Wilson School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Wilson 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

This report is part of a nationally coordinated evaluation of 27-day specialist schools during the second half of 2023. This included the development of day specialist school evaluation indicators by ERO with significant input from principals, staff and the Special Education Principals’ Association of New Zealand (SEPAnz).

Context

Wilson School is in Takapuna, North Shore, Auckland. It provides education for students with a range of abilities and diverse learning needs between the aged between five to 21 years. All students are funded through the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS). 

Students are taught at either the base school or in one of the satellite classes hosted in five local host schools. The school employs a specialist therapy team that includes speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and behaviour specialists, who support the learning of students. The school operates a specialist teacher outreach service that supports ORS funded students enrolled in host schools in the North Shore area.

The school continues to navigate and manage roll growth pressures along with the employment and property demands associated with this.

The school embraces a holistic approach to learning. Over the last three years the leadership team has developed and implemented new systems and processes to support learning outcomes for students.

The school’s vision is ‘equipping young people for life’ which is underpinned by the school values of Whanaungatanga - relationships and connections; Rangatiratanga - self-management; Kaitiakitanga- guardianship and respect.

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

• student learning, development and engagement
• developing and growing the team 
• culture, sustainability and environment.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively schoolwide professional development opportunities continue to build staff capability and collective capacity in the specialist education context.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to: 

• build all staff capability and collective teaching capacity for ongoing improvement, especially for staff new to special education or new to working in schools 
• use staff professional learning development opportunities to extend the use of effective intervention and specialist supports including differentiated teaching, learning and communication strategies
• continue to align all professional development to support each student to build their communication and independence skills supporting the school’s vision to equip young people for life.

The school expects to see:

• all staff confidently and consistently using a wide range of effective evidence-based teaching and learning strategies to meet the wide range of complex learning needs of students 
• increased levels of innovation linked to existing staff support and professional development that provides deeper learning and expertise while continuing to assist equity and excellence for all learners. 

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how effectively schoolwide professional development opportunities continue to build staff capability and collective capacity through the specialist education context.

• Students display a strong sense of belonging and form positive learning focused relationships with staff that support progress with their individual learning goals. 
• An inclusive, positive and welcoming school culture that fosters the wellbeing, engagement and learning for students.
• Adaptive school curriculum providing individualised learning pathways and opportunities.
• Staff demonstrating an ongoing commitment to continue to develop their expertise in the specialist education context to meet the changing and diverse needs of students.
• Effective school leadership that actively responds to and creates conditions to improve equitable and excellent learning outcomes for students.
• Ongoing schoolwide commitment to enhance partnerships with whānau, host schools, and other agencies to shape educational outcomes for students in meaningful ways. 

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• further development of existing quality specific practice and systems that build staff collective capacity for continuous improvement
• implementing innovative ways to access and deliver evidence-based professional development which improve learner outcomes and successes.

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

17 April 2024 

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