Morrison Avenue , Devonport, Auckland
View on mapTēnā 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.
Vauxhall School is a contributing school in Devonport and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 6. The school’s roll has 189 children with small numbers of Māori children, and other children from varied cultural backgrounds. ‘Onward - moving forward together’ is the school’s vision promoting values of respect, responsibility, resilience and whanaungatanga, underpinned by the school’s philosophy of flexible learning spaces, catering for individual needs and to encourage children to develop independence.
| How well are learners succeeding? | Success and progress for all learners is increasing. |
| What is the quality of teaching and learning? | Learners benefit from high quality teaching practice that improves progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. |
| How well does the school curriculum respond to all learners needs? | Learners have rich opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the curriculum. There is a consistent focus on supporting learners to gain skills in literacy and mathematics. Learners with complex needs are well supported to achieve their education goals. |
| How well does school planning and conditions support ongoing improvement? | School planning and conditions to support ongoing improvement to the quality of education for learners are well established. |
| How well does the school include all learners and promote their engagement and wellbeing? | The school successfully promotes learners’ engagement, wellbeing and inclusion. |
| How well does the school partner with parents, whānau and its community for the benefit of learners? | The school is improving its reporting to parents / whānau about their child’s learning, achievement and progress. The school is improving its collection and use of information gathered through community consultation to inform strategic planning and curriculum decisions. |
| Student Health and Safety | The school board is taking reasonable steps to ensure student health and safety. |
This table outlines how well students across the school meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.
Foundation Skills | |
| Reading | Most learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Writing | A large majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Mathematics | Most learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are equitable for all groups of learners. |
The school is behind the target of 80% regular attendance.
The school is developing a suitable plan to improve attendance.
Regular attendance is improving towards or beyond the target.
Chronic absence is reducing over time.
The school is improving its approach and the reliability of its practices to accurately find out about achievement against the curriculum.
Teachers are developing assessment information to adjust teaching practices to ensure ongoing improvement in teaching and student progress.
The school has good quality planning to increase the rate of progress for all groups of students.
The school has to some extent improved achievement and progress for those learners most at risk of not achieving since the previous review.
The school has to some extent extended achievement and progress for learners working at or above curriculum levels since the previous review.
The school is making progress towards Government reading, writing and mathematics targets set for 2030.
This section of the report provides more detail for the school to include in strategic and annual planning for ongoing improvement across the school.
The agreed next steps for the school are to:
The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.
Within six months:
Every six months:
Annually:
Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:
The Education Review Office reviews schools that are signatories to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020.
The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code and has completed an annual self-review of its implementation of the Code.
At the time of this review there were two international students attending the school.
Vauxhall School has effective processes for reviewing its provision of pastoral care for international students, including established systems for engaging with, collecting and responding to parent and student voice. International students are fully involved in the everyday life of the school.
All schools are required to promote student health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
During this review the Board has attested to some regulatory and legislative requirements in the following areas:
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
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 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
Sharon Kelly
Director of Schools (Acting)
13 May 2025
This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
Vauxhall School in Devonport has provided education for local children for 100 years. The roll of around 300 children from Years 1 to 6 includes small numbers of Māori children, and other children from varied cultural backgrounds.
‘Onward - moving forward together’ is the school’s vision for its children, families, community and staff. Central to the vision is the widespread promotion of the values of respect, responsibility, resilience and whanaungatanga. The long-established school philosophy of teaching and learning focuses on child-centred practices within innovative/flexible learning environments.
The school’s strategic goals aim to sustain and enhance the sense of community. They instil the school values, support children to achieve, and aim to develop the school’s collaborative and innovative teaching and learning environment.
Student achievement expectations align to the reading, writing and mathematics achievement challenges established by the Devonport Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning (CoL). Continual development of the school’s bicultural curriculum and use of te reo and tikanga Māori is a clear school target for all learners.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
Vauxhall School has a history of very positive ERO reports. The 2014 ERO report suggested that the school continue to improve its internal evaluation practices. Since this time, staff have engaged in significant professional learning to enhance leadership, teaching and learning, and internal evaluation practices.
