Nelson College

Education institution number:
294
School type:
Secondary (Year 9-15)
School gender:
Single Sex (Boys School)
Definition:
School with Boarding Facilities
Total roll:
929
Telephone:
Address:

Waimea Road, Nelson

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Nelson College

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within seven months of the Education Review Office and Nelson College 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

Nelson College is a Years 9 to 13 boys’ secondary school with a boarding hostel onsite. Nelson College Preparatory School is also located within the college grounds. The College’s outdoor education centre Matakitaki Lodge is in Nelson Lakes National Park.

There has been substantial change in college leadership and governance. A new Tumuaki |Principal was appointed in 2020, along with a new senior leadership team in 2021 and 2022. Most board members are new to the College board.

Nelson College’s strategic plan (Tō Mātou Waka, He Haerenga Hou |Our Waka, A New Journey) includes the following priorities for improving outcomes for learners:

  • celebrating the diversity of Nelson|Whakatū and New Zealand |Aotearoa, providing equitable opportunities for learning and promoting success for all

  • supporting and teaching all youth|rangitahi to be confident, resilient and caring within a positive behaviour culture

  • creating a junior school curriculum that is responsive, innovative, incorporates local mātauranga|knowledge and builds a collaborative approach to teaching and learning

  • providing a holistic and world-class education where students achieve excellence in line with their potential.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate equity and excellence for students through a refreshed sustainable junior curriculum.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that:

  • school leaders want to create a collaborative approach to teaching and learning through a curriculum that is responsive, innovative and incorporates local mātauranga

  • some student groups are not achieving as well as others

  • this focus connects positively with the schools’ planned Māori Medium initiative.

The school expects to see:

  • a junior curriculum that develops students’ key competencies

  • equitable and excellent outcomes for all students

  • ākonga Māori seeing their language, culture and identity valued at the college

  • a consistently positive and sustainable learning culture

  • collective capacity and collaboration amongst staff, particularly amongst middle leaders.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to achieve equity and excellence for students through a refreshed sustainable junior curriculum.

  • The re-development and defining of the college's vision for its learners.

  • The range of new and existing reciprocal external partnerships being forged and extended to support learners and their learning opportunities.

  • The levels of excellence some students achieve in their academic and co-curricular activities.

  • The depth of planning invested in clear school improvement strategies.

  • Careful management of school resources to support school improvement.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • reviewing its junior curriculum, promoting innovative and engaging teaching and learning

  • building systems that enable reliable learning information to be gathered and retrieved to underpin outcome targets and monitoring in the junior school

  •  ensuring Māori and Pacific students’ progress towards equitable outcomes and success

  • continuing to support learner wellbeing through a positive, collaborative learning environment.

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. 

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

9 September 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

Nelson College

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of July 2022, the Nelson College Board of Trustees 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

Actions for Compliance

ERO has identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

  • consult with the community and adopt a statement on the delivery of the health curriculum at least once in every two years.

[Section 91 Education and Training Act 2020]

The board has since taken steps to address the area of non-compliance identified.

Further Information

For further information please contact Nelson College Board of Trustees.

The next Board of Trustees 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.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

9 September 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

Nelson College

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

Nelson College has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code and has completed an annual self review of its implementation of the Code. The school has established effective processes for reviewing its provision for international students and compliance with the Code.

At the time of this review there were 15 international students attending the school, and no exchange students. 

School governance and leadership make good use of a range of information on student wellbeing, learning and engagement to know about the quality of provision. This is used to identify actions needed to sustain positive outcomes for students. The director has active and effective lines of communication with international students, their teachers and their whānau. The director keeps whānau informed in an ongoing way. 

Sound processes and practices support students to settle into school, develop a sense of belonging, and to be active participants in school life and the wider community.

Students’ wellbeing is well monitored and supported by effective links between international students, whānau, staff and the International Director. Care is taken to support international students’ wellbeing. All students spoken with indicated that they have good support networks with staff and connections with other students. Information relevant to international students is effectively recorded and updated on the school’s student management system.  

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

9 September 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

Nelson College

ERO Hostel Report

Background

The Chief Review Officer has the authority to carry out reviews (which may be general or in relation to particular matters) of the provision of a safe physical and emotional environment that supports learning for students accommodated in hostels under section 470 of the Education and Training Act 2020. This function is delegated to review officers who have the powers to enter and carry out review of hostels under section 472 of the Act.

Findings

The hostel manager and the hostel owner  have attested in the Hostel Assurance Statement that they meet the requirements of the Hostel Regulations 2005.

