Napier Girls’ High School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 15 months of the Education Review Office and Napier Girls’ 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 

Napier Girls’ High School is a secondary school for day and boarding girls in Years 9 to 13. The school is in Hawkes Bay, situated in Mataruahou, Napier. The school’s values of manaakitanga, kairangi whaiaro and whanaungatanga underpin the kaupapa of empowering ākonga.

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

• wellbeing is supported through strengthening conditions, structures, systems and processes that promote learner wellbeing, inclusive of te ao Māori and mātauranga Māori
• to meet the aspirations of all learners, whānau and community through developing the curriculum to increase access and opportunities for meaningful educational experiences.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate to what extent culturally responsive and relational pedagogy supports and promotes equitable and excellent learner outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

• improve equitable and excellent outcomes for Māori, that will improve outcomes for all learners
• support all learners to achieve success with a strong, secure sense of their identity
• support equitable access for all learners to broader, meaningful experiences and pathways.

The school expects to see:

• improved equity and excellence in parity of learner outcomes
• improved attendance, engagement, achievement and retention for Māori through a curriculum that responds effectively to culture, language and identity and is inclusive of te ao Māori, te reo Māori me ōna tikanga and mātauranga Māori.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate culturally responsive and relational pedagogy supporting and promoting equitable and excellent learner outcomes:

• leadership prioritises and plans for school improvement that led to equitable and excellent outcomes with a particular focus on Māori and Pacific learners
• staff commitment to ongoing professional learning aligned to the school’s strategic direction to improve learner outcomes
• a robust professional growth process in Manaaki Ki Te Tangata that supports building capacity and capability for teachers in culturally responsive and relational pedagogy.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise: 

• teachers strengthening and embedding culturally responsive and relational teaching practices across all curriculum areas that improve student outcomes and wellbeing
• strengthening school systems and processes for consultation with whānau, hapu, iwi to develop a responsive curriculum that embraces and values local histories, te ao Māori, te reo Māori me ōna tikanga, mātauranga Māori.

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 

8 December 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