Rowandale School

Education institution number:
1474
School type:
Contributing
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
539
Telephone:
Address:

73 Rowandale Avenue, Manurewa, Auckland

View on map

Rowandale School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 23 months of the Education Review Office and Rowandale 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 

Rowandale School is a contributing school located in Manurewa, Auckland.  The school’s learning values of engage, empower, and encourage, underpin all learning experiences and are the foundation of the school’s vision, ‘We grow our People”- Whakatipu ō mātou tangata.

The school offers two Niuean immersion classes and a school-wide Māori enhancement programme.

Rowandale School is a member of Te Kāhui Ako O Manurewa.

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

  • all learners can access relevant, meaningful, culturally responsive, and inclusive learning programmes and environments, resulting in outcomes of equity and excellence for all 

  • parents, caregivers and whānau are aware of where their child is at with their learning and how to help at home. 

  • teachers provide appropriate feedback and feedforward for students next learning steps 

  • leaders and teachers establish how well learning values applied within teaching programmes and classroom environments.  

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact that Rowandale School’s learning values have on learner progress and achievement. This evaluation will inform a refinement of the school’s strategic priorities.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • the Rowandale School learning values are a foundation of effective teaching and learning

  • leaders and teachers plan to monitor achievement trends to evaluate the relationship between the deliberate teaching of the school values and progress and achievement

  • leaders and teachers believe that learners will have greater ownership of learning when it takes place within the learning value framework.

The school expects to see learners supported to achieve to their potential and become responsible and self-managing in their learning through the explicit teaching of the Rowandale School learning values.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal of measuring the impact that Rowandale School’s learning values have on learner progress and achievement: 

  • the school’s well-established learning culture and environment are characterised by the values

  • collaborative leaders, staff and board who are committed to improving valued outcomes for all learners  

  • learners who demonstrate a strong sense of belonging and connection to the school 

  • professional relationships among teachers, learners and whānau which focus on learning and wellbeing

  • leaders who support the use of assessment and learning programmes to respond most effectively to learner needs. 

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • supporting teachers to grow their confidence and capability through ongoing and in-depth professional learning and development in programmes that benefit all learners

  • teachers and leaders continuing to ensure assessment informs teaching and learning programmes that respond to the needs of every learner 

  • supporting learners’ active participation in their learning to increase achievement 

  • surveying stakeholders (parents, students, teachers) to monitor the impact of Rowandale School’s learning values on learning.

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. ERO will support the school in reporting their progress to the community. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

12 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

Rowandale School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of November 2022, the Rowandale 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 Rowandale 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.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

12 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

Rowandale School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 23 months of the Education Review Office and Rowandale 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 

Rowandale School is a contributing school located in Manurewa, Auckland.  The school’s learning values of engage, empower, and encourage, underpin all learning experiences and are the foundation of the school’s vision, ‘We grow our People”- Whakatipu ō mātou tangata.

From 2023, the school is offering two Niuean immersion classes and employing a Kaiwhakahaere o te Matauranga Māori teacher to deliver a Māori Enhancement programme across the school.

Rowandale School is a member of Te Kāhui Ako O Manurewa.

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

  • all learners can access relevant, meaningful, culturally responsive, and inclusive learning programmes and environments, resulting in outcomes of equity and excellence for all 

  • parents, caregivers and whānau are aware of where their child is at with their learning and how to help at home. 

  • teachers provide appropriate feedback and feedforward for students next learning steps 

  • leaders and teachers establish how well learning values applied within teaching programmes and classroom environments.  

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact that Rowandale School’s learning values have on learner progress and achievement.  This evaluation will inform a refinement of the school’s strategic priorities.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • the Rowandale School learning values are a foundation of effective teaching and learning

  • leaders and teachers plan to monitor achievement trends to evaluate the relationship between the deliberate teaching of the school values and progress and achievement

  • leaders and teachers believe that learners will have greater ownership of learning when it takes place within the learning value framework.

The school expects to see learners supported to achieve to their potential and become responsible and self-managing in their learning through the explicit teaching of the Rowandale School learning values.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal of measuring the impact that Rowandale School’s learning values have on learner progress and achievement: 

  • the school’s well-established learning culture and environment are characterised by the values

  • collaborative leaders, staff and board who are committed to improving valued outcomes for all learners  

  • learners who demonstrate a strong sense of belonging and connection to the school 

  • professional relationships among teachers, learners and whānau which focus on learning and wellbeing

  • leaders who support the use of assessment and learning programmes to respond most effectively to learner needs. 