The school continues to achieve equitable and excellent outcomes for students.
Patterns of very good achievement are consistent over time. Almost all children achieve at or above expected levels in reading and mathematics, and most achieve at and above expectations in writing. Overall, boys achieve less well than girls in writing, a pattern that follows a national trend.
To achieve greater equity in boys’ writing, leaders and teachers promote focused and targeted initiatives. These include schoolwide professional learning for teachers, using deliberate strategies to engage reluctant writers. Additionally, improving writing is an achievement challenge for the Devonport Kāhui Ako.
The school implements varied, individualised interventions and strategies for children to meet their learning and wellbeing potential. This approach includes generous board resourcing for an extra teacher and learning assistants in each learning area. As a result, children have very good opportunities for individualised and small group teacher time.
The school accelerates learning for Māori and all other children very well. Māori and Pacific children achieve similarly to other children in the school.
Māori and other children whose learning needs to be accelerated, are individually tracked and monitored. Teachers discuss and share information about these children at weekly meetings. As a result of these very good processes, the school’s data show that these children make accelerated progress over time.
School processes and practices are highly effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning.
The school’s value system is central to the school’s caring and inclusive culture. Children are highly respected as capable and competent learners. Learning in action opportunities allow children to promote social justice and have influence within the community. Children have ample opportunities for problem solving, critical thinking and creativity. They are well supported to take learning risks and to be resilient.
Teachers and leaders design and implement a highly relevant, local and contextualised curriculum that is well-considered and research-based. Their skilful practices, and commitment to innovation and change, has supported the easy transition to the comprehensive play-based learning programmes in the junior part of the school. Aspects of the play-based learning philosophy continue to be part of the integrated learning programmes within the senior school.
The school’s child-focused and strengths-based practices include staff working in partnership with families to enhance children’s learning and wellbeing. Staff and children show significant value for learning te reo Māori and living tikanga Māori throughout the school. Transitions in, through and beyond the school are individualised and well managed.
The school promotes shared responsibility for supporting children with diverse learning needs. Staff provide a wraparound approach for children, including involvement of external agencies and families. These very good practices encourage children’s success and promote sustainability.
Highly collaborative and effective leaders engage the teaching team in consensus-based decision making. Leadership approaches allow staff to be courageous and resilient in fore fronting innovation. They embrace professional learning that is well aligned to the school’s strategic direction.
Internal evaluation is rigorous at all levels of the school. As a result, internal evaluation supports ongoing transformation, improvement and growth of teaching and learning practices and outcomes for children.
Trustees have a very good understanding of their stewardship role. They bring high levels of skill and expertise to the board, and are strategic and community-focused in their approach. The board is very well informed about all aspects of the school’s operation, scrutinising information carefully to promote equity and excellence.
The school has worthwhile plans to extend and enhance the play-based learning philosophy and practices, and to continue promoting the school’s bicultural curriculum.
Before the review, the board and principal of the school completed the ERO Board Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklists. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legislative obligations related to the following:
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:
The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 (the Code) established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code. At the time of this 2018 ERO review, there was one international student attending the school, and no exchange students.
The school has very good systems in place to ensure that students are well integrated into classroom programmes and the wider life of the school, and that their wellbeing and pastoral needs are met.
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:
ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in four-to-five years.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
25 January 2019
| Location | Devonport, Auckland |
| Ministry of Education profile number | 1541 |
| School type | Contributing Primary Years 1 - 6 |
| School roll | 292 |
| Gender composition | Girls 51% Boys 49% |
| Ethnic composition | Māori 3% Pākehā 78% other ethnic groups 19% |
| Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS) | Yes |
| Provision of Māori medium education | No |
| Review team on site | November 2018 |
| Date of this report | 25 January 2019 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review, June 2014 Education Review January 2010 Education Review December 2006 |