Huia Range School

Huia Range School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background

This Profile Report was written by the Education Review Office and Huia Range 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 

Huia Range School is situated at the northern end of Dannevirke. The school provides educational opportunities for students in Years 0 to 8. A new principal began Term 1, 2024.

Huia Range School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes are for learners to:

  • experience learning opportunities and an environment that sets high expectations for achievement and supports quality wellbeing outcomes for learners
  • feel a sense of belonging and connection to the school where parents, whānau, and community support the learning of the school.

You can obtain a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan from Huia Range School’s office.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school’s partnership with parents and the local community supports the attendance, wellbeing and achievement of all students.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to: 

  • raise understanding among whānau of the importance of getting their children to school regularly and on time
  • develop a shared understanding of how a strong parent/school partnerships can support student learning and wellbeing 
  • raise overall student engagement, wellbeing and achievement especially in the areas of reading and mathematics.

The school expects to see a strengthening of the relationships between whānau, community and the school. It also expects to see whānau increasingly involved in their child’s learning. Improvement in attendance, engagement, progress and achievement of students is the priority.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to strengthen partnerships with whānau and the community to improve the wellbeing and achievement of students:

  • established connections to groups that support cultural understanding and participation in activities that inform the local curriculum
  • a local curriculum that provides a variety of ‘hands on’ learning opportunities to engage students.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • ensuring students attend regularly and arrive at school on time
  • identifying and sharing the most effective teaching strategies in reading and mathematics to better enable students to engage in learning
  • further refinement of assessment practices to align with changes to literacy teaching 
  • strengthening of established connections with local iwi and agencies to support student wellbeing and the further development of cultural understandings
  • strengthening whānau understanding of learning processes so they can support the learning of their tamariki.

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

16 May 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

Huia Range School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2024 to 2027 

As of March 2024, the Huia Range School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Further Information

For further information please contact Huia Range School, School Board.

The next School Board assurance that it is meeting regulatory and legislative requirements will be reported, along with the Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report, within three years.

Information on ERO’s role and process in this review can be found on the Education Review Office website.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools 

16 May 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

Huia Range School

Findings

Huia Range School has addressed its priorities for improvement. School practices are supporting an improvement focus and evaluation is used to determine the effectiveness of initiatives on outcomes for students.

1 Background and Context

What is the background and context for this school’s review?

Huia Range School in Dannevirke provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. The current roll of 317 students includes 61% who are Māori.

The school has been working with ERO since November 2018. ERO’s February 2021 report identified that while progress had been made in some areas, further progress was required.

In 2021, leaders and teachers have been involved in professional development relating to teaching and assessment in mathematics. An emphasis on strengthening culturally responsive practices across the school has been supported by external facilitators. The principal took sabbatical leave in Term 3 2021 to focus on her professional development. The board has been working with the New Zealand School Trustees Association (NZSTA) to increase trustees’ knowledge of board roles and responsibilities.

2 Review and Development

How effectively is the school addressing its priorities for review and development?

Priorities identified for review and development

The February 2021 ERO report identified the following areas for development:

  • strengthening schoolwide assessment and moderation practices
  • identifying, tracking and reporting the progress and achievement of those students achieving below expected curriculum levels, as part of a process of raising student achievement
  • further developing the local curriculum, including culturally responsive practice
  • ensuring that new practices and systems are embedded, and the quality of the implementation monitored
  • building relational trust and effective collaboration
  • further developing internal evaluation.
Progress

Progress has been made in all areas identified for development.

Mathematics has been an area of emphasis in 2021. Teachers have strengthened approaches to lesson structures and increased student engagement in mathematics. Professional development in the use of an assessment and moderation tool has led to increased consistency of judgements about achievement in mathematics.

A process for identifying target students and tracking their progress has been implemented consistently across the school. Teachers regularly discuss the progress and achievement of target students and the use of deliberate acts of teaching has increased. The principal collects this information and reports it to the board.

Achievement information at mid-year 2021 showed that a large majority of students were achieving at or above curriculum expectations in mathematics, reading and writing. Overall levels of schoolwide achievement for Māori were higher.

Further work is needed to increase the number of students making accelerated progress. Of the students in Years 1 to 4 who were achieving below expected levels in reading at the start of 2021, 7% made accelerated progress and 73% made some progress.

Achievement reports to the board should be better analysed to give a clearer picture of current rates of progress and to identify strategies for improving students’ achievement. This will enable the board to scrutinise the information and prioritise appropriate resourcing for improvement.

A shared document has been developed that appropriately guides teaching and learning. It is aligned with developments in The New Zealand Curriculum. Leaders have identified that updates in mathematics and literacy are yet to be included.

Leaders are proud of the development of culturally responsive practices across the school. Teacher capability in te reo Māori has increased. This has been supported by experts and research. Explicit programmes build students’ knowledge of te reo Māori and they are keen to participate in these interesting learning experiences.

The implementation of strategies for teaching mathematics is an example of new practices being used consistently across the school. Senior leaders have monitored the process to ensure that expectations are implemented schoolwide. The focus on target students is another example of a schoolwide initiative implemented consistently. To strengthen the process of accelerating student achievement, all underachieving students should be target students.

Leaders have begun to identify what high quality professional relationships could look like at this school. Progress has been made in relational trust and collaboration in 2021. Leaders have begun to discuss ways of further strengthening this area.

3 Sustainable performance and self review

How well placed is the school to sustain and continue to improve and review its performance?

The school is well placed to continue to sustain and improve its performance.

There are improved systems for reporting to the board, implementing and monitoring new initiatives, and monitoring the progress of target students.

The curriculum document provides a clear overview to guide teaching and learning.

Leaders are using an agreed internal evaluation framework well to determine the effectiveness of initiatives and outcomes for students.

Key next steps

  • increase the number of underachieving students making accelerated progress
  • strengthen achievement reports to the board by increasing analysis and including additional information about the progress of those students achieving below curriculum expectations.

Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review, the board of trustees and principal of the school completed the ERO Board Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklists. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legislative obligations related to:

  • board administration
  • curriculum
  • management of health, safety and welfare
  • personnel management
  • financial management
  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
  • physical safety of students
  • teacher registration
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
  • attendance
  • school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Children’s Act 2014.

Conclusion

Huia Range School has addressed its priorities for improvement. School practices are supporting an improvement focus and evaluation is used to determine the effectiveness of initiatives on outcomes for students.

The school will transition into ERO’s Evaluation for Improvement process.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini

20 December 2021

About the school

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement.