Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report
Background
This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Kaiapoi 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
Kaiapoi High School is a state co-educational, secondary school located in Kaiapoi, Northwest of Christchurch. Kaiapoi High School caters for students in Year 9 to 13 and hosts the Karanga Mai Young Parents College which is located on the school grounds.
Kaiapoi High School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:
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for teachers to have the skill, knowledge, and confidence to work with a Kaiapoi taxonomy to create tasks and lessons that allow all students to achieve their full potential
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for students to be in class, engaged in their learning and connected to the school by being involved in activities outside the classroom.
You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Kaiapoi High School’s website.
ERO and the school are working together to evaluate to what extent the introduction of SOLO (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes) and the focus on literacy leads to excellent and equitable outcomes for students.
The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:
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to investigate the impact of the introduction of SOLO on teacher practice and confidence to design learning programmes which promote optimum conditions for learning
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to use assessments which provide meaningful evidence of achievement and progress and a basis for determining next steps
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to add value to excellence and equity of outcomes for all students.
The school expects to see the school’s NCEA data to show improvement in students’ achievements as indicated by the percentage of students gaining NCEA level 1-3, and the number of merit and excellence endorsements for NCEA level 1-3.
Strengths
The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to enhance student and staff wellbeing:
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the school has well-established processes for internal evaluation and continuous improvement
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teachers are actively engaged in the collection and analysis of data, to identify students in need of acceleration and address equity and excellence
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teachers effectively use research, different teaching approaches and regular evaluation to identify what initiatives have the greatest impact for students whose progress needs to be accelerated.
Where to next?
Moving forward, the school will prioritise:
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strengthening and implementing the schoolwide use of SOLO to inform teaching and assessment practice
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monitoring the impact of the implementation of SOLO taxonomy on excellence and equity in achievement of all students
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continuing to encourage and support Māori children to succeed as Māori.
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.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini
16 June 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