Parnell School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 8 months of the Education Review Office and Parnell 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 

Parnell School is in Parnell, Central Auckland. The school caters for students in Years 1 to 8. The school values underpin support for ākonga/learner success across the curriculum. Students are encouraged to live their values, ‘Kaitiakitanga, Innovation, and Truth’, every day.

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

• develop a community of care, protection of people and place, where all people demonstrate kaitiakitanga in their thoughts, words, and actions
• ensure an innovative learning environment where staff and ākonga engage in inspiring learning that helps them innovate as they solve problems of learning and practice
• create a truthful environment, where all participants engage in authentic, genuine interactions that support growth and development.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how consistently the school’s local curriculum, supported by effective teaching and whānau connection, is responsive to meeting and achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all ākonga.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• ākonga experience a curriculum that enables them to be successful in who they are
• ākonga have developed good agency in their learning and have greater ownership and responsibility for what they learn
• the challenging ākonga-centric curriculum, driven by kaiako/teachers’ understanding of their learners
• staff and the community share a commitment to high expectations for all ākonga
• giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi through a Te Ao Māori lens.

The school expects to see consistently across teaching and learning outcomes:

• equity and excellence for all learners
• ākonga success developed through kaiako high expectations and strong interpersonal relationships
• recognition of culture, language, and identity in the school’s curriculum
• ākonga making accelerated progress in numeracy and literacy through targeted teaching and learning programmes
• effect being given to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support their goal for equitable and excellent outcomes for all ākonga:

• ākonga have a strong sense of belonging to the school
• curriculum is authentically responsive, targeted to ākonga needs and interests
• staff have a collective efficacy fully focused on ākonga achievement
• the leadership team collectively focus on providing quality practices and processes that enable excellent and equitable learning outcomes for all
• the Board are committed to ensuring the school is well resourced to meet the aspirations of whānau and the community.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• focusing on each child being connected to a curriculum where their identity, culture and language are reflected
• further engagement with whānau to hear and make transparent their aspirations for their tamariki/children through a responsive, inquiry-based local curriculum
• implementation of the NZ histories curriculum with a focus on building tikanga Māori connections to include developing across school expertise in te re Māori.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

31 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