Homai School

Education institution number:
1317
School type:
Contributing
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
311
Telephone:
Address:

89 Browns Road, Manurewa, Auckland

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Homai School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and Homai 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 

Homai School is a contributing primary school situated in Manurewa, South Auckland. The school’s vision is Kotahi te moemoea, Kotahi te haerenga, Kotahi te iwi: one vision, one journey, one people. Homai School offers Level 1 Māori Medium provision in four classrooms and is in the process of establishing Samoan bilingual classes for 2023. A new principal joined the school during 2022.

The school is a member of Te Kaahui Ako o Manurewa.

Homai School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

  • prioritise learner wellbeing and relationship-based learning for improved outcomes

  • build and sustain educational powerful partnerships within and across our school community

  • invest and develop optimal leadership conditions at all levels.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent to which Homai School’s local curriculum, based on relationship-based (whānauship) learning, leads to improved outcomes for all learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is the school is developing a localised curriculum which is culturally responsive and reflects the values of whānauship. The school will continue to actively engage with whānau in learning partnerships which promote valued learner outcomes.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to develop a relationship-based local curriculum for improved learner outcomes:

  • leaders and teachers demonstrate a commitment to setting high expectations, innovation, and improving practices to promote learner success

  • professional learning to develop culturally responsive and well managed learning environments.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • a review of current practice to identify which practices have the greatest impact on learner achievement

  • the implementation of initiatives and pedagogy which support learner agency and achievement

  • a cycle of evaluation that continues to monitor best practices in teaching and learning.

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

18 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

Homai School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of September 2022, the Homai 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 Homai School.

The next 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

18 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

Homai School - 23/11/2016

1 Context

Homai School is located in Manurewa, South Auckland and caters for Year 1 to 6 children. Children who identify as Māori make up 37 percent of the school's roll and 44 percent are from Pacific cultures. Both the board and staff reflect the diverse ethnic make-up of the school community.

In recent years the Ministry of Education has provided professional learning and development support working with senior leadership on systems and processes that support student achievement, acceleration and leadership. In 2015 the school developed a 'community of practice' with three other local primary schools with a focus on collaboratively raising the achievement of students across this group.

Since 2012 the board has managed the appointment of a new principal, a new senior leadership team and a significant number of teaching staff.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are centred on the core values of 'Homai G.I.V.E.S - guardianship, integrity, vigilance, empathy and success'. This is aligned to the school vision 'All people taking responsibility for the well-being and mana of the learner'. These values are underpinned by the school mission statement of 'one vision, one journey, one people' and align with the school culture of promoting student and staff wellbeing.

The school's achievement information showed a significant drop in student achievement in 2014 and 2015 against the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics, for Māori and Pacific students. However, 2015 Achievement information for reading shows that overall students are beginning to make progress. Achievement information for writing shows a consistent decrease in overall student achievement from 2013 to 2015. There is also a 23 percent disparity between male and female achievement in writing in 2015. Senior leaders and teachers are addressing these issues. They have put specific strategies in place to reduce the gender disparity. In addition, they report that strategies to accelerate the progress of targeted Māori and Pacific children are showing success and a good number of these children have now reached the appropriate Standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

School-wide systems and processes that support teachers to make robust and consistent achievement judgements against the National Standards are much improved. Moderation practices have been implemented within and across the levels of the school. School leaders acknowledge that it is now timely to develop a set of moderation guidelines and consider moderating with other schools to enhance the dependability of student achievement data.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has focused on developing consistent and sustainable systems and practices to improve learning outcomes for children and to accelerate their learning progress. These practices include:

  • ongoing professional learning development to support teaching and learning
  • beginning to develop a responsive curriculum which reflects the local context of the school using and reflecting student, staff and whānau voices
  • increasing teacher collaboration and establishing collective responsibility for student achievement
  • providing teachers with opportunities for leadership across the school
  • increasing the emphasis on students leading their learning to enhance student agency and achievement.