The college hostel is made up of two houses at the time of this review - Rutherford and Barnicoat. These houses underwent complete refurbishment, beginning in 2016. An external review of the hostel was carried out in 2017. The majority of the recommendations from that report having been implemented, including all those relating to physical and emotional safety. The Director of Boarding has developed and implemented comprehensive documentation to guide hostel staff in their various roles.

Boys’ physical and emotional safety is well supported. There are well known systems and processes to manage safety and wellbeing. Boys have access to a wide range of activities and facilities as part of normal hostel life. Boys’ learning at the college is well supported through tutoring and mentoring available at prep and other times. Tailored additional support for those students who need it is also organised.

The director and housemasters collaborate well with each other and other staff to provide the environment and conditions that support boys’ learning at the college. Parents and boys spoke of the benefits of the hostel experience, and especially the responsiveness of the housemasters.

The Covid-19 pandemic has provided significant challenges for hostel management particularly in relation to students who were not able to return to their home country. Hostel staff responded well to this, by providing additional support for these students in terms of their day-to-day activities and wellbeing.  

To consider going forward:

  • including surveys alongside existing systems for gathering parents’ and boys’ perceptions of boarding and the hostel and any aspects that are part of this (for example food, wellbeing check-ins)

  • establishing mechanisms for regular reporting to the board.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

9 September 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

Nelson College - 06/12/2016

Findings

Nelson College is a high-performing boys’ school with traditions. Boys show a strong sense of belonging and pride.  They achieve very well in their learning and in sporting and cultural activities. Teachers take many innovative approaches, providing responsive learning opportunities that engage boys well in their learning. Strong, visionary professional leadership provides a highly inclusive environment for the increasingly diverse range of students.

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

1 Context

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

Nelson College is a long-standing, state secondary school with a rich history. It is a Years 9 to 15 boys’ school with traditions. The school is part of the Nelson City Community of Learning with a group of eight schools and centres.

The school’s mission is to inspire and challenge boys to develop their academic, cultural and sporting abilities. The school aims to grow a boy’s character and promote values to enable each boy to be unique and the best he can be. The school strongly promotes a positive and inclusive culture and continuous improvement. Boys’ learning benefits from these school priorities.

Nelson College constantly responds to the changing needs of all learners. There is a strong focus on adults building respectful relationships with students, and on students showing respect for each other. The school has an increasing number of migrants from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. The way staff and students acknowledge and celebrate this diversity enriches the learning of all students.

Students’ pride in their school is clearly evident. In addition to academic achievement, boys as individuals and teams achieve many successes in a wide range of sporting and cultural fields, locally and nationally. These pursuits assist students to develop their sense of belonging and pride, and increase their retention at school.

The school’s building and refurbishment programme has created a significant number of purpose-built facilities covering a range of specialist learning areas. About 140 students reside in two on-site hostels. Over one third of these are international students. A third hostel is undergoing major refurbishment.

The school has a history of high performance in its most recent ERO evaluations.

2 Learning

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

The school makes highly strategic use of a wide range of learning information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement.

Leaders and teachers use achievement and other information very effectively to ensure that students’ needs, interests and abilities are provided for. Students’ learning strengths and needs are identified early and a range of ongoing monitoring across junior and senior years is having a positive impact on students. Students told ERO that the teachers know them well and tailor courses and activities to engage, support and motivate them.

The school has a strong focus on retaining senior students, who are well supported through a variety of purposeful strategies to achieve appropriate leavers' qualifications. The school has programmes in place to enable students to feel confident to set and achieve learning goals, take learning risks and stretch themselves.

Students achieve very well. By the time they leave school, nearly all students have achieved Level 1 NCEA and their numeracy and literacy requirements. Over 80% of leavers have achieved Level 2. Achievement at NCEA Level 3 and Excellence endorsements at Levels 2 and 3 are strengths. Leaders gather and scrutinize school-wide learning information well to develop improvement targets and monitor progress towards these.

Leaders and teachers use data very effectively to monitor progress and achievement and to assess outcomes. Data is used to inform decisions around teaching and learning and to find the best ways to engage students. Leaders review teaching practices and work with teachers to improve outcomes for students. School leaders and teachers have a relentless focus on enabling all students to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Next step

Curriculum leaders and teachers need to improve consistency of reporting to students in Years 9 and 10, and their parents, about achievement in terms of curriculum levels.

