Queenstown Primary School

Queenstown Primary School

School 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.

About the School

Queenstown Primary School provides education for a diverse range of Year 1 to 8 learners. The school’s current roll is 569, with 5% Māori, 34% Asian and 61% European |Pākehā learners. It emphasises learners being at the centre of its decisions and practices in order to achieve its vision of “growing confident and future-focused learners.”

Part A – Parent Summary

Progress since the August 2023 ERO report

The school and ERO worked together to evaluate the impact of a responsive, localised school learning programme on empowering diverse learners to achieve success.

The school expected to see:

  • learners achieving their personal best across learning areas through effective pedagogy and strong school/community partnerships
  • learners experiencing a curriculum that is relevant, student-centered, culturally connected, future-focused and characterised by Māori achieving success as Māori
  • build learning-focused partnerships with family and whānau centred on well-being, learning and progress.

During the course of the evaluation, students benefitted from opportunities to engage in learning with an increased emphasis on local bicultural narratives. Mana whenua stories and histories were effectively integrated into learning experiences based in the area, as well into the redevelopment of school environment, increasing bicultural partnerships.

Learning programmes include increased emphasis on mātauranga Māori, with expectations for learner progress in knowledge and use of te ao Māori, te reo Māori and tikanga Māori as they move through the school. Māori learner progress and achievement is equitable in literacy and mathematics. The school is focused on improving the progress and achievement of the growing numbers of English language learners. 

How well placed is the school to promote educational success and wellbeing?

How well are learners succeeding?The school is working towards high levels of success and progress for all learners.
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 an increasingly 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 reports usefully and accurately to parents / whānau about their child’s learning, achievement and progress.

The school responds well to a wide range of information gathered through community consultation, to inform strategic planning and curriculum decisions.

Student Health and SafetyThe school board is taking reasonable steps to ensure student health and safety.

Achievement in Years 0 to 8

This table outlines how well students across the school meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.

Foundation Skills

 
Reading

A large majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.

Results are not yet equitable for all groups of learners.

Writing

A large majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.

Results are not yet equitable for all groups of learners.

Mathematics

Most learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.

Results are not yet equitable for all groups of learners.

Attendance

The school is approaching 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.

Assessment

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.

Progress

The school has seen a significant recent increase in learners for whom English is their second language.  

The school is developing good quality planning to increase the rate of progress for all groups of students.

The school has significantly 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 meeting Government reading, writing and mathematics targets for 2030 and agrees this will need to be a key strategic priority.

An explanation of the terms used in the Parent Summary can be found here: Reporting | Education Review Office

Part B - Findings for the school

This section of the report provides more detail for the school to include in strategic and annual planning for ongoing improvement across the school.

Areas of Strength

  • Staff foster a positive and inclusive school culture.
  • Teachers know their learners well through engaging with them over a two-year class cycle.
  • Leaders and teachers are implementing steps to use a broadened range of progress and achievement information to improve learning outcomes.
  • Leaders are responsive to feedback from the school community.
  • The school is committed to strengthening connections to local tāhuhu kōrero and whenua | the history and place of the local area, so that they are reflected in the school environment and strengthen the bicultural partnership in learning programmes.

Key priorities and actions for improvement 

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

  • implement evidence-based teaching and learning in literacy and mathematics
  • embed teaching, learning and assessment strategies to support increased progress and achievement for all learners, and particularly for target learners
  • further improve regular attendance for all learners to meet Government targets.

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

Within six months:

  • utilise external and internal expertise to support teachers to further improve literacy and mathematics teaching practices
  • implement consistent modes of monitoring learner progress and achievement to inform overall teacher judgements, supported by effective moderation practices
  • implement strategies in partnership with the school community to encourage and sustain regular attendance.

Every six months:

  • further review the progress and impact of structured approaches in literacy and mathematics on learning and achievement for all learners, and particularly for target learners
  • review how well a range of achievement information is used to inform overall teacher judgements across the school and to plan next learning steps
  • monitor the impact of strategies used to improve regular attendance.

Annually:

  • analyse literacy and mathematics achievement information and use this to inform planning
  • evaluate the impact of teacher professional learning on literacy and mathematics achievement
  • evaluate patterns in attendance for all learners; use this information to identify next steps to continue to increase regular rates of attendance. 

