Kelston School

Kelston School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background

This Profile Report was written within 8 months of the Education Review Office and Kelston 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 

Kelston School is a primary school located in Kelston, West Auckland. It provides education for years 1 to 6 ākonga/learners. The school’s vision is to develop capable ākonga who are able to communicate, collaborate, think critically and creatively, to become successful members of the global community. 

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

  • to consolidate effective teaching and leadership capability and capacity, focused on equitable outcomes for all ākonga

  • building a responsive local Curriculum that provides ākonga with multiple opportunities to achieve success, belonging and resilience

  • embedding strong connections and relationships as we engage with our learning community

  • implementing a Te Ao Māori strategy to embrace identity, language, culture and Aotearoa’s history.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the schools’ localised curriculum supports responsive and equitable ākonga learning outcomes, positive connections and relationships.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • a community whose focus is on tamariki/children realising their fullest potential as successful citizens

  • school values are explicit in every classroom, focused on developing ākonga  wellbeing, and belonging

  • kaiako/teachers are well equipped to accelerate learning for identified priority ākonga

  • kaiako assessment informs teaching practices to ensure equitable outcomes in literacy and numeracy for ākonga

  • leaders focus on evaluation to support a journey of continual school improvement.

The school expects to see:

  • ākonga authentically and actively engaged in their learning

  • an explicit and responsive focus on ākonga language, culture and identity through the school’s localised curriculum

  • values continue to underpin the well-being and inclusion of all members of the Kelston School learning community

  • kaiako collaborative practices focus on strengthening the resilience and achievement of all ākonga

  • formative assessment practices fully embedded and consistently applied by kaiako

  • continued educationally powerful connections and communication with parents, families, whānau and iwi.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to ensure teaching and learning processes and practices support an equitable responsive localised curriculum:

  • inclusive and safe learning spaces underpinned by the school values

  • ākonga want to learn and are supportive of each other’s learning

  • the kaiako have sustainable high levels of professional capability and accountability

  • school-wide leadership both for and of teaching and learning is well established

  • a school Māori education development plan supports the school’s Te Ao Māori focus.

Where to next?

 Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • embedding ākonga voice and agency across the broader school localised curriculum

  • consolidating collaborative, consistent teaching practices, to support accelerated achievement for priority ākonga

  • systematic, professional learning opportunities aligned to curriculum priorities

  • effective implementation of a refreshed New Zealand Curriculum and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) capability and the National Education Learning Priorities (NELP)

  • engagement with parents, whānau and iwi to confirm the learning community’s educational aspirations.

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

31 January 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

Kelston School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of May 2022, the Kelston 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 Kelston School Board.

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

31 January 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

Kelston School - 05/05/2017

Summary

Kelston School has a stable roll that peaks at approximately 350 children each year. The school roll is culturally diverse with 20 percent Māori, 27 percent Samoan, and 46 percent from other Pacific nations. Increasing numbers of children are from Asian nations or other ethnic backgrounds and 70 percent are learning English as an additional language.

Since the 2014 ERO evaluation the board has appointed two new senior leaders and has some new trustees. The principal, board chair and several other trustees provide continuity, building on the school’s strong sense of community. The board and senior leaders have responded well to some of the findings from the 2014 report.

Teachers are involved in a variety of relevant professional learning opportunities. The school is an active member of the recently formed Te Wānau Mātauranga o Kerehana Community of Learning I Kāhui Ako (CoL), a group of seven local schools. Focus areas for this CoL include improving the achievement of Māori learners and strengthening culturally responsive teaching.

Public Achievement Information shows that two-thirds of children at Kelston School achieve well in relation to National Standards in reading, writing and maths. Since 2013 the school has lifted Māori achievement in maths. However the school has not been able to lift overall achievement in reading, writing or maths.

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

Kelston School is becoming more effective in responding to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. School leaders are introducing new initiatives to help promote equity and excellence. These initiatives are beginning to make a positive difference to teachers’ practices and are accelerating the learning of some children.

Leaders and teachers have an improvement focus that is responsive to the needs of learners. Teachers have continued to strengthen the curriculum so that children engage in meaningful inquiry-based learning experiences. The school now needs to develop more targeted, regularly monitored planning, and establish teaching approaches and conditions to support accelerated learning.

A challenge for the school is to develop learning focused partnerships with every child’s parents/whānau. Involvement in the CoL could provide opportunities for the board, leaders, teachers, and the community to share resources about what is working effectively in their schools.

The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all children. However, disparity in achievement for Māori and other children remains. ERO will provide feedback and resources to support the development of more targeted planning.

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

Equity and excellence

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

Kelston School is becoming more effective in responding to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

The school, with its community, has clearly stated the outcomes that it values for children. These are community, respect, excellence, curiosity, and honesty, and are described in more detail through the ‘Kelston Learner’ profile. These values are explicitly reinforced, and how well children demonstrate them is shared in written reports to parents.

