Glamorgan School

Glamorgan School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

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

Glamorgan School is in Torbay, Auckland and caters for students in Years 1 to 6. The school’s vision is for ‘students to thrive in a learning environment that develops, promotes, and celebrates learning and achieving together’. The key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum are integrated into all areas of the school and are promoted through the ‘steps to success’ framework.

Glamorgan School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • designing a curriculum to improve student achievement

  • developing cultural awareness of staff and students so programmes value students’ identity, language, and culture

  • building effective learning relationships

  • developing and maintaining a healthy, safe, and inclusive learning environment.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the development of the school’s localised curriculum.

The aim is to develop a cohesive learning pathway in an environment that is safe, connected by strong relationships and where students have ownership over their learning and experience success.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is: 

  • that staff reviewed the strategic goals and identified common themes for the school’s next steps

  • the need to re-establish and strengthen existing relationships between school whānau and the community

  • to increase the sense of wellbeing and belonging to enhance learner hauora.

The school expects to see:

  • strengthened relationships with the community

  • a clear learning pathway across the school where students are active participants; feel confident, secure, and have a sense of belonging.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the development of the localised curriculum. School strengths include:

  • strong teaching practice focused on strategically improving equity and excellence for all learners 

  • staff that prioritise effective learning relationships, and students’ sense of belonging and wellbeing

  • the school’s ‘steps to success’ framework supports a positive culture for learning and prioritises the development of the key competencies.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • strengthening relationships between the school, whānau and community to enhance learning

  • developing a localised curriculum that responds to students’ culture, language, and identity to increase engagement and improve learner outcomes.

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

11 October 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

Glamorgan School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of June 2022, the Glamorgan School Board of Trustees 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 Glamorgan School Board of Trustees.

The next Board of Trustees 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.

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

11 October 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

Glamorgan School

Provision for International Students Report

Background

The Education Review Office reviews schools that are signatories to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Findings

Glamorgan School has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code of Practice 2021 and has completed an annual self-review of its implementation. At the time of this review there were no international students attending the school, and no exchange students.

International students when attending Glamorgan School benefit from the school’s inclusive culture and pastoral care. Students and their families are supported well to integrate into the school’s community. They receive very good English language support to complement the quality classroom teaching and learning programmes.

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

11 October 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

Glamorgan School - 14/09/2016

1 Context

Glamorgan School is located in Torbay on Auckland's North Shore. The school caters for children in Years 1 to 6 and the school roll reflects the diverse local community.

The school has an established culture of professional learning and collaboration and works in close partnership with local schools to promote better outcomes for students. This group of schools is in the initial stages of forming a Community of Learning.

The school has a positive ERO reporting history. The 2011 ERO report noted strengths in school governance and leadership, and good support for children's achievement. These features have been sustained and further developed to promote positive outcomes for all children.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are about being challenged to learn and achieve in an inclusive environment where everyone is respected and valued. Children are encouraged to think for themselves, relate well to others, manage themselves, communicate effectively, and to participate and contribute. These goals reflect the aspirations of the school community. Leaders and teachers consider positive and caring relationships with students, teachers, families and whānau as essential to achieving meaningful learning for children.

The school’s achievement information shows that children achieve very well. The majority are achieving at or above the National Standards in mathematics, reading and writing. Māori children achieve very well. They achieve better in writing than other groups of children in the school, similar to other groups in reading and slightly less well in mathematics. Pacific students achieve to similar high levels across all standards. The high achievement for all groups has been sustained over the past four years.

Since 2012 there has been a significant reduction in the disparity between the achievement of Māori and non Māori children. By the end of Year 6 all Māori children are achieving above National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. The majority of Glamorgan children achieve the National Standard in writing and above the National Standard in reading and mathematics, by the time they leave the school at the end of Year 6.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has participated in comprehensive professional learning and development in mathematics, literacy, science, teacher inquiry, appraisal and formative assessment. The school has also established a teacher staffed 'Home School Partnership Team' that supports parents to help their children with their learning at home.

3 Accelerating achievement

How effectively does this school respond to children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

The school responds very well to Māori and other children whose learning needs acceleration. At all levels of the school there is a high level of responsiveness to children's learning needs. Teachers and school leaders address concerns with urgency to support children's continued progress.

School leaders prioritise the achievement of Māori learners and they follow comprehensive processes to enable children's success. School leaders closely analyse achievement information and carefully track each Māori child's progress from the time they enter school. They ensure that learning is optimised for each Māori child. All children benefit from the robustness of the systems and teaching practices that are promoting accelerated progress for Māori and Pacific children.

