Chelsea School

Education institution number:
1244
School type:
Contributing
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
329
Telephone:
Address:

Onetaunga Road, Birkenhead, Auckland

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Chelsea School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Chelsea 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 

Chelsea School in Birkenhead, Auckland provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. The school comprises of ākonga from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds.

The school’s values of Manaakitanga, Whanaungatanga, Kaitiakitanga and Ako are well-embedded and create a sense of belonging for ākonga. The school’s learning dispositions (Learner DNA) – Up for Challenge, Communicator, Collaborator and Curious underpin all learning experiences and are the foundation of the school’s vision ‘Te Whakatipu Akonga Miharo - ‘Growing Great Learners’.

Chelsea School’s strategic priorities to achieve for improving outcomes for ākonga are:

  • to design a responsive, engaging local curriculum
  • to build authentic, trusting partnerships to support ākonga to grow
  • to implement a school-wide approach to strengthen wellbeing.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well assessment for learning is being implemented across the curriculum.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • to enable ākonga to have greater agency of their learning
  • to ensure teachers are using strong assessment practices and are skilled in noticing, recognising and responding to the needs of all ākonga
  • to strengthen outcomes for all ākonga through the consistent use of assessment for learning practices.

The school expects to see:

  • teachers further strengthening assessment for learning practices to support ākonga progress and learning
  • further opportunities for ākonga to take the lead in their learning  
  • stakeholders who have increased visibility and understanding of how assessment practices support the learning journey for ākonga.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to strengthen assessment for learning practices:

  • leadership that is focused and collaborative in prioritising and planning for equitable and excellent outcomes, with a consistent focus on equity for Māori and Pacific ākonga
  • teachers who employ a variety of teaching strategies to promote equity, and are increasing the use of relevant, challenging, and meaningful learning experiences
  • ongoing emphasis on meaningful, ākonga-focused, educational partnerships with Māori whānau, hapu, iwi, parents, and family communities
  • a teaching and learning culture focused on growth, strong partnerships, and effective practice.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • teachers continuing to strengthen their assessment literacy skills to ensure that they are responding effectively to the learning needs of all ākonga
  • continued focus on appropriate and effective interventions to support ākonga, with a focus on equity for Māori and Pacific
  • continued opportunities for teachers to strengthen their assessment for learning practices through observation, feedback, and coaching conversations
  • continued collection of ākonga voice to evaluate the impact of assessment for learning practices on learner agency.

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.

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

5 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

Chelsea School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025


As of May 2022, the Chelsea 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 Chelsea School Board of Trustees.

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.

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

5 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

Chelsea 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

Chelsea School has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code and has completed an annual self-review of its implementation of the Code.

The school is highly effective in providing quality education, pastoral care and programmes for students who are learning English as an additional language. Students are encouraged and well-supported to integrate into the school and local community. The school has good internal evaluation processes for annual review.

At the time of this review there were two international students attending the school, and no exchange students.

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

5 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

Chelsea School - 28/07/2017

Summary

Chelsea School’s roll of 393 includes 22 Māori, seven Pacific, 69 Chinese, 15 Indian and children from a diverse range of other cultural backgrounds. Approximately 10 percent of children at the school speak English as an additional language.

The senior leadership team comprises an experienced principal and two deputy principals who are new to their roles. The school has responded very positively to areas identified for development in ERO’s 2014 report. Targeted professional learning and development about assessment, the teaching of mathematics and effective teaching strategies has had a significant impact on teachers’ knowledge and practice.

Children’s achievement in National Standards has remained high. There is some disparity for groups of children and the school is working to accelerate their progress.

How well is the school achieving equitable outcomes for all children?

The school responds well to Māori and other children whose progress needs acceleration. However, some disparity remains between the overall achievement of Māori children at the school and that of their non-Māori peers.

The school has a range of processes to promoteequity and excellence. School leaders have identified useful next steps to achieve equity and excellence for all children. They plan to:

  • update school curriculum documents to better reflect the school’s valued outcomes for children and current practices
  • use existing internal evaluation frameworks to identify the strategies that are most effectively helping to reduce disparity in achievement for Māori children
  • develop the confidence and capability of teachers to promote the language, culture and identity of Māori children, and increase the bicultural understandings of all children.