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

  • improved progress and achievement in mathematics and literacy for all learners, and particularly for target learners
  • improved achievement outcomes through using a broadened range of progress and achievement information
  • improved rates of regular attendance.

Part C: Regulatory and Legislative Requirements

Provision for International Students 

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. 

No international students were enrolled at the time of the ERO review.

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements

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:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

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)

26 May 2025

Education Counts

This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Queenstown Primary School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Queenstown Primary 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 

Queenstown Primary School is located in the centre of the town and provides education for a diverse range of Years 1 to 8 learners. It emphasises learners being at the centre of its decisions and practices in order to achieve its vision, “growing confident and future-focused learners.”

Queenstown Primary School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to ensure that:

  • to enable all learners to achieve their personal best across all learning areas through effective pedagogy and strong school/community partnerships

  • for all learners to experience a curriculum that is relevant, student-centred, culturally connected, future-focused and characterised by Māori achieving success as Māori

  • to build learning-focused partnerships with family and whānau centred on well-being, learning and progress.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of a responsive localised school curriculum on empowering diverse learners to achieve success.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • that achievement information and analysis over time have identified a need to develop an inclusive and responsive curriculum, where learners develop a secure knowledge of their own cultures, languages and identities

  • that all learners and staff deepen their understanding and appreciation of the rich cultural knowledge of all members of their school and local community

  • to provide the conditions for equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners and particularly for Māori learners.

The school expects to see:

  • learners experiencing a responsive, rich, broad and deep localised curriculum that celebrates the stories of mana whenua and all members of the school community

  • learners developing a strong sense of their own identities, languages and cultures, leading to enhanced motivation and engagement

  • equitable and excellent outcomes for all ethnicities, with improved ākonga Māori performance.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the impact of a responsive localised school curriculum on empowering diverse learners to achieve success:

  • staff consistently fostering and strengthening a positive and inclusive school culture

  • resourcing and programmes that prioritise wellbeing initiatives, with effective collaborations with outside agencies and organisations to support families, whānau and learners

  • the school’s willingness to engage and seek support in discovering the mana whenua of the local area and to develop a programme of instruction in te reo Māori.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • building community collaborations that enrich opportunities for students to become confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners

  • implementing a localised curriculum and monitoring its impact on student engagement, motivation and achievement

  • implementing and monitoring of strategies to develop tikanga and te reo Māori.

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

25 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

Queenstown Primary School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of February 2023, the Queenstown Primary 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

Further Information

For further information please contact Queenstown Primary School, 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

25 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

Queenstown Primary 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.  

Five international students were enrolled at the time of the ERO review.   

 The school has well established processes for reviewing its provision for international students and compliance with the Code. School governance and leadership are appropriately and regularly informed about student wellbeing and learning.

Sound processes and practices support students to settle into, develop a sense of belonging and be active participants at the school. The school takes care in working with students to plan suitable programmes with the appropriate levels of English language learning support where required. An experienced international student team thoroughly monitors international students’ academic progress and wellbeing. 

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

25 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

Queenstown School - 23/07/2019

School Context

QPS is located in Queenstown and provides education for students Years 1 to 8. At the time of this review it had a roll of 602 students, 26 of whom were Māori and 196 from a wide variety of other cultural backgrounds.

The mission of the school is ‘Through Quality, Perseverance and Success, QPS will grow adaptable, connected, lifelong learners’. Its vision is ‘Growing confident and future-focused learners’. This is supported by values of; Manaaki| Care, Whakāute| Respect and Ngakau tapatahi| Integrity.

The school’s strategic goals for 2019 focus on celebrating diversity, engaging families and inspiring students to become future focused learners, and being the heart of the community.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:

  • achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
  • achievement in specific learning areas and the key competencies of The New Zealand Curriculum
  • student wellbeing
  • progress for students who receive learning support
  • valued outcomes related science, project based learning, physical education and technology.

Since the 2015 ERO review some trustees have changed. There have been significant changes in staffing.

The school is a member of the Wakatipu Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako.

Evaluation Findings

1 Equity and excellence – achievement of valued outcomes for students

1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?

The school is effectively achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for most of its students.

