Putaruru Primary School

13 Jul 2022

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within eleven months of the Education Review Office and Putaruru Primary 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 

Putaruru Primary School is located in the South Waikato town of Putaruru. The school caters for learners in Years 1 to 6. The experienced principal and leadership team continue in their roles.

Putaruru Primary School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

all learners will be achieving at their full potential in literacy and numeracy
Māori learners are engaged in their learning and are achieving educational success as Māori with pride in their unique identity, language and culture
providing a positive and safe environment that focuses on a culture of respect and inclusiveness
building positive and inclusive partnerships where parents, whānau and community are empowered to participate fully in their child’s learning
to provide a range of experiences for children to participate and excel in sport, academic, cultural, creative and performing arts.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the current formative assessment practices are improving learner outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

focus on raising achievement in literacy and numeracy is a school-wide priority and there is recognition that achievement outcomes for a significant proportion of learners is not at expected levels
effective formative assessment practices have potential to improve outcomes for learners.

The school expects to see:

accelerated progress in literacy and numeracy for learners who need this
strengthened formative assessment practices consistently used across the school
learners who actively make choices about their learning to improve achievement outcomes.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to develop formative assessment practices:

a respectful and inclusive environment that supports learning and teaching
experienced and collaborative leadership focused on promoting equitable and excellent outcomes for Māori and learners with diverse needs
a strong focus on the wellbeing of learners and their whānau to promote optimum conditions for learning.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

continuing to build teacher capacity in formative assessment, through formalised professional learning
embedding school-wide use of learning progressions for both teachers and learners
consistently embedding new teaching and learning practices including assessment
ensuring effective systems and processes are supporting teacher practice.

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

13 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

Putaruru Primary School