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • supporting teachers to grow their confidence and capability through ongoing and in-depth professional learning and development in programmes that benefit all learners

  • teachers and leaders continuing to ensure assessment informs teaching and learning programmes that respond to the needs of every learner 

  • supporting learners’ active participation in their learning to increase achievement 

  • surveying stakeholders (parents, students, teachers) to monitor the impact of Rowandale School’s learning values on learning.

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. ERO will support the school in reporting their progress to the community. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

21 November 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

Rowandale School - 20/02/2017

1 Context

Rowandale School is located in Manurewa, Manukau City. It is a contributing primary school catering for children from Years 1 to 6. Learners who identify as Māori make up 46% of the school's roll. Forty-six percent are from Pacific cultures. Since the 2013 ERO review a number of positive changes have been made. A new principal was appointed in 2014 who has since worked constructively with the new senior leadership team. The team is committed and hardworking. Several new teachers have also been appointed during this time.

Many new school initiatives are contributing to teachers' professional learning. Different approaches to teaching, learning and assessment are building teacher capability and the confidence to help children succeed. The school roll has increased significantly since 2013, and in response to this growth, a building plan is underway to provide innovative learning environments and additional classrooms. Senior leaders collaborate with other local schools to share their expertise and knowledge of current school development.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are for students to develop confidence in their identity and build values, tools and skills to contribute to the world around them with aroha and pride. The school values are reflected in the word "pride" to include participation, respect, integrity, determination and empathy. The motto is "soaring towards success". The school community has recently worked on refreshing the school's values and student graduate profile. This exercise has involved many different community voices.

The school’s achievement information shows that over the last two years there have been some positive improvements in the numbers of children achieving National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Positive gains are evident from 2015 to 2016 in mathematics achievement. Overall results in reading and writing are similar for the same period of time and sit at around 50%. Māori and Pacific children achieve at comparable levels in National Standards.

Early indications that learners are being enabled to achieve and progress at a faster rate within some cohort groups can be attributed to the influence of the new school leadership team and revitalised assessment approaches. More consistent teaching approaches across the school are now needed to accelerate children's progress and achievement. As a priority, this aligns well with identified strategic priorities in the school charter, to accelerate children's progress and achievement.

Professional learning and development that assists teachers to make reliable teacher judgements about children's National Standards achievement, has been a significant focus of the leadership team for the past two years. Teachers are gathering evidence from across the curriculum that is contributing positively to their overall judgements about children's progress and achievement.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has:

  • created opportunities for all teachers to be involved collaboratively and collectively in leading changes to assessment practice
  • implemented teaching as inquiry that is beginning to focus on targeted students in order to accelerate their progress
  • built a shared, professional culture of trust and confidence in teachers' developing capability
  • built a positive social climate to foster the wellbeing of children.

3 Accelerating achievement

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

The board, principal and teachers are taking positive steps to respond effectively to the large number of children who need to make accelerated progress with their learning. There are clear links between strategic, annual and teacher planning that show how the school is focused on improving rates of progress for children who are at risk of not achieving.

To improve the ways that teachers identify children's learning gaps and needs, strategies should be developed to support teachers to:

  • implement relevant teaching and learning approaches that are specific to the individual requirements of each learner
  • continue to meet regularly to discuss and inform each other about strategies that make a difference
  • evaluate the effectiveness of the programmes and interventions that are in place.

School documentation currently shows monitoring and tracking of children's learning progress, however the next stage is to evaluate both the progress children are making and the teaching approaches that make a positive difference. The evaluation of how and why some teaching strategies result in children making accelerated progress is evident in work teachers have undertaken in Year 4 mathematics.

Teachers are giving children useful feedback and feed forward about how they can improve and use next steps in their own learning. Increasingly children need to be provided with more tools and knowledge about how to learn independently, and with each other.

School leaders and teachers are offering whānau more meaningful ways to be part of their own children's learning. Parents reported to ERO that this was welcomed and appreciated as whānau want to become more involved in processes to increase their children's rate of progress in learning.

Overall most students are engaging well in class programmes and enjoy their learning experiences.

4 School conditions

How effectively do the school’s curriculum and other organisational processes and practices develop and enact the school’s vision, values, goals and targets for equity and excellence?

School systems and practices are increasingly promoting equity and excellence for children's educational outcomes at Rowandale School.

Evidence-based information about student progress and achievement is provided to the board by the principal and is regularly discussed. The board is showing keen interest in how acceleration practices can be developed further in school processes and approaches, particularly when refining charter targets. This is assisting the board to make good resourcing decisions, especially in relation to staffing.