Leaders and teachers know which children are at risk of not achieving equitable outcomes. They have introduced new systems to help them monitor their progress more easily. Children with specific learning needs and those who are learning English as an additional language receive extra support. Evaluations of some interventions show evidence of accelerated progress for children. The challenge for the school is to sustain this progress over time.

Teachers have been involved in a wide variety of professional learning initiatives to help adapt practices to meet the diverse needs of learners. The effectiveness of these initiatives is not yet evident. Data from 2013 to 2016 show that the school has not been able to lift overall achievement in reading, writing or maths and is not yet achieving equitable outcomes for all children.

Two-thirds of Māori and Pacific children achieve well in relation to National Standards in reading, writing and maths. The school has lifted Māori achievement in maths since the last ERO review. Achievement levels for Pacific children have shown a slight decline over time. Differences between the achievement of girls and boys are evident in reading and writing.

Teachers use a variety of relevant processes to assess children’s progress and achievement. They use this information to plan differentiated programmes. A next step is for teachers’ planning to be more targeted, identifying strategies that will accelerate progress for individual children at risk.

The school has some good processes to ensure that overall teacher judgements for National Standards are reliable, particularly in writing. The recent move to anniversary reporting should provide parents with more reliable information about children’s progress in the first three years of school. The principal has identified that moderating assessment processes and overall teacher judgements with other CoL schools would be a useful development.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

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

The school’s processes and actions are beginning to help achieve equity and excellence for all children.

Leaders and teachers are continuing to build a school development and improvement culture. The leadership team model an openness to learning and working collaboratively. Teachers have participated in a variety of professional learning opportunities. One initiative in particular is contributing to improved curriculum and teaching practices that are responsive to the language, culture and identity of Māori and other learners.

Teachers provide children with well organised programmes and a settled environment. Through the integrated curriculum they have strengthened learning experiences so that they are more relevant to children’s interests. In maths, new teaching practices allow children to take more responsibility for their learning. Children are eager to learn and engage very well.

The most notable process that is contributing to equity and excellence is the introduction of the ‘teaching as inquiry’ cycle. Teachers identify an area of their practice they want to develop and then make evidence-informed decisions about strategies that are most likely to meet the needs of their learners. These inquiries are starting to show evidence of accelerated learning for groups of children.

The board, senior leaders and teachers collaborate with parents/whānau to enhance outcomes and promote learning. The school is working to strengthen this relationship so that parents/whānau have a variety of ways to be active partners in their child’s learning.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

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

School leaders are making improvements to processes to help them achieve equity and excellence. Aspects of strategic leadership and internal evaluation are not yet sufficiently well developed. School processes that require further development include:

  • developing consistency of effective teaching practices, including enhancing children’s ownership of their learning, and reviewing how effectively ‘assessment for learning’ strategies contribute to improved learning outcomes
  • deeper analysis of achievement information for groups of children over time; teachers’ leadership in this role could identify a wider range of achievement targets and actions to be addressed at different areas of the school, informing priorities at the strategic level
  • streamlining action plans and rationalising priorities to allow leaders to more regularly and effectively monitor, evaluate and report what is contributing to accelerated progress
  • strengthening evidence-based internal evaluation by including information about the effectiveness of programmes and initiatives on children’s learning to further support teachers, leaders and the board in their decision making.

Developing a more strategic approach to leadership and governance that ensures a coherent focus on children whose learning and achievement need acceleration, should contribute to greater equity and excellence.

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.

Going forward

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

The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all children. However, disparity in achievement for Māori and other children remains.

Leaders and teachers:

  • know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
  • need to develop and implement approaches that effectively meet the needs of each child
  • need to improve the school conditions that support the acceleration of children’s learning and achievement.
  • need to build teacher capability to accelerate children’s learning and achievement.

The school agrees to:

  • develop more targeted planning to accelerate learning for children
  • monitor targeted planning, improved teaching, and children’s progress
  • discuss the school’s progress with ERO.

ERO will provide feedback and resources to support the development of more targeted planning. 

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

Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

5 May 2017

About the school 

Location

Kelston, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1331

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

297

Gender composition

Boys      53%
Girls       47%

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pākehā
Samoan               
Indian
Tongan
Fijian
Filipino
South East Asian
Chinese               
Middle Eastern
Cook Islands Māori
other Asian
other Pacific
other

  20%
    5%
  27%
  10%
  10%
    4%
    4%
    4%
    3%
    3%
    2%
    3%
    3%
    2%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

February 2017

Date of this report

5 May 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review
Education Review

  January 2014
  December 2010

Kelston School - 15/01/2014

1 Context

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

Kelston School in Auckland provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. Students and staff are proud of their school which recently celebrated its 60th jubilee. Stable staffing contributes to the school’s positive profile in the local community. Some families have attended the school for two or more generations.

The school community is culturally diverse, inclusive and supportive of the school. Demographics within Kelston and local population trends sees seventy percent of the students with English as their second language. The school roll is fifty percent Pacifica, fifteen percent Māori and thirty-five percent other ethnic groups. The board reflects this diversity of cultures.

