Wesley College

School Evaluation Report

Tēnā koutou e mau manawa rahi ki te kaupapa e aro ake nei, ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa. Mā wai rā e kawe, mā tātau katoa.

We acknowledge the collective effort, responsibility and commitment by all to ensure that the child remains at the heart of the matter.

Context 

Wesley College is a state-integrated school established in 1844. The school is located on the outskirts of Pukekohe and provides education for approximately 360 students in Years 9 to 13. The roll is made up of 25% female and 75% male students, with the majority coming from areas of South Auckland. The school offers both boarding and day provisions.

Wesley College has a special character and Christian ethos, based on a relationship with the Methodist Church of New Zealand – Te Hāhi Weteriana o Aotearoa. 

There are three parts to this report.

Part A: A summary of the findings from the most recent Education Review Office (ERO) report and/or subsequent evaluation. 

Part B: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings. 

Part C: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle. 

Part A: Previous Improvement Goals 

The school’s previous improvement goals are drawn from ERO’s evaluation work with the school in 2023 and 2024 and the progress and impact of actions taken to improve outcomes for learners.  

Expected Improvements and Findings 

The prioritising of the emotional and physical safety of students at school. 

• School leaders continue to make good progress on prioritising and providing for the emotional and physical safety of students.
• Changes in leadership responsibilities and roles across the school and hostel are providing better oversight of student wellbeing across the school.
• A safeguarding officer has been employed fulltime to support the school to implement systems and processes that ensure the emotional and physical safety of students.
• Students report that the school environment is increasingly settled, and they experience a more inclusive and positive school culture.

School leaders regularly reporting the ongoing progress of the improvement priorities to the school board and community. 

• School leaders regularly report progress against improvement priorities to the school board. 

Regular monitoring and tracking of progress made towards the recommendations identified in previous ERO reporting. 

• School leaders continue to work positively on progressing the recommendations identified in previous ERO reporting.
• Progress reporting to the school board has improved; the board receives detailed reporting of progress against the school’s implementation and annual plan. 

Part B: Current State 

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

• The large majority of students achieve National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) at Levels 1, 2 and 3; fewer than half of students achieve University Entrance (UE).
• Overall achievement in NCEA for Māori and Pacific students is consistently higher than national averages and at similar levels for UE; most students leave school with at least NCEA Level 2.
• Achievement information for Year 9 and 10 students shows that most students make sufficient progress to successfully transition to the next step in their educational journey.
• Student attendance and chronic absence continues to improve. Less than half of students attend regularly and meeting the government’s attendance target remains a priority.

Conditions to support learner success

• Schoolwide professional learning and development opportunities support teachers to build their capacity and capability and embed improvements in teaching practice.
• Leadership has made considered changes to roles and responsibilities for leaders and staff to increase shared professional accountability for students' academic and wellbeing outcomes.
• Leaders and staff are beginning to collectively reinforce school systems for positive behaviour and raise expectations for students’ achievement, engagement and wellbeing.

• Students benefit from orderly and settled classroom environments underpinned by mutually respectful and positive relationships with teachers that support their learning.
• Leaders and teachers are building a shared understanding of quality teaching and learning; they are beginning to take planned and deliberate actions to bring about continuous improvement in student engagement and success.
• The school curriculum provides a good range of opportunities for students to broaden their knowledge and experiences; established partnerships with the local community and career-based experiences promote engagement.

• School leaders proactively access external expertise to support the implementation of health and safety and wellbeing initiatives.
• Staff continue to strengthen communication, connection and alignment between the school and the hostel to respond to any safety and wellbeing concern in timely and appropriate ways.
• School leaders and teachers are beginning to establish ways to review and evaluate the impact of initiatives and programmes on improving school conditions, student success and wellbeing.
• School leaders gather and analyse achievement information; regular reporting to the board provides a comprehensive overview of the progress of cohorts and groups of students towards national qualifications. 

Part C: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• enact and continue to embed the child safety improvement plan and evaluate the impact on student wellbeing and emotional and physical safety
• review all leadership roles and structures across the school and hostel to ensure consistent practices; plan integrated, effective and well-paced improvements
• develop a planned approach to review how well initiatives and programmes are working and for whom
• continue to develop ways of reflecting and celebrating students’ language, culture and identity across the school and hostel to promote engagement
• monitor and improve daily and regular student attendance by strengthening communication, monitoring and reporting of student attendance across all aspects of the school. 

The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.

Within three months: 

• continue to implement initiatives and programmes to improve school attendance and promote student emotional and physical safety
• develop an evaluation plan to implement across the school to support ongoing improvement and know what is working and for who
• strengthen the ongoing tracking, monitoring and reporting of daily attendance between the school and hostel to improve regular attendance.

Within six months:

• establish a plan to evaluate the impact of the child safety improvement work on student wellbeing and include ongoing student feedback to inform next steps
• establish a plan to review and evaluate leadership roles and structures across the school and hostel
• review current student feedback processes to ensure the school has reliable and ongoing ways to include student feedback in relation to their attendance, wellbeing and learning.

Every six months:

• review student wellbeing outcomes and address any identified areas of concern
• review initiatives designed to promote positive student behaviour and build a positive school culture that reflects students’ language, culture and identity.

Annually:

• monitor and report on student attendance, engagement, wellbeing, progress and achievement data to know what is working and for whom and to identify next steps
• continue to evaluate and report on the impact of the implementation and ongoing progress of improvement priorities to the school board and community. 

Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in: 

• well established and embedded systems and processes for student attendance, wellbeing, learning outcomes and safety that are regularly evaluated to measure impact
• unified and effective leadership structure and practices that support effective, well-paced and sustained improvement in student wellbeing and achievement outcomes
• regular schoolwide planned review, evaluation and reporting on initiatives to know what is working and inform next steps
• improved rates of regular attendance and engagement within a school environment that reflects and celebrate students’ language, culture and identity across the school and hostel. 

ERO recommends that the Ministry of Education continue to provide support to the school to sustain progress and embed systems and processes focused on ongoing improving student safety and wellbeing. 

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

Me mahi tahi tonu tātau, kia whai oranga a tātau tamariki
Let’s continue to work together for the greater good of all children

Sharon Kelly
Director of Schools (Acting)

27 March 2025

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