3 Accelerating achievement

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

Evidence over the last year shows the school is now responding more effectively to Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Strategies and action plans to accelerate student achievement have been established with Ministry of Education professional learning and development support. There is also a clear focus on promoting educationally powerful links, connections and relationships with Māori whānau and the wider school community. Furthermore, the growth of staff knowledge, confidence and appreciation of te ao Māori is underpinned by a strong bicultural understanding. This is helping teachers to support students to experience success as Māori and to make accelerated progress in their learning.

Senior leaders and teachers are creating a school culture of aroha, diversity and acceptance. There is a strong sense of mahi tahi (working together) throughout the school. Teachers work alongside whānau to develop learning-centred partnerships. These help teachers to understand each child's learning needs, interests and strengths.

Positive shifts in student learning are a result of regular professional conversations among school leaders and teams of teachers who focus on how they can best coach and support Māori students who need to make progress. Teachers identify children whose progress needs acceleration and use an inquiry approach to identify which strategies are having the most impact to support children and accelerate their progress. This approach is aligned with teacher appraisal and the school's strategic and annual plans.

The board is committed to raising student achievement and providing resources that help teachers to support Māori children. They are building relational trust in a culturally responsive way that promotes transparent sharing of knowledge to improve student outcomes.

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

The board, senior leaders, teachers and staff use the same good quality processes and practices to support the learning of Pacific and other groups of children, as they do for Māori. Provision for children who require learning support is responsive to their needs. An inclusive approach to diverse individual needs ensures children participate in appropriate programmes and make 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 and other organisational processes and practices are effective in developing and enacting the school's vision, values, goals and targets for equity and excellence.

The school is improvement focused. Senior leaders, teachers and staff work collaboratively to embed and extend new systems and practices which support school-wide sustainability.

There is a strong emphasis on building relationships and promoting a strengths-based approach to student and staff learning. The concepts of whanaungatanga, manaakitanga, mahi tahi and ako feature significantly throughout school's systems and practices. Parents, whānau and the school community are involved in activities as respected and valued partners in children's learning.

Senior leaders are building collective capability for both teachers and students. Teachers' professional and curriculum capability is supported through ongoing professional learning about biculturalism, curriculum and teaching, and assessment moderation. A growing culture of high expectations and success for students promotes student ownership of learning and encourages them to set holistic and genuine goals. Students' contributions are valued and their thinking is clearly visible in the senior classroom.

School leadership is focused on building interpersonal trust and effective collaboration at every level of the school community. Senior leaders have introduced a number of new initiatives to strengthen teaching and management processes. These include ongoing external professional development with Ministry of Education support, a new leadership structure and a focus on strengthening student voice. As a result of these strategies, positive outcomes for students are very likely to be strengthened.

The school provides a learning environment where children feel included, and safe and secure in their language, culture and identity. This is an increasingly supportive environment that is beneficial to student learning and wellbeing.

Trustees represent and serve the school and wider community effectively. New and experienced board members have a commitment to raising student achievement. The board receives regular and useful reports on student achievement and acceleration. The board supports the senior leadership team in establishing good foundations which will strengthen student achievement and acceleration.

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.

Homai School is well placed to embed and deepen systems and practices to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners. Foundations have been established to that will help with the implementation of ongoing school-wide development. A range of increasingly effective interventions and strategies are in place to ensure that children progress and achieve. There is a strong focus on student and staff wellbeing and gathering student, staff and parent/whānau input.

School leaders and ERO have identified relevant priorities for further development. These include:

  • continuing with external Ministry of Education support to deepen and sustain the positive lifts in student achievement and to increase accelerated progress
  • continuing to embed new initiatives including internal evaluation, to support culturally responsive student-led learning
  • implementing systems and processes to strengthen the board's stewardship of the school.

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three 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

To improve current practice, the board should implement internal evaluation processes to ensure that policies and procedures are being followed.

7 Recommendation

ERO recommends that school leaders continue to embed and sustain new school-wide systems and practices. 

Graham Randell Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

23 November 2016

About the school

Location

Manurewa, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1317

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

326

Gender composition

Boys 53% Girls 47%

Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

Samoan

Tongan

Indian

Asian

Cook Island Māori

other Pacific

other

37%

2%

23%

13%

9%

6%

3%

5%

2%

Review team on site

September 2016

Date of this report

23 November 2016

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

October 2012

October 2009

August 2007