An emphasis on the school’s values promotes a caring and respectful school tone and a focus on learning. Students who spoke with ERO commented about their respect for each other. Two new classrooms have been built in the centre of the school for the Kelston Deaf Education classes. Students in these classes benefit from inclusion in host school activities.

Kelston School has a history of positive ERO reports. Leaders and staff have positively responded to recommendations made in the 2010 ERO report. In 2011, the principal requested inclusion in a local Ministry of Education (MoE) initiative with access to a SAF manager (Student Achievement Function). Through this initiative, teachers and leaders have participated in professional learning with local schools.

2 Learning

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

The school uses achievement information well to make positive changes to learners’ achievement. The board, school leaders and teachers have a deliberate focus on raising student achievement in relation to the National Standards.

Achievement information indicates that the majority of students, including Māori and Pacific students, achieve at or above the National Standard for reading, writing and mathematics. Data also shows that students make good progress during their time at Kelston School. Capable and experienced leadership maintains high quality support for students with specific learning needs, including students requiring additional English programmes.

Teachers use multiple sources to gather assessment data. They have benefitted from professional development to significantly improve achievement in writing. School leaders continue to support teachers to make greater use of student achievement information to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching.

Senior leaders and ERO agree that priorities for development should include:

  • more evaluative interpretation of assessment data
  • strengthening student ownership of their learning and progress
  • reporting to parents explicitly in relation to the National Standards.

3 Curriculum

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

The Kelston School curriculum is effective in promoting student learning. Some high quality teaching is evident where students, including Māori and Pacific, are actively engaged and successful in their learning.

The integrated curriculum enables students to participate in real life learning. The school’s values are clearly defined, well-embedded in the curriculum and meaningful to students. There is a broad range of activities available for all students, particularly in culture, leadership and sport.

School leaders and teachers are developing a more defined profile of the ‘Kelston School learner’. They are also determining teaching practices to support students to develop the skills and competencies of the ‘Kelston School Learner’.

Classrooms are attractive environments where student work is displayed and valued. Students are friendly, respectful and proud of their work. They work well together and enjoy positive relationships with their teachers and other students.

Teachers are highly collegial and plan collaboratively to integrate all learning areas of The New Zealand Curriculum. Professional learning has focused on developing inquiry learning and e-learning approaches in classroom programmes. Coaching for teachers in strategies developed from ALiM (Assessment Learning in Mathematics) has been used to improve teaching in mathematics across the school.

A community fono has resulted in increased engagement with Pacifica whānau and the development of a Pacific Education plan. Families appreciate opportunities to share learning with their children through the Reading Together Programme, and the mathematics workshops provided for parents. School leaders agree that greater acknowledgement of Pacific cultures should be included in classrooms and around the school.

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

Kelston School regularly celebrates Māori student success. Kapa haka plays a significant role in many situations, especially in formal proceedings. A school kawa has been established for powhiri led by students.

ERO acknowledges the role and expertise of the specialist teacher of te reo Māori to support teachers and students to become more confident in te reo Māori me ōna tikanga. School leaders are using the MoE resources Ka Hikitia: Managing for Success and Tataiako, Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners to strengthen teachers’ responsiveness to Māori students’ culture, language and identity.

The school has been proactive in engaging with Māori whānau. Trustees, school leaders, Māori whānau and ERO agree that developing an education plan for Māori success would provide a more coordinated and strategic approach to enhancing success for Māori students as Māori.

4 Sustainable Performance

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

Kelston School is well placed to sustain and improve its performance. The principal is collaborative, promotes a shared vision for the school and is instrumental in building a professional and inclusive school culture. The board, school leaders and staff are committed to supporting students to be successful learners.

The 2013 board elections resulted in a good balance of new trustees and continuing members. Trustees actively seek training and advice to ensure they have a sound understanding of the board’s governance role. They are proactive in working to raise the achievement of all students at Kelston School.

Parents talked with ERO about the principal’s open consultation processes to include community aspirations in the school’s future direction. They also appreciate the care teachers have for all children.

Trustees, school leaders and ERO agree that next steps include:

  • strengthening self-review processes and monitoring the outcomes and impact of self review
  • developing and reporting against specific charter targets that align to strategic goals
  • reviewing teacher appraisal processes to ensure the development of teaching reflects the school’s strategic goals and include all registered teachers criteria.

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.

When is ERO likely to review the school again?

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

Dale Bailey

National Manager Review Services

Northern Region

15 January 2014

About the School

Location

Kelston, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1331

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

332

Gender composition

Boys 56%

Girls 44%

Ethnic composition

Māori

NZ European / Pākehā

Samoan

Tongan

Indian

other Asian

other Pacific

Chinese

Middle East

African

other European

15%

6%

32%

17%

9%

6%

6%

4%

3%

1%

1%

Special Features

Two Kelston Deaf Education Centre classes

Review team on site

November 2013

Date of this report

15 January 2014

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

December 2010

November 2007

September 2004