Knighton Normal School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background

This Profile Report was written within two months of the Education Review Office and Knighton Normal 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 

Knighton Normal School is located in Hamilton and provides education for students in Years 1 to 6.  A new principal was appointed to start in July of 2021.  A new associate principal joined the established senior leadership team in 2022. A special feature of the school is the three partial immersion classes in Te Hihiri, which provide learning in te reo Māori Level 2.  The school draws from a richly diverse local community and has a long-standing relationship with the University of Waikato supporting initial teacher education.

Knighton Normal School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• to enrich and evolve learning
• to engage our community
• to implement effective planning for sustainability and growth.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively school programmes and practices are enabling accelerated learning and raising overall levels of achievement in literacy.  Increasing rates of regular attendance is an ongoing priority for the school.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is: 

• the opportunity it provides to respond to school data to reduce the achievement gap between literacy and mathematics and enable success for all learners
• the school’s commitment to supporting student progress by improving attendance and engagement in learning.

The school expects to see improved attendance and increased accelerated learning outcomes that raise school-wide achievement in literacy.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to improve student outcomes in literacy and attendance:

• the school’s curriculum, vision and values that promote culturally responsive practices and positive levels of student engagement in learning
• teaching and learning programmes that identify and respond to the individual needs of students and prioritise equitable opportunities to learn and succeed
• collaborative leadership that promotes inclusivity, celebrates cultural diversity, and contributes to a sense of belonging for students and their whānau.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• reviewing assessment practice in literacy to enable consistency and reliability of data and further inform targeted action for continuous improvement
• strengthening internal evaluation at all levels to support responsive planning and ongoing inquiry into actions to accelerate learning and raise achievement in literacy
• continuing to engage with parents and whānau to implement effective strategies to increase rates of regular attendance.

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

27 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