transition processes on improving positive outcomes for students and teachers 
• report progress towards strategic, annual and attendance goals to ensure close monitoring of all students and robust information is reported to the board for additional resourcing decisions. 

Annually: 

• report to the board on wellbeing, culture and belonging in line with strategic and annual goals to inform areas for improvement 
• continue to gather student feedback and ideas across wellbeing and curriculum engagement to inform curriculum deliver and content, including transition processes 
• evaluate the impact that teaching and pastoral strategies have on improving outcomes for students and groups of students who need this and adapt as required.  

Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in: 

• a continued positive learning culture across the school and community 
• improved achievement in reading, writing and mathematics and accelerated achievement for those students and groups of students that need this 
• students and teachers expressing a stronger sense of wellbeing for learning and belonging 
• improved and sustained attendance, successfully meeting the government targets. 

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Evaluation Report and is due within three years. 

Me mahi tahi tonu tātau, kia whai oranga a tātau tamariki 
Let’s continue to work together for the greater good of all children 

​​Sharon Kelly 
Acting Director of Schools 

​​10 February 2025​ 

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