Kingsford School

Education institution number:
1333
School type:
Contributing
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
291
Address:

54 Raglan Street, Mangere East, Auckland

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Kingsford School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 30 months of the Education Review Office and Kingsford 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 

Kingsford School is in Māngere East and serves young people in Years 0 to 6. A new principal started in Term 3 2022 and is working with the school board to establish community focused strategic priorities.

Ko Te Pane o Mataoho te maunga

Ko Ōruarangi me te Puhinui ngā awa

Ko Manukanuka o Hoturoa te moana

Ko Taramainuku me Kaiwhare ngā kaitiaki

Ko Tainui te waka

Ko Kingsford te kura.

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

  • Culture

  • Learning

  • Partnerships.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent to which a sense of belonging, connection and confidence is experienced to improve valued outcomes for young people.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

  • ensure young people experience a sense of belonging, connection and confidence at school to support improved outcomes

  • deliberately align school practices with feedback from whānau and their aspirations for tamariki

  • further increase the capability and capacity of staff to ensure culturally responsive practices are understood and applied school wide.

The school expects to see young people:

  • consistently demonstrating a strong sense of belonging and connection to the school

  • consistently experiencing a learning environment where their language, culture and identity inform a localised and responsive curriculum

  • demonstrating agency in their learning and contributing to the continuous improvement of the school

  • acknowledged and celebrated in recognition of their learning, progress and achievement

  • supported by their whānau in successful learning partnerships.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support their goal to evaluate young people’s sense of belonging, connection and confidence at Kingsford School:

  • a school wide commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi

  • student voice and working in partnership with whānau are valued by school leaders and the board

  • school leaders are working collaboratively to build and maintain relationships with whānau and tangata whenua.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • continuing professional learning for staff related to this kaupapa

  • ensuring there is a shared understanding of key concepts related to this evaluation

  • collecting student, whānau and staff voice and experience to inform this evaluation.

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

18 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

Kingsford School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of February 2023, the Kingsford 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 Kingsford 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

18 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

Kingsford School - 14/07/2017

Summary

Kingsford School caters for children in Years 1 to 6 and has a roll of nearly 400. About 75 percent of children enrolled are Pacific, with the largest groups being Samoan and Tongan. Māori children make up 20 percent of the roll.

Since the 2014 ERO evaluation teachers have participated in professional learning and development (PLD) to strengthen mathematics teaching. More recently there has been a focus on developing teachers’ reflective practice and literacy teaching. The board appointed a new principal in January 2017.

Kingsford School is one of the six schools in the West Papatoetoe Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako (CoL). The agreed focus areas for this CoL include improving engagement in science and raising achievement in reading and writing.

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

The school is developing its capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all children. Raising the achievement of Māori and Pacific children is a school priority. Improving the boys’ achievement in reading is also a school focus.

The school’s processes and actions are mostly effective in helping to achieve equity and excellence. They include:

  • leadership for equity and excellence that is re-focusing school priorities on accelerating learning

  • improving the collective capacity of teachers to make evidence based decisions about teaching and learning

  • a responsive curriculum that celebrates and affirms children’s languages and cultural identities

  • providing opportunities that engage parents/whānau at school and involve them in partnerships that focus on learning.

Agreed next steps include developing a planned approach that supports the school’s new direction, documenting a school curriculum, strengthening learning partnerships with parents/whānau and strengthening evaluation to support ongoing improvement.

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

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?

Kingsford School is somewhat effective in its responses to children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. While there is some evidence that the school isaccelerating the progress of those children at risk of not achieving, these processes need to be made clearer and more coordinated.

The board and leaders have developed improvement plans to accelerate children’s progress and achievement. The board’s strategic plan prioritises school-wide targets in writing and mathematics.

Leaders and teachers have identified students at risk of not achieving in reading, writing and mathematics. Teachers have regular discussions that help them to inquire into their own practice and make decisions about how they can better support learners.

The school’s 2016 achievement data shows that about 70 percent of children achieve at and above the National Standards in reading, about 40 percent in writing and nearly 50 percent in mathematics. This data shows that since 2015 achievement has improved in reading, stayed the same in writing and declined in mathematics. In reading, achievement has improved for Māori and for boys. A disparity for boys remains in writing achievement.

Leaders and teachers are reviewing assessment processes. This should help to ensure greater consistency and dependability of overall teacher judgements in relation to the National Standards.

Settled, well organised learning environments support student learning. Positive developments include varied teaching and learning approaches to accelerate children’s progress. Some teachers are using effective teaching strategies with children.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

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

The long-serving board chairpersonand other trustees represent and serve the school and reflect the cultures of the community.Through the school’s well communicated set of values, children are supported to understand and apply positive attitudes and behaviours to their learning.

The principal has reviewed several areas of school operation. He is determining a new vision for the school with a deliberate focus on accelerating student progress and improving teaching practice. Reviewing and strengthening the distribution of leadership roles is supporting the enactment of school goals.This has the potential to contribute positively to consistent teaching and learning practices across the school.

The school curriculum prioritises literacy and mathematics. Curriculum design ensures that children’s cultures are celebrated well. Māori and Pacific learning themes are reflected in teaching programmes. Good use is made of local contexts and experiences outside the classroom to enrich learning experiences.

Parents have many opportunities to participate in school events and learning experiences. Hui for whānau Māori are a useful opportunity to connect with parents of tamariki Māori. A well established programme supports children and whānau to become familiar with school routines before children start school at five years of age. Parents have regular opportunities to participate in practical activities in literacy and mathematics that help them support their children at home.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

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

The principal has clearly identified a new vision to improve equity and excellence at the school. Building teachers’ collective capability through a focus on improving school-wide systems and processes will help meet the school’s vision and goals.

Leaders are planning to review the curriculum. Priorities identified by leaders include designing a whole school approach to curriculum development, improving access to digital technologies and increasing strategies that provide children with more choices about their learning.

School leaders recognise the value of improving learning partnerships with parents/whānau of children at risk of not achieving. The board acknowledges the important role that parents/whānau have in strengthening these partnerships.

A next step for leaders and teachers is to strengthen internal evaluation. Developing processes that measure the impact of initiatives and programmes on improved outcomes for children will support the board’s resourcing decisions. Trustees acknowledge that it would be useful to access support to help them understand and scrutinise board reports, especially those relating to achievement information.

Agreed next steps are to:

  • develop a planned approach to strengthening leaders’ and teachers’ capability and supporting knowledge building and purposeful inquiry into practice

  • develop and document a school curriculum that is responsive to children’s learning needs and promotes greater student ownership of their learning and achievement

  • strengthen internal evaluation so that trustees can better scrutinise achievement information to support greater equity and excellence for all learners

  • strengthen learning partnerships with parents/whānau of those children 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.

Actions required

ERO identified non-compliance in relation to reporting to parents. In order to address this the board must ensure that it reports to parents about students’ progress and achievement in relation to the National Standards.
National Administration Guideline 2A(a).

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/or 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 an internal evaluation workshop to support the school to develop effective planning and monitoring processes to support equity and excellence for all children.

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

Violet Tu’uga Stevenson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)

14 July 2017

About the school 

Location

Mangere East, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1333

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

391

Gender composition

Boys 54% Girls 46%

Ethnic composition

Māori
Samoan
Tongan
Cook Islands Māori
Indian
Niue
Asian

18%
31%
30%
11%
5%
3%
2%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

May 2017

Date of this report

14 July 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review
Education Review
Education Review

June 2014
June 2011
January 2008