Garin College

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 14 months of the Education Review Office and Garin College 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 

Garin College is located in Nelson, Whakatū Te Tau Ihu, and provides education for learners in years 9 to 13. Opened in 2002, Garin College is a co-educational, state-integrated Catholic college. The college vision is that graduate students will be Christ-centred people of faith who action this through love and wisdom within their community. A stand-alone hostel is operated by the Garin College Hostel Trust.

Garin College’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are promoting:

• excellence in education, faith development, and high educational achievement outcomes for every learner
• learner agency and wellbeing within a rich responsive curriculum to meet the needs of all learners.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the alignment of schoolwide processes to promote wellbeing and learner agency on enhancing year 9 learner outcomes over time.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• Garin College has identified year 9 as an important, formative time of education and life
• The College believes their Catholic special character enables learners to develop agency, become contributors to the Wairua of Garin, attain their aspirations, and enjoy success within the context of their graduate profile for learners.

The school expects to see:

• learners developing agency and efficacy for enhanced independence in learning
• continued evaluation of inclusive practices, including a specific focus on Māori and Pacific, learners confidently expressing their sense of belonging, connection to Garin, their identities, languages, and cultures
• the development of responsive support strategies within a localised curriculum to improve attendance and engagement
• through professional growth, teachers using strategies and practices which work best for equity and excellence.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate the alignment of school-wide processes to promote wellbeing and learner agency on enhancing year 9 learner outcomes over time:

• High expectations are the foundation of the graduate profile which is aspirational for learners.
• Embedded values and programmes for wellbeing and pastoral care nurtures learners within an inclusive environment.
• Established practices of gathering rich data, tracking achievement, monitoring and reporting on student achievement into, through and beyond the College.
• Trust and confidence schoolwide to gather feedback and learn from each other for ongoing improvement.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• reviewing and exploring current learning initiatives through more effective use of data schoolwide to track improvement and highlight future priorities
• seeking and developing further opportunities to connect with parents, caregivers, whanau, hapū and iwi to promote agency, inclusion and educational partnerships.

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.

Kathy Lye
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

20 April 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