3 Curriculum

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

The school’s curriculum very effectively promotes and supports student learning. It provides boys with equitable opportunities to develop the skills and qualities they need to equip them for success. The vision, principles and values of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) are highly evident. The school places a high priority on ensuring students have respect for themselves, others and their learning. Leaders promote a highly inclusive environment, with the expectation that each boy will feel effectively engaged in his learning, stay on at school and leave with a ‘passport’ to his future.

Ongoing development of the curriculum is very responsive to the current and future aspirations, interests and needs of students. Flexible, authentic and engaging learning programmes and choices provide many pathways to success in the senior school and to purposeful, well-planned transitions beyond the school. Learners value the wide range of learning experiences, innovative curriculum design and extensive support they receive from teachers both in and outside the classroom.

Senior leaders and teachers lead and share innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Professional development is well structured and aligned to strategic priorities. Professional learning is building teachers’ capacity with digital technologies and cultural responsiveness.

Boys benefit from a culture of manaakitanga/caring within the school. The pastoral system effectively supports boys’ wellbeing and respect for learning. Student leadership and responsibility are strongly fostered. Senior boys feel empowered by the variety of leadership opportunities including an embedded mentoring system between teachers and students, senior students to junior boys, and between peers in the senior school. This focus on relationships and respect has been a priority in Year 9. Respect and positive relationships are further enhanced across the school as a result of whole-school events and a range of outside-the-classroom activities. Senior students lead the implementation of respect initiatives. Boys feel well supported to have positive relationships, serve the community and develop into well-rounded, successful young men.

Students appreciate the choices and responsive teaching methods they benefit from at the school. The opportunity for authentic learning in many subject areas is raising student engagement and achievement. High expectations are clearly stated and evident for all. Student successes, whether academic, sporting, cultural, or in service to the community, are widely celebrated in the school. Students’ opinions and ideas are encouraged and acted upon.

A wide range of support and ‘wrap-around’ services provide targeted assistance for students to ensure every boy has an equitable opportunity for tailored success. Newly arriving students are well supported to make a successful transition into the school’s learning culture. Students with particular gifts and talents are extended and challenged. The school is effectively engaging students who have found the learning-to-learn process challenging. Leaders and teachers find innovative ways to ensure each boy has access to relevant, engaging contexts for a successful pathway beyond school. This includes a comprehensive careers programme to help boys work with family/whānau to plan their future.

Next step

School leaders should consider recording in a concise way the principles, practices and expectations of what is currently a very inclusive and highly responsive curriculum-in-action. This would provide a very useful document to share the intended curriculum with students, parents and whānau, as well as a benchmark for evaluating the impact of curriculum implementation.

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

The school very effectively promotes educational success for Māori, as Māori. The school responds well to the NZC principles relating to the Treaty of Waitangi, Inclusion and Community Engagement for the benefit of Māori learners.

Māori boys learn in an environment where te reo and tikanga Māori are valued. They confidently identify and stand proud as Māori at Nelson College. As a result of the school’s culturally responsive efforts, leavers’ data for 2014 and 2015 shows between 70 and 80% of Māori students had achieved at least Level 2 in NCEA. In addition, two thirds of Māori students in Year 13 in 2015 achieved a Level 3 certificate.

The school is aware of the areas where there is an in-school disparity between Māori achievement and the achievement of other students. School leaders work deliberately with Māori teachers and other key staff to ensure Māori boys experience success, increase their engagement and accelerate their progress.

They focus on ensuring Māori learners:

  • experience a strong sense of belonging and enjoy success as Māori
  • work in partnership with their teachers and whānau to plan for success
  • are well supported to stay on at school to achieve appropriate qualifications before they leave.

The recent completion of the Whare te Ara Poutama in the centre of the school is providing a strong sense of physical and spiritual connection for Māori students and the wider community. Māori students choose to join the whānau groups, where their culture is at the centre of what they do and how they learn. They achieve NCEA credits in te reo Māori and Māori performing arts in the whānau class environment. Every senior Māori student in the whānau classes is mentored to take successful, deliberate steps towards achieving personalised learning goals. Core concepts such as rangatiratanga and tuakana-teina relationships are a natural part of daily life for boys from the whānau classes.

Senior leaders are actively involved in leading initiatives to raise Māori achievement. They are continuing to build partnerships with whānau and local iwi to inform their decisions for improvement. Teachers are being supported to continue to develop their confidence with te reo Māori and their culturally responsive competencies.

Nelson College is well placed with highly capable, culturally responsive leadership to maintain the strategic focus on providing tailored solutions to support the high expectations for Māori students.

4 Sustainable Performance

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

The school is very well placed to sustain the recent history of high performance and continue to improve.