Equity and excellence

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

While the school is responding well to Māori and other children whose progress needs acceleration there is still some remaining disparity between the achievement of Māori and other children. Senior leaders are focusing on reducing this disparity in achievement which is evident across the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics.

Teachers identify children who would benefit from acceleration or extension in their learning. They closely monitor children’s progress and respond to their individual needs. As a result, the school has evidence of children’s progress being accelerated effectively. Regular professional conversations between teachers contribute to team inquiries that focus on lifting achievement and accelerating children’s progress to provide equity and excellence for all learners.

Children with additional learning needs are well supported to achieve their goals in class. They are also benefiting from the support of external agencies. Children who are learning English are well catered for, and responded to through the school’s programmes and processes.

A graduate profile, of the ‘Chelsea Learner’ has been developed to identify the school’s valued outcomes for children. The desired characteristics of graduates include being resilient, collaborative, engaged, a celebrator, up for a challenge, curious, and having good communication skills and perseverance. This new profile contributes to teachers, children and parents having a shared language of learning.

Senior leaders have strengthened and broadened the school’s assessment practices. Teachers, team leaders and senior leaders have effective processes for monitoring and tracking progress and ensuring robust judgements are made about children’s achievement.

In-school moderation opportunities are strengthened by teachers comparing their judgements about children’s achievement with those of teachers from other schools.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

What school processes are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?

The school has a range of processes that are effective in enabling and promoting the achievement of equity and excellence.

The board is well led. Experienced trustees bring expertise and knowledge to their roles. Good governance systems and processes ensure that the school is improvement focused.

The principal and senior leaders have a clear vision to promote equity and excellence. They are effective in leading change to support the school direction. Senior leaders foster good leadership opportunities for teachers and children.

Internal evaluation supports school operations at all levels. Parents, teachers, children and the wider community are regularly consulted. Their ideas and opinions are valued and used to inform decision making.

Significant professional learning and development supports the school’s journey of improvement. Goals and inquiries that contribute to teachers’ appraisal processes are linked to aspects of the school’s strategic direction. As a result, teaching capability has increased across the school and new practices that benefit children’s learning have been embedded.

Increasingly, teachers work collaboratively, and share responsibility for children’s achievement and wellbeing. They reflect regularly with each other on the impact of their teaching practice. Children learn in settled classroom environments. Positive relationships between teachers and children enhance learning conversations and interactions.

Trustees and senior leaders engage well with the community. Good communication promotes learning partnerships between the school and parents. Māori and Pacific whānau meet regularly to share information with the school, including the aspirations they hold for their children’s learning.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

What further developments are needed in school processes to achieve equity and excellence?

The school has good processes in place to sustain practices that promote equity and excellence for all children.

School leaders are aware that further curriculum developments are necessary to achieve the valued outcomes the school has identified for children. They are planning appropriately to further develop teacher confidence and capability to promote children’s language, culture and identity, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the school’s current strategies to reduce disparity in achievement for Māori children.

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

  • 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

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 (the Code) established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code.

At the time of this review, there were four international students attending the school.

The school is highly effective in providing pastoral care, programmes for children who are learning English as an additional language, and quality education for its international students. Students are encouraged and well supported to integrate into the school and local community. The school has good internal evaluation processes for annual review.

Going forward

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

The school is well placed to accelerate the progress of children who need to achieve better.

Children are achieving well. The school demonstrates strong progress toward achieving equity in educational outcomes, supported by effective, sustainable processes and practices.However some disparity still remains.

Agreed next steps are to:

  • update school curriculum document to better reflect current school practice and the valued outcomes for children
  • use existing internal evaluation frameworks to identify effective strategies to reduce disparity in achievement for Māori children
  • develop the confidence and capability of teachers to promote the language, culture and identity of Māori children and increase the bicultural understandings of all children.

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

Violet Tu’uga Stevenson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)

28 July 2017

About the school 

Location

Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1244

School type

Contributing (Year 1 to 6)

School roll

391

Gender composition

Boys 54% Girls 46%

Ethnic composition

Pākehā
Māori
Chinese
Indian
Australian
Japanese
Korean
Middle Eastern
Pacific
other European
other

54%
6%
18%
4%
2%
2%
2%
2%
2%
6%
2%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

May 2017

Date of this report

28 July 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review
Education Review
Education Review

April 2014
January 2012
December 2008