KingsWay School

KingsWay School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

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

KingsWay School is a state-integrated Christian school catering to students from Years 1 to 13. The campus is organised as three schools: the primary years 1-6, middle years 7-10 (including middle school 7-9 and junior secondary year 10), and senior years 11-13.

The schools’ values of God’s creation, all people, personal faith, character, and truth help them in their goal to create a Christian community of learning that nurtures young people towards their full potential as servant leaders in the Kingdom of God. The vision for KingsWay graduates is that they may be confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners who are growing in faith, hope and love for Jesus.

KingsWay School strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • Tū Rangatira | Leadership: The school leadership is evaluated to support all students to achieve their full potential

  • Tuia te hono | Powerful Connections & Relationships: International engagement with our community is enhanced

  • Te Kaiako whakaaweawe | Effective Teaching & Curriculum: Continue to develop KingsWay’s identity as a leading school of Christian education

  • Ngā kaiako hiringa | Empowered & Capable Staff: All staff actively engage in professional learning opportunities to better support all students to achieve their full potential

  • Te aro mātai | Evaluation for Improvement & Innovation: Data is used effectively to improve student outcomes and personalise learning programmes for all students

  • Kia Kaitiaki | Stewardship: The Board increases its capacity and capability to govern for all students to achieve their full potential.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how to increase the consistent use of differentiated teaching and learning throughout the school, so ākonga have greater opportunities to be more agentic.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

  • create an agentic learning approach that develops higher-order cognitive skills and increases a sense of self-efficacy and resilience

  • increase the opportunities for ākonga to be more agentic and take ownership over their own learning

  • student agency becomes an intrinsic consideration within the teaching and learning process.

The school expects to see:

  • teachers who explore innovative ways to differentiate their practice to cater for all ākonga

  • ākonga who take greater control over what and how they learn

  • ākonga who can articulate why and what they are learning and the next steps towards mastery.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to increase the consistent use of differentiated teaching and learning:

  • KingsWay has a strong base of excellent academic achievement and student outcomes.

  • Staff demonstrate a continuous improvement disposition to benefit all ākonga.

  • School leadership has engaged expert educational partners to grow teacher capability.

  • Kāhui Ako provide effective professional development for staff.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • the professional development of staff with specific focus on planning and the delivery of differentiation and development of student agency

  • the identification of ‘bright spots’ of effective practice and practitioners who reflect the evaluation goal

  • activating expert partners to support the school to implement the goal.

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

22 May 2023

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

KingsWay School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of December 2022, the KingsWay 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 KingsWay 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
 

22 May 2023 

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

KingsWay 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

KingsWay School has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code of Practice and has completed an annual self-review of its implementation. At the time of this review there were 23 international students attending the school.

KingsWay School’s dedicated international department maintain highly effective systems put in place to provide quality education and wraparound pastoral care. All international students at KingsWay are well integrated into the school’s educational, community and cultural experiences and often stay long term. Self-review processes are in place to ensure systems continue to develop and improve. The international students’ progress towards achievement is extremely well monitored. This information is relayed through various means of communication making sure parents/caregivers are fully aware of all progress made.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools
 
22 May 2023 

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

 

Kingsway School - 08/11/2017

Summary

Kingsway School is a state integrated Christian school catering for students from Years 1 to 13. The campus is organised as three schools: junior (Years 1-6), middle (Years 7-9), and senior (Years 10-13). Jireh School (Years 1-6) is a satellite school in Henderson and will be regarded as a stand-alone school later in 2017. Tau Te Arohanoa Akoranga, (TTAA, Years 1 to 9) a bilingual kura, is situated at the main campus.

Each school’s roll reflects the cultural diversity of its community. The overall campus roll includes four percent of learners who identify as Māori and three percent who have Pacific heritage. Fifty three percent are New Zealand European/Pākeha.

The school is led by a new principal, who was previously an experienced member of the executive management team. A new head of the middle school has also been appointed.

Since ERO’s 2014 evaluation, the school has continued to lift student achievement and respond to all students whose learning and achievement needs acceleration. The school has a holistic approach to raising student achievement and developing lifelong learners. Students have good opportunities to contribute to their learning and achievement through leadership and service roles.

The board and school leaders are justifiably proud of student success in the National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA), particularly at level 2. This data shows that overall student achievement exceeds national and regional levels of achievement. This success is shared by all groups of students.

Overall children achieve very well in relation to National Standards. These high levels of achievement have been sustained over time. The school is successfully achieving equity and excellence in educational outcomes for all children.

The principal is in the process of developing a Community of Learning l Kāhui Ako (CoL) with local Christian schools.

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

The school’s processes and actions are highly effective in achieving equitable outcomes for all learners. These processes and actions include:

  • an increasingly responsive curriculum

  • leadership for equity and excellence that has a bi-cultural focus

  • well considered support for building staff capability

  • very good partnerships with families and whānau.

School performance has been sustained over time through well-focused, embedded processes and practices. Learners are achieving excellent educational outcomes. The school is successfully addressing in-school disparity in educational outcomes.

An agreed, next step for developmentis to continue extending evaluation capability at all levels of the school, including at the board level to enhance the evaluation of its stewardship role.

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

Equity and excellence

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

The school is very effective in responding to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement needs acceleration. Leaders are aware of where there is disparity and can show how they address this. The school has maintained high levels of achievement for all learners over time.

The 2016 achievement data shows that most children achieve at and above the National Standards. The achievement information at the end of 2016 shows that approximately 90% of children achieve at or above National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Overall Māori children achieve at a higher level than other students in writing. There is a small gender disparity between boys and girls in writing.

