Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report
Background
This Profile Report was written within fifteen months of the Education Review Office and Omokoroa 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
Omokoroa School, in the Western Bay of Plenty, provides education for students in Years 1-8. A new principal was appointed in 2018. The school is located in a horticultural setting and has strong links across its local learning community.
Omokoroa School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:
- to continue to deliver a local curriculum that is future focused, authentic, and culturally responsive to the school and community
- to sustain a high level of teaching excellence through professional development and collaborations
- to enhance effective literacy and numeracy skills
- to maintain strong partnerships and communication across the learning community.
You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Omokoroa School’s website.
ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school’s local curriculum is enabling improved outcomes for all learners. Strengthening partnerships for learning with parents and whānau and supporting cultural connectedness are continued priorities for the school.
The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:
- the opportunity it provides to maintain a strategic focus on equitable outcomes for learners, particularly boys in literacy
- the school’s commitment to strengthening culturally responsive practices to further support a sense of belonging and identity for students and whānau, and reciprocal learning-centred relationships.
The school expects to see further actions implemented to enhance the effectiveness of the school’s curriculum and enable increased engagement and success for all learners.
Strengths
The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to improve outcomes for all learners through a responsive curriculum:
- leadership of learning that collaboratively develops and pursues the school’s vision, goals and targets for equity and excellence
- well-established planning that includes the analysis of school-wide data and prioritises actions for improvement
- teaching and learning programmes that enable high levels of student achievement.
Where to next?
Moving forward, the school will prioritise continuing to:
- strengthen strategies to improve boys’ confidence and competence in writing
- promote cultural partnerships to further build relationships with whānau and iwi
- engage with parents and families to enable quality, reciprocal learning 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.
Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui
12 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