The adults and students in the Nelson College learning community benefit from strong and visionary professional leadership. This has resulted in a school that is highly committed to being inclusive, flexible, innovative and responsive to learning needs. Senior leaders are trusted and empowered to lead important initiatives and ensure key aspects of school operations contribute to the board’s short and long-term goals. Leaders show genuine care for students and families in need of extra support. The school has very effective practices in place to grow and support leadership at every level of the school.

Strategic priority setting and alignment is a strength in the school. The headmaster leads a consultation, implementation and evaluation process that ensures trustees are well informed about progress in relation to board priorities. School leaders ensure the work of middle leaders and teachers contributes to overall school improvement in relation to those priorities.

New and beginning teachers benefit from well-coordinated guidance from a range of key staff. There are clear expectations so they can become fully certificated teachers based on convincing evidence. They are well supported to meet the criteria for best-practice teaching and learning at this school.

The school has effectively built links with its own and the wider community. Staff members use a wide range of strategies to regularly communicate with parents/whānau. They are building positive relationships with families with a focus on supporting boys to make good progress and achieve well. This is especially so in the case of boys at risk of poor outcomes. Significant financial support by friends of the school, including old boys, and funds generated by the entrepreneurial efforts of the school, extend staffing and other provisions for students’ learning. The school’s aim is to ensure ‘no boy misses out’. This is very evident across a wide range of initiatives to support boys’ wellbeing, increase engagement with learning, and raise achievement.

Next steps

Many teachers regularly reflect on their teaching, inquire into what works well and what needs to improve, share their thinking with colleagues, and adapt practice to improve outcomes for students. There is variable quality in the way all teachers can show evidence of these good practices. Leaders need to support more teachers to be able to rigorously evaluate the impact of their teaching.

The board agrees a next step to strengthen the focus trustees place on learning is to improve recording of the evaluative questions, conclusions and recommendations when reports come to them about students’ learning.

Provision for international students

The Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 (the Code) was introduced on July 1st 2016. The school is making good progress in aligning its policies and procedures to meet the new Code requirements by December 1st 2016.

At the time of the review there were 78 international students attending the school. Most are accommodated at the school’s boarding houses while about 20 are in homestays.

International students are well supported pastorally and with their learning. They are:

  • helped to settle in to their new living and learning environments
  • supported in their learning to set and meet appropriate achievement goals
  • monitored regularly to ensure their learning and pastoral needs are being met
  • encouraged to become involved in the wider life of the school and community
  • well informed, along with their families, about their progress at the school.

Provision for students in the school hostel

The board of Nelson College owns three boarding houses on the school site. At the time of this review, two were in operation with 140 boarders. They represent 12% of the school roll. The hostel owner has attested that all requirements of the Hostel Regulations are met.

Boarders experience positive relationships with each other and with hostel management and staff. Junior boys are welcomed and supported by staff and senior boarders to adapt to hostel living. The deputy principal responsible for the hostel and the hostel managers have effective systems for monitoring and responding to the safety and wellbeing needs of boarders. These include clear and well-understood guidelines for staff and boarders, and regular communication with parents and caregivers. Systems are in place to consider and respond to the opinions and ideas of boarders. From time to time, hostel staff gather parents’ views about the suitability of particular ways of doing things.

Hostel managers communicate and work constructively with school leaders and staff to support boarders’ learning and participation in all aspects of school life. Hostel students benefit from well-established study routines and access to appropriate teaching staff and school resources when needed.

The hostels are undergoing major refurbishment one by one. Once this process is complete boarders will experience significantly upgraded accommodation in an otherwise historic setting. The board has taken a well-considered approach to planning these improvements.

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.

Conclusion

Nelson College is a high-performing boys’ school with traditions. Boys show a strong sense of belonging and pride. They achieve very well in their learning and in sporting and cultural activities. Teachers take many innovative approaches, providing responsive learning opportunities that engage boys well in their learning. Strong, visionary professional leadership provides a highly inclusive environment for the increasingly diverse range of students.

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

Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern

6 December 2016

About the School

Location

Nelson

Ministry of Education profile number

294

School type

Secondary (Years 9 to 15)

School roll

1168

Number of international students

78

Gender composition

Male 100%

Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

Asian

Pacific

14%

73%

10%

3%

Special Features

Boarding hostels

Attached private preparatory school (Years 7 and 8)

Outdoor Education Centre

Review team on site

September 2016

Date of this report

6 December 2016

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

September 2012

June 2009

May 2006