Queenspark Te Hua Mānuka

Education institution number:
3479
School type:
Full Primary
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
468
Telephone:
Address:

222 Queenspark Drive, Parklands, Christchurch

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Queenspark School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 24 months of the Education Review Office and Queenspark 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 

Queenspark School Te Hua Mānuka is located in east Christchurch. The school provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. Their vision is empowering children to step up and reach out in order to achieve their personal best.

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

  • Students will be able to successfully increase their ability to use number knowledge effectively and make significant progress in their daily mathematical tasks and activities.

  • As a priority, teachers will be able to successfully implement written language programmes for students who are just below expectations and established as best practice from the results of 2021 and 2022 written language outcomes.

  • To introduce the refreshed NZ Curriculum, Te Mātaiaho.

  • Students will be able to retell the Queenspark School Cultural Narrative in their own words by explaining the tō mātou kōrero (our story) and therefore maintaining the important cultural links to our Māori tuku iho (heritage).

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate to what extent is cultural responsiveness known, understood, and enacted at Queenspark School to improve wellbeing and learning outcomes for all students.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • The school has identified cultural responsiveness as an area for ongoing improvement, this aligns to current strategic planning.

  • The focus will support equitable educational success for Māori as Māori and all learners.

The school expects to see a strengthening in giving effect to te Tiriti o Waitangi which will support enhanced equity and excellence outcomes for all students.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate to what extent is cultural responsiveness known, understood and enacted at Queenspark School:

  • Existing Systems and processes that support effective internal evaluation to support continuous improvement in teaching and learning.

  • Leadership that actively plans interventions to support improved outcomes for Māori learners…do they work? Have a positive impact? Are they culturally responsive?

  • A strategic approach to improving outcomes for all learners that is informed by meaningful analysis of learner outcomes.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • Further development of leaders and teachers understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in order to improve wellbeing and learning outcomes for all students.

  • Continuation of a focused approach to ensuring improved parity of learning outcomes for all learners.

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

 9 November 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

Queenspark School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of April 2023, the Queenspark 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 Queenspark 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

 9 November 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

Queenspark School - 30/06/2017

Summary

Queenspark School has a roll of 547 children.

The school has responded positively to addressing a number of the next steps identified in the 2013 ERO report. Since that time there have been a new board chairperson and trustees appointed and some changes in the senior leadership team.

The school’s achievement information shows improvements in most children’s achievement since 2013. In 2016 there was a slight decrease in mathematics achievement for Māori children. Children’s achievement in writing, particularly for boys and Māori children, has continued to improve over time. The school has engaged the support of key external educational expertise to support improvements in teaching and learning.

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

The school responds well to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. There are many processes for enabling equity and excellence. These include:

  • the school’s shared vision and values that are well embedded across all aspects of the school

  • a culture of collaboration

  • positive relationships and inclusiveness.

School leaders and teachers need to further develop systems for reporting achievement. They also need to give greater prominence to bicultural practices across the school. Processes for evaluating the effectiveness of school initiatives and operations need to be formalised and strengthened.

Children are achieving well. The school demonstrates strong progress toward achieving equity in educational outcomes, supported by effective, sustainable processes and practices.

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?

The school responds well to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

School achievement information shows an upward trend for most groups of children in reading, writing and mathematics over the last three years. Achievement is highest in writing. Most Māori and other children are achieving at or above the National Standards.

Some disparity in achievement has recently been evident between some groups of children in reading and writing. School leaders and teachers have a range of strategies in place to improve outcomes for these learners. This includes the introduction in 2016 of a well-targeted approach that is addressing and strengthening children’s oral language development.

Leaders and teachers are continuing to improve systems for tracking children’s progress over time. They recognise that this remains an area for ongoing improvement that includes school-wide guidelines for assessment and moderation.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

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

The school has many processes for enabling achievement of equity and excellence.

The school’s shared vision and values are effectively embedded in processes, key documentation and practices across the school and are well known by children. This provides a shared understanding of the best ways to support children to achieve to their potential.

