Selwyn Ridge School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile ReportBackground

Background

This Profile Report was written within 15 months of the Education Review Office and Selwyn Ridge 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 

Selwyn Ridge School is located in Welcome Bay, Tauranga and caters for students in Years 1 to 6. The school staff is experienced, and the roll has remained stable over time. The school vision of ‘Learners Soaring High, Kia Hokahoka Kahurangi’ is underpinned by the concepts of ‘growing mind, heart and toolbox – whakāro, manawa, kete’ for ‘The Kid on the Ridge’.

Selwyn Ridge School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• continue to grow and sustain a staff committed to enhancing student achievement through a culture of continued improvement

• refine and embed a local curriculum that reflects the bicultural intent of Te Tiriti o Waitangi through growing and normalising tikanga and te reo Māori in daily school life

• ensure children with special learning needs are supported with best practice teaching within an inclusive school culture.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent to which adaptations to the school curriculum are promoting identity and belonging, equity and excellence for all learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• school achievement information shows ongoing disparity for some learners. The school’s strategic actions are responding to this data and the evaluation will provide evidence of increased equity over time

• the school’s commitment to implementing the National Education Learning Priorities and ensuring Māori enjoy and achieve educational success as Māori.

The school expects to see:

• increasingly equitable and excellent outcomes for all within a culture that promotes identity and belonging

• staff who are continuously supported to grow collective capacity to adapt their practice to best meet the needs of all learners

• an increasingly bicultural localised curriculum that is reflective of the intent of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths for ongoing improvement:

• ongoing promotion of distributed leadership and shared responsibility, and the collaborative enactment of school vision and values

• a wide, rich and meaningful curriculum that adapts in response to the school’s focus questions of ‘what is powerful learning?’ and ‘what is powerful to learn?’

• systematic, collaborative inquiry and internal monitoring and evaluation processes that inform strategic priorities for ongoing school improvement.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• strengthening meaningful, educationally powerful partnerships with family, whānau, hapu, iwi and community networks to best meet the needs of all learners

• further developing the schools localised curriculum to give increasing effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and impact positively on learner outcomes by ensuring equity and excellence for all.

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.  

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

29 July 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