The school is committed to bicultural practice. There is positive and effective Maori leadership on the board of trustees and within the leadership team. Both the board and staff reflect the ethnic diversity of the community. School-wide goals and the staff professional development programme focus on Māori children's culture and identity. School kawa is developing. Māori children are able to lead and participate in whaikorero, kapa haka and waiata. The board and senior leaders are growing effective and useful relationships with local iwi and marae that have also fostered learning for teachers. A next step for leaders and teachers is to further develop cultural competencies through Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners, leading to more focus and impact within teachers' appraisal requirements during 2017.

Pacific learners benefit from processes and practices that support participation in their learning and support their leadership development. Pacific parents feel supported by the school as it creates a positive learning environment for them and their children. Teachers are committed to continuing to develop an engaging, responsive and challenging curriculum for Pacific students.

The school's curriculum has a strong focus on children gaining foundation skills in reading, writing and mathematics. Other learning areas are becoming more aligned to The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). Leaders are working to increase the levels of student and community voice to shape the school's curriculum framework. This has the potential to broaden and deepen children's learning connections to cultural, local, national and global contexts. It could also help develop children's inquiry skills through authentic and purposeful learning. Plans are underway to further develop learning through digital technology. This initiative involves a cluster of schools in the Manurewa area sharing expertise and professional learning.

Teachers are feeling supported to deliver the school charter's strategic goals in the next phase of school development. They are benefitting from professional learning that gives them good opportunities to reflect on how their teaching practice impacts on children's learning. The next stage for teachers is to share their practice more purposefully across teams and staff groups in order to more urgently and effectively accelerate children's progress and achievement. The professional capacity in teachers to achieve this goal is developing well through the identification of target students and school tracking and monitoring systems. Teachers manage a variety of special needs children in their mainstream classes effectively.

The principal and teachers have worked to increase the level of community involvement in the school, including the provision of a parent hub. This encourages whānau to be part of the Rowandale learning community and to become involved with learning steps at home. School leaders have refined the format of reports to parents to maximise information about learning steps at home and to give families clarity about their children's progress and achievement against National Standards.

Promoting the wellbeing of children and their whānau is a school priority. Wider community agencies contribute to school pastoral care services. High levels of care and support enable students to develop positive relationships for learning.

Trustees have a professional approach to their stewardship role and are reviewing policies and processes to ensure they meet their governance responsibilities and statutory obligations. Trustees work well with school leaders, the staff and the community. Internal evaluation now needs to be used more purposefully at board and leadership level to allow trustees to scrutinise the impact of change in the school.

Focused evaluation is required to guide the next phase of school development in regard to the school's ongoing sustainability.

5 Going forward

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

Leaders and teachers:

  • know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
  • respond to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
  • regularly evaluate how teaching is working for these children
  • need to systematically act on what they know works for each child
  • need to have a plan in place to build teacher capability to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it.

Rowandale School is increasingly well placed to make school-wide improvements to teachers' learning and assessment practice.

During the review ERO and school leaders agreed that the following next steps would benefit outcomes for learners:

  • continue to develop teachers' assessment practice
  • continue to build teaching as inquiry to support acceleration for targeted students who are not achieving
  • continue to build a responsive curriculum with good breadth and depth from NZC framework
  • continue to build the school's evaluative culture to sustain good practice.

Action: The board, principal and teachers should use the findings of this evaluation, the Effective School Evaluation resource, the Internal Evaluation: Good Practice exemplars and the School Evaluation Indicators to develop more targeted planning to accelerate student achievement. Planning should show how processes and practices will respond effectively to the strengths and needs of children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated.

As part of this review ERO will continue to monitor the school’s planning and the progress the school makes. ERO is likely to carry out the next full review in three years.

6 Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review the board of trustees and principal of the school completed the ERO Board Assurance Statement and Self Audit Checklists. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legislative obligations related to the following:

  • board administration

  • curriculum

  • management of health, safety and welfare

  • personnel management

  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)

  • physical safety of students

  • teacher registration

  • processes for appointing staff

  • stand down, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions

  • attendance

  • compliance with the provisions of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

7 Recommendation

ERO recommends that the board, principal, leaders and teachers continue to use internal evaluation to guide the development of shared, school-wide strategies to improve outcomes for children whose learning requires acceleration. 

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

20 February 2017 

About the school 

Location

Manurewa, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1474

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

640

Gender composition

Boys 54% Girls 46%

Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

Samoan

Tongan

Cook Islands Māori

Niue

Indian

other Pacific

others

46%

2%

19%

13%

7%

3%

1%

4%

5%

Review team on site

November 2016

Date of this report

20 February 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

December 2013

May 2010

June 2007