Review 3 July 2024
LatestSchool 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
Pakuranga College is a large urban secondary school located in Auckland, providing education for students in Years 9 to 13. The school’s long-serving principal resigned at the end of 2023, and the acting principal was appointed permanently to the position in Term 2, 2024. There have been additional recent changes to the senior leadership team.
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
Outcomes for most students are excellent but remain inequitable for some groups of learners.- Achievement data patterns over time show that most students achieve at National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Levels 1 to 3.
- A high proportion of NCEA achievement is at Merit and Excellence levels, and approximately two-thirds of students achieve University Entrance (UE).
- Disparity for Māori and Pacific students at all levels of NCEA and in UE continues.
- The school is not yet meeting Ministry of Education targets for regular student attendance. Two thirds of students regularly attend school; however, only half of Māori and Pacific students attend school regularly.
Conditions to support learner success
Strategic senior leadership effectively builds the capability and capacity of middle leaders and teachers.- Systematic and effective programmes and processes that build and sustain leadership capacity are well embedded.
- Leaders effectively identify and respond to the professional development needs of staff in relation to the school’s strategic priorities.
- Leadership has established clear expectations for high quality teaching with a strong focus on reducing disparity and achieving excellent student outcomes.
- Teachers use a range of purposeful teaching strategies to sequence lessons and engage students in their learning.
- Students experience positive relationships for learning and are provided with opportunities to collaborate in settled, well-resourced classroom environments.
- Teachers have subject-matter expertise and are beginning to consider ways to increase aspects of te ao and mātauranga Māori into contexts for learning.
- A range of useful systems and templates guide internal review and build evaluation capability at all levels of the school.
- Achievement, engagement, and pastoral data is regularly collected and analysed by the Board, leaders and teachers to monitor student outcomes and set goals.
- Standardised assessment data is used in the junior school to identify and provide effective targeted programmes for students who require additional literacy support.
- The school has yet to develop a schoolwide system for monitoring the academic progress of Years 9 and 10 students.
Part B: Where to next?
The agreed next steps for the school are to:
- continue to prioritise and improve achievement outcomes for Māori and Pacific students
- increase rates of regular attendance for Māori and Pacific students
- continue to increase teachers’ confidence and capability to integrate te ao and mātauranga Māori into the curriculum and classroom teaching practices.
The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.
Within six months:
- identify Māori and Pacific students whose progress needs acceleration and set clear expectations for teacher accountability in relation to the achievement of these students
- develop schoolwide processes to track and monitor junior school achievement, and identify and set targets for all year 9 and 10 students at risk of not achieving at expected curriculum levels
Every six months:
- monitor progress, achievement and attendance data against improvement goals to ensure successful outcomes for Māori and Pacific students, and adjust targeted actions as required
- at faculty level, review and report on the extent to which te ao and mātauranga Māori is integrated in curriculum and teaching practice, and implement targeted professional learning to strengthen teachers’ confidence and capability in this area
Annually:
- report on the annual and over time progress, attendance and achievement of Māori and Pacific students, and other targeted students
- evaluate the impact of teaching and pastoral care interventions on improving student achievement and attendance, particularly in addressing levels of inequity of student outcomes
- use internal evaluation findings to identify areas for further improvement in curriculum, teaching, and pastoral care processes.
Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:
- decreased levels of disparity for Māori and Pacific students in NCEA and UE attainment
- higher rates of Māori and Pacific students’ regular attendance
- the continued development of a learning environment where Māori students experience culturally responsive teaching practices and curriculum content that reflects and affirms their identity.
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
3 July 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