Henderson North School

Findings

Students at Henderson North School benefit from its ongoing focus on quality and raising student achievement. School leaders are strategic, proactive and collaborative. The school places high value on students being respectful, responsible and friendly. Students’ progress, achievement and wellbeing are central to school decision-making. Effective self-review processes bring about appropriate improvement.

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

1 Context

What are the important features of this school that have an impact on student learning?

Henderson North School is well established in the Henderson district and has a long and valued history. Over the years the school’s demographics have continued to change. Today 30 percent of the school roll identifies as having Māori heritage and 32 percent of students identify with Pacific nations, particularly Samoa. A further 20 percent of the roll identify as being of Asian ethnicity. Many students begin school speaking a home language other than English.

The board of trustees and staff have strong, reciprocal working relationships. The longstanding principal is ably supported by a leadership team of experienced and newly appointed members in a distributive leadership model. The school has a dedicated teaching staff, with senior leaders and teachers working together and following William Glasser’s philosophy of Quality Schools.

The school values its parent/whānau community and staff have been involved in a variety of useful professional development to help students to engage more closely with their learning. The school is part of the Mutukaroa initiative, which is a home-school learning partnership that seeks to accelerate learning progress and achievement for students in years 1, 2 and 3. Since the 2013 ERO review, it has also participated in the Ministry of Education’s Student Achievement Function initiative to raise student achievement in relation to the National Standards.

In recent times the school has identified an increased rate of transience within its community. The board and staff are taking a proactive approach to this situation. They are implementing strategies designed to reduce this mobility by helping families keep their children at the school so that the continuity of their learning can be better sustained.

The board has responded positively to most of the areas for review and development noted in the school’s 2013 ERO report. Student awareness of their learning and their knowledge of what they can do to improve it further has been strengthened. 

2 Learning

How well does this school use achievement information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement?

Henderson North School leaders and teachers use achievement information very well to track and analyse the learning progress of students. The school also has effective processes for ensuring the robustness and reliability of overall teacher judgements about student achievement.

Leaders and teachers know students and their families/whānau very well. They closely monitor student progress over the year and on a longer term basis throughout their time at the school. A significant number of students achieve at or above the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. School-wide student achievement information shows Māori and all other students, including Pacific students, obtain similar results in reading and mathematics, while girls overall achieve more highly than boys in writing. The progress of Māori students is regularly reported to the board, both separately and in relation to all students’ achievement.

Students are well engaged and interested in learning. Teachers have high expectations for students to progress and achieve and take collective responsibility for the achievement of each student in the school. Students can confidently talk about their own learning and know what they need to do for ongoing improvement.

The board and staff place significant emphasis on raising student achievement overall. A variety of effective strategies is used to support students who are at risk of not achieving, helping many of these students make accelerated progress.

Parents receive two written reports a year that outline how well their child is progressing towards the National Standards. It could now be useful to review the complexity of language used in these reports and to consider further ways to engage families/whānau in learning partnerships with the school.

A distinctive feature of the school is its programme to support students for who English is an additional rather than a first language. This is reflected in assessment information which shows some students enrolling at the school arrive with very low oracy skills. The board and leaders prioritise ways for students to develop a good foundation of English language skills. They have established a language clinic, employ a number of teacher aides and use the reading recovery programme to assist students. External agencies and educational networks are also used to build students' confidence and English language skills so they can experience success.

3 Curriculum

How effectively does this school’s curriculum promote and support student learning?

Henderson North School’s curriculum promotes and supports students learning very well. It is well aligned to The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) and personalised to the school’s own context around multicultural experiences. Increasing student vocabulary is a major focus by leaders and teachers of the curriculum.

Providing students with authentic real-life learning experiences is a priority for the board, leaders and teachers. They place an ongoing emphasis on ensuring that a strong foundation of reading, writing, and mathematics skills is provided, and on ensuring that support for students with special needs is developed and maintained. The school offers a broad range of relevant learning opportunities, both academic and cultural. The board employs a music specialist to promote its focus on art and music.

Teachers use effective teaching practices. They use students’ achievement information to effectively plan for ongoing learning. Opportunities for continuous improvement are suitably aligned to students’ interests. Teachers are increasingly inquiring into the impact their teaching practices are having on outcomes for students, and the principal acknowledges that this is an area to continue to strengthen.

How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?

The board and leaders are implementing positive strategies to further promote success for Māori. They also acknowledge that promoting educational success for Māori, as Māori, is an area for further development. Trustees, leaders and teachers are aware of the benefits to be gained by increasing the effectiveness of ways for:

• continuing to strengthen the school's partnership with parents and whānau
• raising the confidence of teachers in using te reo Māori and tikanga
• reviewing the effectiveness of school strategies to promote Māori success as Māori.

Developing these relationships and strategies could strengthen Māori children's confidence in their identity, language and culture as tangata whenua of Aotearoa New Zealand.

4 Sustainable Performance

How well placed is the school to sustain and improve its performance?

The school is very well placed to sustain ongoing development and capability. It has a strong culture of continuous improvement. School leaders have ensured there is a solid foundation of structures and processes to efficiently manage the school.

The school is led by a long serving and highly respected principal who works effectively with the board, staff and community. She is supported by a strong and cohesive leadership team. They are collaborative and team-orientated, working with staff to ensure student wellbeing and positive school experiences are emphasised.

The board comprises a good mix of experienced and recently elected members. Trustees are committed to their role and highly supportive of the school leadership. They bring a variety of community and business expertise to their governance role and willingly participate in governance training. They are well informed by their senior leadership team and strategic decision-making is based on student learning needs.

As a next step the board agrees that existing good self‑review processes could be further strengthened by ensuring that these processes are more evaluative. The board also acknowledges that minutes of board meetings should clearly reflect the meeting proceedings and decisions made, providing a clear record of the effectiveness of school governance and of initiatives implemented to promote ongoing school improvement.

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students (the Code) established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. No international students were enrolled at the time of the ERO review.

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:

• board administration
• curriculum
• management of health, safety and welfare
• personnel management
• financial management
• asset management.

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

• emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
• physical safety of students
• teacher registration
• processes for appointing staff
• stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
• attendance.

To improve current practice, the board of trustees should use the outcomes of the school's consultation with their Māori community to develop and make known the school's policies, plans and targets for improving the achievement of Māori students.

Conclusion

Students at Henderson North School benefit from its ongoing focus on quality and raising student achievement. School leaders are strategic, proactive and collaborative. The school places high value on students being respectful, responsible and friendly. Students’ progress, achievement and wellbeing are central to school decision-making. Effective self-review processes bring about appropriate improvement. 

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

Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

9 November 2015

About the School