The board, school leaders and staff are focused on continuous improvement in outcomes for children. A school-wide culture of collaboration, positive relationships and inclusiveness supports children’s learning and wellbeing. Mutual support between the school and community is clearly evident.

Strong pastoral care systems, practices and interventions support children’s holistic development, learning and engagement. Children’s wellbeing is prioritised to ensure they are able to access all learning opportunities available.

The school’s curriculum effectively identifies valued outcomes for teaching and learning. Teachers provide many purposeful ways to support children’s learning and empower them to take more responsibility for their own learning. Students are building self-management skills and have a better understanding of what helps them learn and what they need to do to achieve success. While aspects of te reo and tikanga Māori are evident, there needs to be greater urgency given to developing and embedding bicultural understandings in class programmes and practices.

School leaders and teachers make good use of external expertise to improve teaching and learning. This includes ongoing investigations into current teaching and learning to ensure that future education developments benefit all children. Targeted professional development and a new appraisal process are helping to build a culture of reflection and collective understanding that is contributing to improved outcomes for children.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

The school has a range of processes to achieve equity and excellence. Some initiatives are at an early stage of development.

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

ERO and school leaders agree about the need to:

  • promote educational success for Māori as Māori
  • formalise and strengthen internal evaluation at all levels of the school, including curriculum, leadership and stewardship.

The board needs to promote high quality stewardship practices and processes. This should include:

  • clarifying reporting requirements for all school operations
  • providing regular opportunities for community consultation
  • more fully scrutinising achievement and other student information to ensure all children are making sufficient progress over time.

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.

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the Educational (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code.

No international students were enrolled at the time of the ERO review.

Going forward

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

Children are achieving well. The school demonstrates strong progress toward achieving equity in educational outcomes, supported by effective, sustainable processes and practices.

Agreed next steps are to:

  • build board capacity
  • formalise and strengthen internal evaluation
  • give greater prominence to bicultural practices. 

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

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)

30 June 2017

About the school 

Location

Christchurch

Ministry of Education profile number

3479

School type

Full Primary

School roll

531

Gender composition

Boys: 51% Girls: 49%

Ethnic composition

Māori 9%
Pākehā 88%
Pacific 3%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

April 2017

Date of this report

30 June 2017

Most recent ERO reports

Education Review October 2013
Education Review March 2010
Education Review December 2006

 

Queenspark School - 29/10/2013

1 Context

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

The school has a positive reporting history with ERO. It continues to be well led by a stable senior leadership team and an experienced board. Staff and school leaders work well together for the benefit of students.

The school was affected by the Canterbury earthquakes and has responded well to the challenges these created. A strong focus on student achievement has been maintained and student welfare is actively supported. Students learn in a positive, supportive learning environment.

2 Learning

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

Senior leaders, team leaders and classroom teachers make very good use of achievement information to promote student learning.

Senior leaders have established good processes for the collection and analysis of student achievement information. They make good use of this information to set appropriate school-wide targets to lift achievement and report to the board.

A strength of the school is the way teaching teams also use achievement data to set specific improvement targets and monitor students’ progress and achievement. They regularly analyse information, discuss ideas and then adjust planned programmes to support student progress.

Classroom teachers gather achievement information from a wide range of sources to get a good picture of student learning. They use this information well to guide student understanding of their next learning steps and to set useful goals in partnership with their parents.

Students talk confidently about their learning, how teachers help them and what they have achieved.

Well-targeted professional development is increasing teachers’ understanding of assessment practices and school expectations. This is helping teachers to make more consistent judgements about student learning at all year levels.

The special needs coordinator and teachers effectively identify students needing extra help with their learning. These students receive focused support through a wide range of interventions and ongoing adaptations to classroom programmes designed to meet their needs. This support is regularly monitored and changed where necessary, to improve outcomes for students.

Area for review and development

School leaders should now explore further ways of evaluating and reporting on the effectiveness of special needs programmes in accelerating student progress and promoting effective teaching strategies.

3 Curriculum

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

The school’s curriculum actively promotes and supports student learning.

