Aorere College

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 6 months of the Education Review Office and Aorere 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 

Aorere College is a large, multi-ethnic co-educational school in South Auckland. The school caters for students from year 9 to 13. The school vision is to produce students strong in their culture and identity with strong connections to the community, who are successful in their aspirations.

Aorere College’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• students experience success in their learning progress in achievement, consistent high attendance and engagement in learning

• to develop a local, bicultural curriculum

• teachers demonstrate expertise in their pedagogy, which leads to the consistent delivery of high-quality learning contexts and practice, that underpins student success.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the development and implementation of a bicultural local curriculum to support the engagement and achievement of all students.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• to improve Māori and Pasefika student attendance, engagement and achievement

• to develop deeper partnerships with the community, particularly with mana whenua, Māori and Pacific families

• to integrate and locate a pedagogical emphasis on Culturally Responsive and Relational Pedagogy within a culturally responsive curriculum

• to embed national priorities such as the Curriculum Refresh, Mana Ōrite, NCEA changes and the NZ Aotearoa Histories within the school curriculum.

The school expects to see

• improved student engagement and achievement, particularly of Māori and Pacific students

• consultation with the community to inform learning programmes

• improved attendance of students

• teachers supporting students to develop a strong sense of identity and purpose and achieve success

• effective pedagogical practices demonstrated by teachers.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to develop a bicultural local curriculum to support the engagement and achievement of all students.

• an established professional learning programme focused on developing teacher skill in applying Culturally Responsive and Relational Pedagogy, Literacy and Numeracy  

• an on-going commitment to review teaching and learning practices through a Rongohia te Hau framework

• a school wide focus on tracking student achievement, setting goals and evaluating progress that includes students, families and teachers.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• developing and strengthening relationships with whānau and aiga

• gathering student and community voice in the development of the school curriculum

• continuing to develop teacher capability and skill through professional learning.

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.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

5 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