Achievement information shows high levels of student success in the National Certificates of Education Achievement (NCEA) at levels 1, 2 and 3. There has been a positive upward trend in NCEA achievement for all groups of students since 2013. Level 1, 2 and 3 results show that achievement is above the national average and percentages for similar schools.

Māori and Pacific students enjoy the same levels of academic success as others in the school. There is some gender disparity at NCEA Level 1 in 2016 with girls achieving higher than boys. An increase in the number of endorsements at level 1, and 3 is significant, particularly at Excellence.

Although Māori learners are already achieving very well in the senior school, leaders have a target to enhance this attainment even further. Teachers have the opportunity to design inquiry projects that are aligned to this target and to share best practice and learning across the school. Ongoing professional learning supports teachers to respond more effectively to Māori students.

The good opportunities students have to pathway widely, with plans for relevant, purposeful and meaningful opportunities, is motivating them to lift their achievement. A head of department has been appointed to strategically develop the pathways systems across the school.

Teachers are increasingly skilful at sharing and refining their strategies and approaches to promote children’s individual learning success. Target students and groups are identified and their learning and progress is carefully monitored. School leaders and teachers closely analyse the progress and achievement data to identify achievement patterns for different year groups. Teachers use this information to review their planning and use teaching as inquiry and ongoing analysis, to inform their internal evaluation processes.

Teachers place value on knowing their learners, their different learning needs and children’s families and whānau. This helps to create responsive and positive learning relationships that support children and their engagement in learning.

Highly effective learning support is multi layered and gives students access to a range of personalised and flexible learning opportunities. Teachers and teacher aides share a commitment to, and responsibility for students’ learning and progress. The Special Needs Coordinator (SENCO) works with teachers across the different school sites and with outside agencies. This assists teachers to respond effectively to students whose learning and achievement needs accelerating.

The board’s charter targets identify specific actions and interventions that focus on students at risk of not achieving. There is close monitoring of the Māori learner cohort. Leaders and teachers regularly report progress towards each charter target. Targets focus on continuously improving success rates for students.

Leaders and teachers use robust assessment and moderation practices to ensure achievement information is reliable.

The vision for Kingsway graduates is that they are confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners who uphold the school’s Christian values and beliefs.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

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

The school’s processes are highly effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence.

The main contributing factors are the school’s:

  • increasingly responsive curriculum

  • leadership for equity and excellence that has a bi-cultural focus

  • well considered support for building staff capability

  • very good partnerships with families and whānau.

Positive and affirming relationships underpin learning success and promote equity for students. These relationships support the achievement of the school’s mission which is to nurture young people towards their full potential. School leadership has a vision for increasing student agency, learning and wellbeing. An important part of this is developing students’ sense of service to others.

Teachers make sure that students experience seamless transitions as they progress from Years 1 through to 13. A curriculum mapping approach, together with the range of authentic and innovative learning experiences and opportunities support students’ learning pathways. There is a high level of professional consideration and care around the development of the school’s health curriculum and this is increasing student awareness and self-advocacy.

Leaders and teachers actively promote culturally responsive pedagogy and practices. The commitment to bi-cultural understanding is being realised through ongoing school-wide professional learning and focussed performance management. The school continues to build relationships with Te Herenga Waka Marae through their ongoing bi-cultural focus and student involvement.

Professional learning and the appraisal process are relevant, aligned to school priorities and differentiated to build teachers’ professional capacity. Increasingly the use of inquiry processes is helping teachers to find new and innovative ways to raise achievement and improve outcomes for students. Cycles of evaluation for improvement are an integral part of the school’s systems to ensure the strategic vision is realised and current objectives are met.

Connections and relationships with family and whānau are a strategic focus for the school. Ongoing dialogue and feedback with families and whānau helps to ensure whānau actively participate in decision making for student’s learning pathways. The school’s strategic plan for digital learning platforms is likely to increase family and whānau involvement in student learning.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

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

The school has highly effective processes in place to promote equity and excellence for Māori, Pacific and other learners.

The review of the school’s curriculum provides a good opportunity to put a stronger lens on the extent to which the school’s vision is resulting in valued outcomes for students. It will be an opportunity to shape future curriculum developments by bringing together different pedagogical approaches, information about learner competencies and the outcomes of teaching inquiries and innovations. Involving students in reviewing and planning the curriculum will help strengthen their sense of agency and promote their leadership of their own learning.

Continuing to extend evaluation capability at all levels of the school, will help the school to sustain and enhance its processes for achieving excellence and equity. Extending the board’s evaluation of its stewardship role will support the achievement and progress of all students, particularly those who are at risk of not achieving.

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 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 the review there were 58 international students attending the school.

Kingsway School has highly effective systems to maintain the quality of both education and pastoral care for international students. Students’ progress towards achievement is well monitored. International students are well integrated into the school’s educational, community and cultural experiences. Self-review processes are in place to ensure systems continue to develop and improve.

Going forward

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

The school has highly effective processes in place to promote equity and excellence for Māori, Pacific and other learners.

Learners are achieving excellent educational outcomes. School performance has been sustained over time through well-focused, embedded processes and practices. This school is successfully addressing in-school disparity in educational outcomes.

Continuing to extend evaluation capability at all levels of the school, inclusive of the board in their stewardship role, is an agreed next step for development.

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

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

Te Tai Raki - Northern Region

8 November 2017

About the school

Location

Red Beach

Ministry of Education profile number

432

School type

Composite (Year 1-13)

School roll

1122

Gender composition

Boys 50% Girls 50%

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pakeha
Chinese
Korean
African
British
Pacific heritage
European
other African
other ethnicities

4%
53%
6%
5%
5%
4%
3%
3%
7%
10%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

September 2017

Date of this report

8 November 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review Education Review Education Review

June 2014
May 2009
April 2006