A significant feature of the school is the way its vision and values are successfully integrated throughout the curriculum. These are regularly emphasised and are very evident in the life of the school. There are high and well understood expectations for student learning and behaviour.

The school’s well-designed curriculum:

  • effectively promotes key skills and attitudes students need to become self-managing learners
  • provides clear direction for programme planning and teaching practices
  • encourages teachers to relate learning to students’ interests and needs
  • presents students with a wide range of engaging learning opportunities both in and beyond the classroom that show high levels of participation.

Teachers use a variety of approaches known to promote student progress and achievement. Key factors identified by the school leaders and observed by ERO include:

  • extending students' thinking through skilled questioning
  • purposeful, focused teaching that successfully builds on students’ prior knowledge and learning
  • guiding students to reflect and take increasing responsibility for their learning.

A strength of the school is the considerable efforts made to promote students' wellbeing and sense of belonging within the school setting.

The success of these efforts can be seen in the way:

  • teachers and students interact
  • good routines result in calm, settled, learning-focused classroom environments
  • students work independently and cooperatively in support of one another
  • new initiatives, that build students’ resilience, are trialled and reviewed
  • students are challenged to take part in regular physical activity as a way of promoting healthy living.

Senior students have many opportunities to develop their leadership skills. Older students look out for younger students. The responsibility of being a good role model is taken seriously by students and appreciated by staff. Student service to the school is valued and acknowledged.

Area for review and development

The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to support learning and teaching is in its early stages. The board and school leaders have identified, and ERO agrees, that further developing teachers’ understanding and use of ICT to foster student learning is a priority.

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

The school is continuing to strengthen how it promotes educational success for Māori as Māori.

Māori students achieve at similar levels to their school peers in reading, writing and mathematics.

School leaders are committed to fostering opportunities to celebrate Māori culture. They are providing professional development and undertaking consultation to better understand cultural diversity. They are also identifying teaching strategies that successfully promote student achievement.

The success of the school’s efforts to raise awareness and appreciation of the Māori culture amongst students and the wider community can be seen in the strength of its kapa haka groups. Over 120 students regularly choose to be part of these groups. These groups perform with skill and pride.

Area for review and development

The degree to which teachers successfully integrate aspects of te reo and tikanga Māori into classroom programmes varies. A next step is to build teachers’ confidence and ability to foster and use te reo and tikanga Māori as a more natural part of everyday teaching.

4 Sustainable Performance

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

The school is well placed to sustain and improve its performance.

The board and senior leaders work well together. Trustees and leaders articulate the school vision and purpose with confidence. Their shared understanding of the vision strongly influences how they make decisions and set priorities.

The principal and deputy principals provide strong professional leadership. They are strategic in their management of the school and are open to new ideas. As a team, they have created a positive and reflective school culture that leads to ongoing improvement to teaching and learning.

Leadership structures and good management practices are helping to build the school’s capacity to sustain and improve its performance. For example:

  • there is a deliberate approach to developing teachers’ leadership skills
  • good use is made of research, professional readings and staff strengths to shape professional development for teachers
  • teachers work well together to improve processes and practices likely to improve student learning.

There is a good balance between professional trust and accountability across the school and within teaching teams. Teachers appreciate and respond positively to this approach.

Areas for review and development

It is timely for the board to review and improve the strategic plan to help provide clearer direction about long-term and immediate priorities and how these will be achieved.

Senior leaders now need to further improve self review to increase the quality and usefulness of information gained through this process.

ERO and senior leaders recognise that there is potential to further strengthen the role of key curriculum leaders.

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. The board has attested that it meets the requirements of the Code of Practice.

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.

Graham Randell

National Manager Review Services Southern Region

29 October 2013

About the School

Location

Parklands, Christchurch

Ministry of Education profile number

3479

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

551

Gender composition

Boys 52%; Girls 48%

Ethnic composition

NZ European/Pākehā

Māori

Samoan

Asian

Other ethnicities

78%

11%

2%

2%

7%

Review team on site

August 2013

Date of this report

29 October 2013

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

March 2010

December 2006

September 2003