Northland School

Education institution number:
2931
School type:
Full Primary
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
234
Telephone:
Address:

14 Harbour View Road, Northland, Wellington

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Northland School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 11 months of the Education Review Office and Northland 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 

Northland School is located in Wellington and provides education for students in years 0 to 8. The school appointed a first-time principal who began at the beginning of 2021.

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

  • that all learners demonstrate a passion for learning and develop ways to understand, know and do throughout the learning process

  • to strengthen culturally responsive practices, whānau engagement and relationships

  • to improve student wellbeing through developing skills to care for themselves and one another and know they are valued.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively teachers are implementing the Northland Learner Pathway (the school’s local curriculum) to engage students and support their progress and achievement.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is because the school identified needs to strengthen:

  • core learning programmes through innovative teacher practices that respond effectively to student learning needs

  • engagement and connections with whānau and community so all can work together to support children to achieve

  • children to know how to care for themselves, one another, and know that they are valued.

The school expects to see evidence of improved student achievement and engagement due to increases in:

  • the effectiveness of teacher response to individual student needs

  • support for students through engagement and connectiveness with whānau

  • student self-efficacy and wellbeing.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to further raise achievement and students’ understanding of their learning:

  • a detailed annual implementation plan that clarifies action and provides indicators of success

  • leadership that understands that it needs to do more to improve outcomes for priority students

  • school values that are well known and enacted that support the wellbeing of learners.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • continuing to strengthen professional and collective capacity to improve learner outcomes

  • strengthening community collaboration to enrich opportunities for students to become confident, connected, actively involved learners

  • systems, processes and partnerships that promote learner wellbeing.

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

30 August 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

Northland School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of March 2022, the Northland 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 Northland 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.

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

30 August 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

Northland School - 25/06/2018

School Context

Northland School is a Wellington suburban school for students in Years 1 to 8. The school has a roll of 329 with 8% Māori and 2% of Pacific heritage.

The school whakatauki provides its overarching vision: Tu mai Te Ahūmairangi, tū mai hoki tātou – As Te Ahūmairangi stands, we also reach for great heights. The school-developed learner qualities programme is an integral part of the curriculum.

The school’s achievement goals are to raise student achievement in reading and writing, and the level of achievement and engagement of boys in writing across the school.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas: achievement in reading, writing and mathematics.

The school has had a major focus on teaching and learning in mathematics since 2016. This has included four teachers participating in Accelerated Learning in Mathematics in 2017.

Since the May 2015 ERO report, the senior leadership roles have been changed to include specific responsibilities for curriculum and pastoral care. A new associate principal and two team leaders were appointed for the start of 2018.

The school is part of the recently approved Wellington West Kāhui Ako|Community of Learning.

Evaluation Findings

1 Equity and excellence – achievement of valued outcomes for students

1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?

Overall student achievement at Northland School is high, especially in reading. These levels have been maintained since 2015 for all groups of learners.

Most children, including Māori learners, are achieving at and above The New Zealand Curriculum expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. Pacific children achieve well. More girls than boys achieve at a high level in writing. The percentage of Pākehā learners achieving well in writing is higher than for Māori children.

1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?

Those students whose learning needs acceleration are identified and a range of deliberate teaching strategies and interventions are implemented to promote their progress.

Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) results show that the majority of target students in mathematics made accelerated progress during 2017.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence – processes and practices

2.1 What school processes and practices are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

The learning environment is managed in ways that support participation and engagement in learning. Student voice is valued and promoted and children talk confidently about their learning tasks. Purposeful, deliberate acts of teaching and arrangements for learning support student engagement. The development of teacher questioning promotes students’ sharing of ideas and understandings. Leaders oversee the provision of appropriate support for students’ with additional needs. Gifted and talented students in mathematics participate in enrichment programmes and specialised events. External expertise is used to enhance students’ learning programmes. Leadership effectively ensures an orderly and supportive environment that is conducive to student learning and wellbeing.

Relational trust at every level of the school community is evident through respectful, positive interactions. A purposeful approach to promoting and valuing the language, culture and identity of Māori children and their whānau is evident. This has been guided by meaningful connections and regular hui with whānau. Reports to parents, student-led conferences, goal setting and individual education plans ensure that all parents are well informed about student achievement, progress and wellbeing.

2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

The May 2015 ERO report identified the need to develop curriculum documents. This continues to be an area for development. Leaders have begun to unpack and personalise to the school, the principles of The New Zealand Curriculum. Developing and clearly documenting the Northland School Curriculum and pedagogy to guide effective teacher practice will be essential for working in the planned, purpose-built innovative learning environment.

Northland School has a comprehensive appraisal framework that provides leaders and teachers with the opportunity to engage in robust performance management. Continuing to refine the consistency of implementation of the framework should strengthen the effectiveness of this process. Further development of leaders’ and teachers’ knowledge and cultural competencies should be included.

A key next step is to increase the focus on target students and accelerating their progress and include:

  • inquiring more deeply into data, including analysis of information about groups of learners

  • increasing the regularity of analysis and reporting to the board about the ongoing progress of target students

  • aligning the appraisal process and teacher inquiry to this focus.

Trustees are kept well informed about a wide range of school organisational matters. Increasing the regularity of reports about student outcomes to the board should assist trustees with resourcing decisions.

Reflection and a schedule of areas for review are evident. Developing a shared understanding of evidence-based internal evaluation is important for trustees, leaders and teachers. This should support the determining of the quality, effectiveness and value of class programmes, interventions and school processes and practices.

3 Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review, the board 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
  • finance
  • 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 and certification
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand down, suspension, expulsion and exclusion of students
  • attendance
  • school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

  • leaders, teachers and trustees working together collaboratively to promote student wellbeing and high student achievement.

Next steps

For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:

  • clearly defined expectations for teaching and learning

  • sharpening the focus on acceleration of those few students at risk of not achieving

  • internal evaluation processes and practices for development of a shared understanding. [The school has requested and ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop for trustees and senior leaders.]

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.

Patricia Davey

Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)

Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region

25 June 2018

About the school

Location

Wellington

Ministry of Education profile number

2931

School type

Full Primary (Year 1 to 8)

School roll

329

Gender composition

Girls 51%, Boys 49%

Ethnic composition

Māori 8%
Pākehā 77%
Asian 7%
Pacific 2%
Other ethnic groups 6%

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)

Yes

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

May 2018

Date of this report

25 June 2018

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review May 2015
Education Review June 2012
Education Review September 2009