Freyberg High School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within nine months of the Education Review Office and Freyberg High 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 

Freyberg High School is a co-educational school for students in Years 9 to 13 in Palmerston North. The school values of Kaitiakitanga, Rangatiratanga, Manaakitanga and Angitu foster relationships to promote successful outcomes for learning. The school vision, Mā te huruhuru ka rere te manu, is central to how the school operates.

A new principal started at the high school in October 2022 and is working with the established leadership team to prioritise the needs of ākonga within the school community.

The school includes a number of education facilities for students with additional needs such as the Deaf Education Centre and The Craig Centre. Whakatipuria Teen Parent Unit is also onsite and is integral to the school and community.

Freyberg High School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• Creating pathways for all students to gain success at NCEA level 2 or the most appropriate level for their ability.

• Allowing students to walk in both Māori and Pākehā worlds.

• Enabling success outside of the classroom.

• Supporting and developing the growth of global citizenship.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well the school is implementing structures and teaching practices to enhance culturally relational pedagogy to achieve equitable outcomes for all.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

• prioritise the school’s partnership responsibilities under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, honouring Māori culture with appropriate tikanga, mātauranga and te ao Māori perspectives

• improve parity in the minimum leaving qualifications between Māori and non-Māori students

• ensure equitable opportunities and outcomes for Māori students, whānau and staff.

The school expects to see:

• the implementation of teaching programmes that increases the ability of students to access the curriculum resulting in improved outcomes for all

• a closing of the inequity between Māori and non-Māori students in NCEA results

• an increase in the ability of students to be confident in their identity, language and culture as citizens of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to implement in-school support systems that ensure culturally sustaining, student-centred and data informed ways of teaching and learning are embedded in school practices.

• Positive school-wide culture grounded in strong relationships between staff, students and their whānau.

• Pastoral and academic support and mentoring systems focused on the individual need of each student

• A strong, inclusive culture, facilities and support systems within the school that have been developed to meet the individual needs of each student.

• Progress already made within the school to understand and introduce culturally sustaining practices, and a clear way forward, with external facilitation, for development of curriculum and teaching pedagogy.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• developing and implementing a framework to describe what effective teaching and student-centred learning looks like at Freyberg High School

• professional learning for staff to ensure that teaching and learning is inclusive, student-centred and responsive

• developing internal evaluation capability to monitor impacts of changes on classroom practices and outcomes for students.

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

9 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