School leaders and teachers scrutinise achievement data and decide on strategies to support children's progress. Teachers collate and analyse a wide range of data to evaluate the success of initiatives and see how well they are benefitting individual children. Programmes can if needed, be refocused to ensure success for a particular child or group of children.

The school develops learning-focused relationships with whānau. Staff work alongside whānau to provide relevant learning support and extension strategies for their children. This same approach is followed for Pacific children and other learners who are not progressing as well as expected. Whānau and parents enjoy positive and strong partnerships with the school. The 'Home School Partnership Team' is highly valued by parents. The genuine desire to support children and families is very effective and supports children's accelerated progress.

4 School conditions

How effectively do the school’s curriculum and other organisational processes and practices develop and enact the school’s vision, values, goals and targets for equity and excellence?

The school's curriculum, processes and practices very effectively develop and enact the school's vision, values, goals and priorities for equity and excellence.

The board, senior leaders and staff promote children's wellbeing. They are highly inclusive and ensure that the best outcomes for children are at the centre of all decisions. Teachers value each child's individuality as a learner and as a person. Closely managed and monitored school systems, support children with additional learning needs and capabilities. The board demonstrates an ongoing commitment to providing timely and supportive resourcing to benefit children.

The curriculum provides clear and comprehensive guidelines for teachers. Classroom practice reflects and continues to trial modern learning strategies. This includes very good use of digital technologies. Senior leaders plan to revisit formative assessment and teaching practice with teachers. Their aim is to help internal evaluation become more explicit for teachers and students.

Curriculum programmes are flexible and responsive to children's learning strengths and interests. Local contexts and global perspectives provide purposeful learning opportunities. Children also have many opportunities to succeed in the wider curriculum including, drama, sport, leadership and kapa haka. These opportunities are fostered and celebrated throughout the school.

Māori language and cultural perspectives are increasingly integrated across the learning areas. This is supported by a focus on building teachers' confidence and capability in te reo me ngā tikanga Māori. Māori children report these approaches help them feel valued as learners and members of the school community.

The principal leads a capable leadership team, who have a strong focus on the child as a learner. Together they take a strategic approach to developing teaching capability and to building a learning community. They lead professional learning and actively support teachers to develop the good quality classroom practice evident throughout the school. Positive and affirming relationships underpin learning interactions between children and staff.

A culture of evaluation and inquiry supports an evidence-based approach to school improvement. The school has robust processes in place for assessment moderation. Leaders continue to make this an area of internal and external review. Teachers' inquiry into the effectiveness of their practice is promoting high level professional engagement, collaboration and improved outcomes for children. Relevant performance management processes guide teachers' continued growth in professional practice.

The school is well governed. The board seeks external training to support its governance role. It has sound processes and policies in place. Trustees have a strong commitment to the wellbeing of all children and staff in the school. They use achievement data well, and seek the best learning outcomes for all children. The board seeks excellence, and has a continuing commitment to ensuring equitable conditions for the children and families that they serve.

5 Going forward

How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?

Leaders and teachers:

  • know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
  • respond effectively to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
  • regularly evaluate how well teaching is working for these children
  • act on what they know works well for each child
  • build teacher capability effectively to achieve equitable outcomes for all children
  • are well placed to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children.

Glamorgan School has a culture of continuous improvement that supports all children. There is evidence across school systems and practices of thoughtful internal and external evaluation. Equitable and respectful relationships characterise the school. This impacts positively on outcomes for all children.

The board and senior leadership team have identified appropriate priorities for further development. These include:

  • refining assessment and internal evaluation systems to promote student agency
  • continuing the school-wide inquiry to raise boys' achievement in writing.

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in four-to-five years.

6 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 the following:

  • board administration

  • curriculum

  • management of health, safety and welfare

  • personnel management

  • asset management.

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

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)

  • physical safety of students

  • teacher registration

  • processes for appointing staff

  • stand down, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions

  • attendance

  • compliance with the provisions of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014

  • provision for international students.

7 Recommendation

ERO recommends that the school continues to develop as a learning community that values internal evaluation and promotes equity and excellence for all children. 

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

14 September 2016

About the school

Location

Torbay, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1283

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

548

Number of international students

2

Gender composition

Boys 55% Girls 45%

Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

Chinese

Asian

African

British

Pacific

other European

other

11%

60%

7%

5%

4%

3%

2%

5%

3%

Review team on site

August 2016

Date of this report

14 September 2016

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

August 2011

September 2008

August 2005