Wellington Girls’ College

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background 

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and ​Wellington Girls’ College​ 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 

​​Wellington Girls’ College​ is located in central Wellington and provides education for students in Years 9 to 13. The school’s vision is to prepare young women to go out into the world as independent thinkers with respect for themselves and others, the confidence to accept and respond to challenges and an enduring passion for learning. 

Since 2019 the school has been in the process of a significant redevelopment of its built environment. The majority of the school is housed in temporary classrooms and this is likely to be ongoing for some time.  

The school’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are: 

• giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi through culturally sustaining practice 
• curriculum provision that promotes equity, inclusion and excellence 
• fostering student and staff wellbeing and inclusion 
• progress of the school’s rebuild project. 

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on ​Wellington Girls’ College​’s website. 

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well key curriculum developments and culturally sustaining practices are fostering equity, inclusion and excellence for all students.  

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that the school has been focused on preparing for significant curriculum change and enacting its commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi by promoting culturally sustaining teaching practice. It now wants to evaluate the impact of these developments on learner experiences and outcomes. The school also wants to improve and sustain equity for Māori and Pacific learners in national qualifications.  

The school expects to see students: 

• develop and deepen their knowledge and understanding of Aotearoa New Zealand’s bicultural heritage 
• strengthen life-long learning dispositions such as critical thinking and perspective taking 
• experience a broad curriculum that relates meaningfully to their lives, languages, identities and aspirations 
• demonstrate self-management strategies that support their health and wellbeing 
• sustain equitable and high levels of achievement. 

Strengths  

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to implement culturally sustaining practices and curriculum that promote equity, inclusion and excellence: 

• governance and leadership that builds and sustains high levels of relational trust and effective collaboration at every level of the school community to achieve the school’s strategic vision and improvement goals 
• curriculum that offers a range of relevant and authentic learning opportunities and increasingly reflects local contexts in a way that learners can see themselves, their identity and culture 
• expectations for high-quality, evidence-informed and culturally sustaining teaching that are clear, shared and becoming embedded in school monitoring systems 
• teachers who increasingly demonstrate a commitment to tangata whenuatanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership by understanding, recognising and celebrating the unique status of manawhenua 
• strengthening structures, programmes and practices that promote learners’ wellbeing, inclusion and confidence in their identity, language and culture. 

Where to next? 

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:  

• embedding expectations for culturally sustaining practices school-wide 
• implementation of curriculum initiatives (including for Aotearoa New Zealand Histories, Year 11 curriculum, literacy and numeracy teaching and learning) 
• ongoing professional development for teaching staff in support of curriculum implementation and culturally sustaining practice 
• evaluation of the impact of curriculum and culturally sustaining practices on the intended 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 

​​29 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