Auckland Point School

Auckland Point School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within two years of the Education Review Office and Auckland Point 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

Auckland Point School is located in central Nelson and caters for learners from Years 1 to 6. It is a member of the Nelson City Kāhui Ako. The ‘APS Way’ vision and values articulate learner wellbeing and aim for an inclusive learning climate where each learner is valued for their uniqueness. A kindergarten and teen-parent unit share the school’s site.

Auckland Point School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • learners at the centre
  • barrier-free access
  • quality teaching and leadership.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Auckland Point School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of leaders building and sustaining enhanced literacy teaching and learning.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is: 

  • achievement data identifies scope to enhance learner success in reading and writing by growing the capability of teams in deliberate ways to plan, teach, monitor and enhance the impact of practices
  • strategic goals and plans seek development of curriculum guidelines to inform teaching expectations, with literacy leadership that actively monitors and enhances academic achievement
  • challenges in behaviour and achievement prompts leaders to focus attention on actions that will foster the school’s motto, ‘Be you. Be great! Kia tū koe. Kia tia!’ to embed a culturally responsive pedagogy of relationships.

The school expects to see culturally responsive relationships and literacy teaching practices that promote improved achievement, engagement, wellbeing and student voice. The focus should develop teacher competence and confidence with skills to adapt teaching that enhance individual learning pathways for diverse learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to lead enhanced teaching and learning outcomes:

  • the Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) programme guides respectful relationships and restorative practices
  • a literacy leader position has been purposefully created, aligned to the school’s annual plan, to lift achievement through enhanced teaching and learning
  • the principal is present in classrooms, observing teaching and learning in action and looking for opportunities to further grow practice capability and consistency.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • senior leaders co-constructing and implementing well-sequenced and timely improvement plans with coherent goals and targets that align with the strategic planning priorities
  • growing robust assessment practice at all levels, including planned moderation, supported by use of the Learning Progression Frameworks (LPFs) and the Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT)
  • utilising systematic evaluation and monitoring approaches, informed by well-analysed data and seeking multiple perspectives to guide further developments.

Recommendation

Tailored support has been requested from the Ministry of Education to build leadership of literacy learning for ongoing improvement schoolwide.

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

28 February 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

Auckland Point School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of August 2023, the Auckland Point School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Actions for Compliance

ERO and the board have identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

  • The school had not complied with the requirement to adopt a statement on the delivery of the health curriculum, at least once in every two years, after consultation with the school community.
    [Section 91 Education and Training Act 2020].

The board has since  taken steps to address the area of non-compliance identified.

Further Information

For further information please contact Auckland Point School’s School Board.

The next School Board assurance that it is meeting regulatory and legislative requirements will be reported, along with the Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report, within three years.

Information on ERO’s role and process in this review can be found on the Education Review Office website.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

28 February 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

Auckland Point School

Provision for International Students Report

Background

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.

Findings

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, three international students were attending the school.

International students and their families are embraced by the school and supported to feel part of the community. Those students who spoke with ERO expressed positive relationships with friends and staff, and a connection to the school. Learners’ academic needs are overseen by the principal, who fosters and maintains a close connection with parents to keep them informed of day-to-day events and of learner wellbeing and progress.

ERO’s evaluation of the school’s process for self-review and provision of pastoral care as required by the Code identified further information on the school’s website would support parents’ enhanced understanding of how the school supports international students and families. It would also be useful to include the school’s International Students in the strategic and annual planning goals, so that provision is formally monitored by the board at meetings. 

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

28 February 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

Auckland Point School August 2018

Findings

Auckland Point School has made considerable progress in implementing systems and processes to support student wellbeing, progress and achievement. School leaders are continuing to develop their skills in the analysis and use of data, and in reporting this in meaningful ways to the board. Trustees, leaders and staff are focused on lifting student achievement. They have put strong foundations in place to achieve this outcome.

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.

1 Background and Context

What is the background and context for this school’s review?

Auckland Point School is a small urban school for students in Years 1 to 6. It is located close to the Nelson central business district. About a third of the students identify as Māori. The school continues to provide for children from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.

The 2016 ERO review identified a number of issues that impacted on student learning and achievement. The achievement of students, particularly Māori and Pacific students, was low in reading, writing and mathematics. ERO noted that school-wide systems to support student achievement needed to be improved. This included the tracking of students’ progress, analysis and use of data, improving curriculum guidelines, and more useful reporting to the board.

During 2017, the school had a number of staff and board changes. However, at the time of this review the school had a good balance of new and experienced teachers and trustees committed to the school and its children.

2 Review and Development

How effectively is the school addressing its priorities for review and development?

The school is effectively addressing most of the areas listed below for review and development. However, there is still work to be done in order to improve the achievement of many students as outlined in this report.

Priorities identified for review and development

  • Progress and achievement of students including:
    • -improving student progress and achievement, especially for Māori and Pacific students
    • -providing the board with more frequent and better analysed information on student progress and achievement
  • Review and develop the school’s curriculum and supporting documents so that there are clear school-wide expectations and systems to support teaching and learning
  • Deepen leaders’ and trustees’ understanding of effective evaluation/self review
  • Regularly carry out planned reviews of different learning areas and/or teaching practices and/or special programmes/initiatives
  • Continue to implement and embed improvements to the appraisal of all staff.

Progress

Achievement

Leaders and teachers have put in place a comprehensive system to monitor the progress of students at risk of not achieving. They use a range of assessments, and make good use of these to plan teaching strategies to support individuals and groups of students.

Students are actively involved in their learning and assessment. Teachers make clear the learning expectations at each level of the curriculum. Students know where they are at with their learning. Together with the teacher they communicate this to their parents at learning conferences.

The board is now receiving regular reports on the achievement and progress of priority students. These show some evidence of good progress during the year.

Key next steps

There is still a significant need to lift the achievement of many Māori and other children who are not succeeding well. The majority of Māori students are still not achieving at expected levels in writing and mathematics. Just over half are achieving at expected levels in reading. Leaders and teachers have a more focused approach to teaching and learning to meet this need. They have begun to refine their targets to provide even more focused support for those students who need it.

ERO identified, and school leaders agree, that there is still work to be done to improve the analysis of student achievement data to better inform decision making at leadership and governance levels.

3 Sustainable performance and self review

How well placed is the school to sustain and continue to improve and review its performance?

The school is well placed to sustain and continue to improve its performance.

Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review, the board of trustees 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:

  • board administration
  • curriculum
  • management of health, safety and welfare
  • personnel management
  • financial management
  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
  • physical safety of students
  • teacher registration
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
  • attendance.

4 Recommendations

Recommendations, including any to other agencies for ongoing or additional support.

For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:

  • targeted planning to accelerate learning [ERO will monitor and discuss progress with the school.]
  • internal evaluation processes and practices.
    [ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop for trustees and senior leaders.]

Conclusion

Auckland Point School has made considerable progress in implementing systems and processes to support student wellbeing, progress and achievement. School leaders are continuing to develop their skills in the analysis and use of data, and in reporting this in meaningful ways to the board. Trustees, leaders and staff are focused on lifting student achievement. They have put strong foundations in place to achieve this outcome.

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern

Te Waipounamu - Southern Region

20 August 2018

About the School

LocationNelson
Ministry of Education profile number3181
School typeContributing (Years 1 to 6)
School roll109
Gender composition

Girls: 51%

Boys: 49%

Ethnic compositionMāori
Pākehā
Pacific 
Other ethnicities
33
55 
9
12
Review team on siteJune 2018
Date of this report20 August 2018
Most recent ERO reportsEducation Review 
Education Review 
Education Review
May 2016 
December 2012
November 2009