The school’s information for the 2016 to 2018 time period shows that in reading, writing and mathematics, a large majority of students achieved at or above the school’s curriculum level expectations. There is ongoing disparity for boys in writing and mathematics over this time period. This disparity has decreased over time in writing. The proportion of Māori students achieving the school’s expectations for reading and mathematics from 2016 to 2018 was also lower than for other groups at the school.

Almost all students are achieving in relation to the school’s valued outcomes as described in the context. In addition, almost all students are working within and consistently across the key competencies of The New Zealand Curriculum.

1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?

School information in relation to progress shows good levels of acceleration for those students achieving below the school’s expectations. This is particularly so in writing, where there has been an increase in overall achievement in writing due to a targeted approach.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence – processes and practices

2.1 What school processes and practices are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

The school’s learning environment is managed effectively. It supports student’s participation and engagement in their learning. Teachers use a variety of teaching strategies, including differentiation, to ensure there is a continual focus on engaging students with their learning. Appropriate tools and methods are used to gather, store and retrieve a range of information about student’s learning.

Students participate and learn in caring, collaborative and inclusive learning communities. Diversity is valued at all levels of the school. International students and students from other cultures are welcomed and supported. There is a systematic wrap-around system for pastoral care. Students with additional learning needs are well provided for. The school’s values are known, relevant for students and incorporated into their learning. Students have voice and choice throughout the curriculum. A number of specialised teachers in a variety of subjects, add depth to the choices available for students’ learning.

There are intentional well established relationships with the community to promote positive learning and wellbeing outcomes for students. Curriculum design and enactment is responsive to the aspirations of students, parents and whānau. Leaders and teachers plan and integrate some aspects of te ao Māori within the school in a range of ways. There is ongoing development of the curriculum to support the diverse learning needs of students. Teaching staff work within a collaborative culture with their peers.

The board ensures there is a strategic alignment of resources to identified priorities. There is a large emphasis placed on the education outside the classroom (EOTC) programme and the board and school leaders ensure there is equitable access this for all.

2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

Leaders and the board should continue to develop internal evaluation strategies. This would better enable the identification of priorities, and the impact of programmes and approaches for all students. Evaluating the success of strategies and initiatives to improve learning outcomes for students should be part of this.

During the course of this review ERO became aware of some communication concerns within the school. The board, leaders and teachers should continue to focus on building relational trust and effective collaboration at every level of the school community.

3 Other Matters

Provision for international students

Queenstown Primary 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. ERO’s investigations confirmed that the school’s processes for reviewing compliance against the code are robust, well documented and lead to change where needed.

At the time of this review, there were ten international students attending the school.

Students receive a welcoming and personalised introduction to the school and the community. The international department is well resourced and staff ensure international students’ needs are met throughout their stay. Valued outcomes for international students include academic and language learning, life skills, leadership and outdoor education.

4 Board Assurance on Legal Requirements

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:

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

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

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
  • physical safety of students
  • teacher registration and certification
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand down, suspension, expulsion and exclusion of students
  • attendance
  • school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Children’s Act 2014.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified non-compliance in relation to policies and procedures.

In order to address this, the board of trustees must:

  • Regularly review and update policies.

5 ERO’s Overall Judgement

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Queenstown School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Developing.

ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance is available on ERO’s website.

6 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

  • intentional well established relationships with the community that promote positive learning and wellbeing for students
  • an inclusive environment where diversity is valued at all levels that is welcoming and supportive
  • a learning environment that is managed in ways that effectively support students’ participation, engagement and agency in learning.

Next steps

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

  • the evaluation of valued outcomes and priorities to know the effectiveness of those valued outcomes and priorities
  • the board, leaders and teachers continuing to focus on building relational trust and effective collaboration at every level of the school community.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini

Southern Region

23 July 2019

About the school

Location

Queenstown

Ministry of Education profile number

4005

School type

Contributing Primary-Years 1-8

School roll

602

Gender composition

Boys 51%, Girls 49%

Ethnic composition

Māori 4%

NZ European/Pākehā 63%

Asian 14%

Other European 8%

Pacific 2%

Other ethnicities 9%

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)

Yes

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

May 2019

Date of this report

23 July 2019

Most recent ERO reports

Education Review June 2015

Education Review December 2011

Education Review August 2008