Kings High School (Dunedin)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Kings High School (Dunedin) 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 

Kings High School (Dunedin) is a state secondary school for boys in Years 9 to 13 located in Dunedin.  The school’s vision is ‘Building Men for Life’ through the pursuit of personal excellence in academic, sporting and cultural endeavours and character development. The school’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to foster:

• personal academic excellence

• wellbeing | hauora

• inclusivity and belonging

• co-curricular (arts, culture and sport) opportunities.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Kings High School (Dunedin)’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well leadership and effective curriculum planning and implementation support the success of all students in national qualifications.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is the need to:

• respond to changes to the New Zealand Curriculum and NCEA

• continue to respond to the needs and aspirations of students.

The school expects to see:

• senior students continue to achieve personal excellence in national qualifications (NCEA and NZQA Scholarship)

• junior students achieve success in National Certificate in Educational Achievement corequisites in literacy and numeracy

• all students develop the skills and attitudes to be successful lifelong learners of good character with a sense of pride in their individual identities.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to implement responsive curriculum that supports the success of all students:

• a positive learning culture built on high expectations and respectful relationships which supports students’ active engagement in learning

• effective structures and systems that support collaborative curriculum planning and consistent teaching practice

• proactive and personalised academic and pastoral mentoring structures and practices that nurture students’ wellbeing and learning

• a broad and balanced curriculum that enacts the vision of the school to build ‘good men’

• established internal evaluation practices that inform and support school improvement.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise ensuring that:

• curriculum review and implementation is well-managed and successful

• professional learning supports and builds teachers’ capability to enact the new curriculum – including further incorporation of mātauranga Māori and culturally responsive teaching practice

• the school community is well informed and supported to understand curriculum changes and new expectations for assessment and learning.

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

11 August 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