Western Springs College-Nga Puna o Waiorea

School Evaluation Report 

Tēnā koutou e mau manawa rahi ki te kaupapa e aro ake nei, ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa. Mā wai rā e kawe, mā tātau katoa.

We acknowledge the collective effort, responsibility and commitment by all to ensure that the child remains at the heart of the matter.

Context 

Western Springs College – Ngā Puna o Waiōrea, is to the west of Auckland’s inner city and provides education for learners in Years 9 to 13. The school’s mission is to encourage learners to discover and develop the personal strengths needed to share in developing a just and sustainable society. Ngā Puna o Waiōrea operates as ‘a school within a school’ and supports learners to be successful in both te ao Māori and te ao Pākehā.

There are two parts to this report.

Part A: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings. 

Part B: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle. 

Part A: Current State 

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

• Most students in Years 12 and 13 achieved the National Certificate of Achievement (NCEA) at their respective levels, the majority of Year 11 students gained Level 1 and over half of senior students gained certificate endorsements; disparity has yet to be resolved in the achievement for Pacific and Māori students at all levels of NCEA, including University Entrance.
• The majority of Year 9 and 10 students are achieving at or above the expected curriculum level in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Attendance information shows the school is not yet meeting the Ministry of Education’s targets for regular attendance; close monitoring and support is provided by senior leaders, heads of houses and teachers to improve attendance rates.

Conditions to support learner success

• Leaders are strengthening relational trust and effective collaboration within the school community to achieve the strategic vision and improvement goals.
• Systems and processes are in place for increasingly effective planning, coordination and evaluation of the school’s curriculum and teaching.
• Professional learning and coaching build the capability of teachers working in an innovative learning environment to use collaborative practices and co-teaching pedagogies that support the improvement of teaching and learning.

• The school’s curriculum offers a variety of learning opportunities that provide for a wide range of learner needs and interests.
• Learners with additional learning needs are included and supported through targeted interventions and teaching strategies and practices that promote equity and success.
• Teachers create a collaborative learning environment for learners using differentiated and responsive teaching practices.

• A co-governance constitution signals the school’s commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi; the board is continuing to develop partnerships and processes for shared decision-making focused on improving outcomes for all learners.
• The board regularly scrutinises learner engagement, wellbeing, progress and achievement information to identify strategic improvement priorities to support learner success.
• Staff professional development continues to support a research-based common model of practice for teaching and learning in an innovative learning environment.
• Learner wellbeing and inclusion are well supported by a range of policies, programmes and approaches that embrace diversity and promote respectful relationships and restorative practices.

Rumaki/Bilingual Outcomes and Conditions to Support Learner Success 

Learner success and wellbeing 

• Ākonga are motivated to learn through authentic Māori learning environments.
• Challenges with insufficient resourcing is disadvantaging ākonga outcomes and the sustainability of a progressive immersion environment. A collaborative resourcing project aims to address the challenges.
• Whānau voice and support promote high levels of ākonga engagement.

Conditions to support learner success

• Ākonga are inspired by their mentors who are experts in their fields.
• Kaiako capacity is stretched with an increasing roll and on-going staff recruitment challenges.
• School governance and leadership are at an early stage of building relational trust.
• Established whānau coordinators contribute to the functioning of the rumaki. 

Part B: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• refine and embed evidence-based and responsive strategies for teaching and learning to reduce disparity in achievement for all learners, especially Māori and Pacific, and improve rates of attendance
• further embed coherent student data collection and management systems to inform decision making for school improvement
• strengthen whānau and wider community engagement within Kura Auraki (English medium), including with whānau Māori and Pacific families, drawing on best practice embedded in Ngā Puna o Waiōrea
• implement and monitor strategies to support and strengthen academic progress of all ākonga.

The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows:

Within six months:

• further integrate student data collection and management systems to systematically monitor student progress, achievement and attendance and strengthen teachers’ and leaders’ data analysis capability 
• develop and implement planning to strengthen whānau and wider community engagement, with particular focus on Pacific learners’ families and whānau of ākonga Māori in Kura Auraki 
• review current strategies in Ngā Puna o Waiōrea to monitor academic progress and develop relevant strategies, targets and actions to meet individual learner needs.

Every six months:

• review and evaluate the professional development programme to ensure it is aligned with the school’s improvement goals and learner needs
• use attendance and achievement information to track and report on the progress of all learners, particularly those at risk of not achieving
• meet with families and whānau to share learning goals and develop strategies that promote learner success and address barriers to progress, attendance and engagement
• analyse and report progress and achievement data from Kura Auraki and Ngā Puna o Waiōrea to whānau and the board.

Annually:

• collect a range of evidence to coherently plan and monitor the school’s strategic improvement cycle
• evaluate and report to the board on the effectiveness of strategies to improve learners’ attendance, progress, achievement outcomes and wellbeing.

Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:

• improved attendance, engagement and achievement outcomes for all learners in both Kura Auraki and Ngā Puna o Waiōrea
• learning-centred partnerships between parents, whānau and the school based on whakawhanaungatanga and manaakitanga to establish relevant goals that promote learner success
• integrated data collection and management systems and strong data analysis capability which inform decision making for school improvement and support learner attendance, progress and achievement.

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.

Me mahi tahi tonu tātau, kia whai oranga a tātau tamariki
Let’s continue to work together for the greater good of all children

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

30 September 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