Westlake Girls’ High School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and Westlake 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 

Westlake Girls’ High School, situated in Takapuna on Auckland’s North Shore, is a large, multicultural school. The school caters for girls from Years 9 to 13.

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

• building staff and student engagement with achievement data and effective measurement systems to inform teaching practices and support students’ growth

• fostering a school community that inspires and challenges all students to develop their personal identity, strengths, academic potential, values and leadership abilities.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well staff and students engage with achievement data to improve outcomes for students, in particular Māori and Pacific learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• academic achievement is high overall, with University Entrance results indicating a slight equity gap for Māori and Pacific students

• school leaders are determined to further improve equity of outcomes for all learners through teachers improving their understanding of students’ holistic learning needs

• students having agency and understanding about their own learning and next steps related to the broader NCEA qualification. 

The school expects to see:

• teachers and departments actively engaged in analysing their data and using it in their planning and teaching

• increasing staff understanding of risk signals and making connections to the bigger picture for students

• teachers actively and consciously contributing to the strategic school goals

• students demonstrate agency and self-belief in their learning and future pathways.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate how well staff and students engage with achievement data to improve learner outcomes:

• Westlake Girls’ High School continues to sustain high levels of achievement for learners

• the school has been successful in reducing the gap between the number of students gaining University Entrance and Level 3 while also improving overall results in these areas

• senior leaders have a good understanding of internal evaluation. They are responsive and focused on continuous improvement with a critical lens on school achievement data and student wellbeing.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• building staff and student evaluation capability and engagement with achievement data

• increasing student’s knowledge and ability to plan, prioritise and maximise their strengths, to successfully achieve their academic goals and enjoy the confidence that brings.

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.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

21 November 2022 

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