Onehunga High School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within sixteen months of the Education Review Office and Onehunga High 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

Onehunga High School is a co-educational school in Auckland which provides education for students in Years 9 to 13. Following the retirement of a long-serving principal, a new principal started in Term 1 2023. A new leadership team has been established.

Onehunga High School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• effective pedagogies to accelerate learning to ensure significant learner progress
• foster a school learning culture of high expectations underpinned by OHS pride and a sense of belonging
• strengthening of the broad and rich curriculum alongside a cycle of review for continuous improvement
• strengthening of academic mentoring and tracking for identification of learner support followed by intervention to improve outcomes. 

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of the school-wide focus on excellent and equitable outcomes for all learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to ensure excellent and equitable academic outcomes for all learners, especially Māori and Pacific learners. 

The school expects to see:

• improved academic outcomes for all learners, who are supported to achieve their personal best
• targeted and effective interventions which ensure equitable outcomes, especially for Māori and Pacific learners
• learners experiencing a strong sense of belonging to the school and demonstrate confidence in their identities, languages and cultures
• the strengthened delivery of te reo Māori me ōna tikanga and mātauranga Māori.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the impact of the school-wide focus on excellent and equitable outcomes for all learners:

• learners experience a broad, innovative and relevant curriculum
• collaborative and adaptive staff committed to all learners realising their academic potential
• leaders and teachers are focused on the implementation and progress of improvement strategies
• teacher capability to use achievement data to identify the learning needs of students and act on this information.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise: 

• ensuring equitable opportunities and achievement of excellent academic outcomes for all learners
• embedding an inclusive culture that promotes equity, excellence and OHS pride
• continuing to develop and implement school systems informed by a range of information and evaluation processes.

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

15 February 2024

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

Onehunga High School hosts satellite classes of Central Auckland Specialist School.