Manurewa High School

School Context

Manurewa High School is a large co-educational secondary school in South Auckland, catering for students from Year 9 to Year 13. The school roll reflects the multi-cultural community, with 53 percent of learners of Pacific heritage, 26 percent Māori, 8 percent Asian and 5 percent Pākehā.

The whakatauaki ‘Piki Atu Ki Te Rangi, Aim High, Strive for Excellence, is the guiding vision for the school. This is underpinned by four learning values, Respect, Excellence, Whanaungatanga and Akoranga. The future direction of the school is driven by the charter goals of improving engagement in learning, improving cultural identity, and learners taking positive steps beyond school.

Since ERO’s 2013 evaluation there has been a change of leadership. The appointment of a new principal in 2016 was an internal appointment of an experienced senior leader. He is supported by a new senior leadership team comprising new and long serving staff.

The school is part of the Kāhui Ako o Manurewa Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako (CoL). It is committed to working with the CoL to meet collaboratively developed achievement challenges.

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

• achievement within the New Zealand Qualifications Framework

• school leaver qualifications and destinations

• progress/achievement in relation to school targets

• outcomes related to engagement in learning and hauora (wellbeing) for success.

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 working towards achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all students.

Overall school NCEA data show consistently high levels of achievement in NCEA numeracy and literacy for all groups of students. Achievement data from 2013 to 2017 shows that this level of achievement has been sustained over time and is higher than similar type schools.

Previous significant increases in overall achievement at NCEA Level 1, 2 and 3 have plateaued for all groups of students in the last two years. The school’s goals focus on continuing to raise levels of engagement with the intention of improving NCEA achievement.

As a group there is disparity in achievement for Māori, particularly at NCEA Level 1. However, Māori students, by NCEA Level 2 and 3 have progressed to reduce the level of disparity. In 2017 Māori students achieved NCEA Level 2 at higher levels than other groups in school.

There is gender disparity at Level 1, 2 and 3 with girls achieving higher than males. Pacific students achieve at similar levels to other students in the school in Level 1 and 2, with the majority of Pacific students achieving Level 3. An increase in the number of merit and excellent endorsements at Level 2 and 3 is notable and shows ongoing improvement.

At the time of the review there was an absence of well-developed tracking and monitoring of student achievement at Years 9 and 10.

Students achieve very well in relation to other school valued outcomes. Most students:

• have a strong sense of their cultural identity

• are engaged and active participants in learning

• have respectful and positive relationships with staff and each other
• are proud of themselves, their school and their community

• display and demonstrate aroha and whanaungatanga.

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

The school is developing its capacity to accelerate learning for those Māori and other students who need their learning accelerated.

A whānau class for Māori students and learning within the Māori learning curriculum area provide opportunities for Māori to learn through te ao Maori as Māori. Students in the Māori whānau class benefit from te ao Māori and the rich te reo Māori environment. A strong school culture of manaakitanga and whanaungatanga for Māori students, and a commitment to provide for their holistic outcomes is evident. The school has taken positive steps in recent years to further promote and enable bicultural leadership at staff, management and governance levels.  A challenge for school leaders is to improve outcomes for Māori students across the school.

The school is implementing a range of strategies and programmes that support increased opportunities for Māori students to learn successfully and achieve equitable and excellent outcomes. Kia eke Panuku, a Ministry of Education (MoE) professional development initiative is well established and supports the development of a culturally responsive curriculum and teaching strategies across all levels of the school.

The school has developed strong iwi links and is actively engaged with Waikato-Tainui and the Waikato-Tainui Education Plan.

The school acknowledges the urgency to identify and provide appropriate support for students with additional learning needs. This work is underway and is intended to further support all learners to be actively engaged in their learning, progressing and achieving well.

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?

Leaders have a shared vision for the school. The senior leadership team are highly involved and contribute positively in the life of the school. They actively promote practices that focus on students’ wellbeing; confidence in their identity, language and culture; and engagement in their learning. Leaders value and promote Treaty of Waitangi based practices and have commitment to a school-wide focus on culturally sustainable pedagogy.

Staff promote a positive and caring school culture. Students experience a welcoming, positive and caring environment that values them and their hauora. Extensive pastoral care systems provide students with a high level of support. Strategic resourcing by the board has wellbeing at the forefront of school developments.

The school is in the process of redesigning its curriculum. It is anticipated that flexible and adaptable learning programmes and assessment opportunities will better respond to students’ individual interests, needs and strengths. Culturally responsive teaching practices are increasingly consistent across the school. Students have opportunities in their learning to make links and connections to authentic and real world contexts in some curriculum areas.

Ongoing professional learning opportunities for teachers are aligned with the school’s strategic direction. Teachers have opportunity for professional learning in culturally responsive teaching approaches, integrating digital technologies, and developing approaches that effectively meet the learning needs of individual learners. These opportunities are increasing teachers’ knowledge and skills, and improving the quality of delivering the school’s curriculum.

The board, school leaders and staff are successfully building strong relationships and connections with the school’s community, parents, whānau and iwi. The school proactively draws on community resources to enhance student learning, achievement and wellbeing. Relationships with business and community leaders and organisations support key aspects of student pathway development. Students are provided with multiple opportunities that support future focused pathways.

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

The school has the capacity to accelerate learning for learners. The following are areas for continued development to build and sustain equity and excellence for all learners.

Leaders and teachers should:

• improve the conditions that support the acceleration of learners’ progress in Years 9 and 10
• improve the quality of processes and practices for knowing about students’ learning progress and achievement, and what difference is being made for them
• continue to identify and provide further learning support for students with additional needs
• extend evaluation practices to ensure purposeful, systematic and coherent evaluation is linked to valued student outcomes to help sustain and embed improvement.

3 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 Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

Areas for improved compliance practice

To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:

• ensure consultation with the community regarding the health curriculum occurs at least once every two years.

Provision for international students

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 the review there were 10 International students attending the school.

Manurewa High School has good systems to provide education and pastoral care for international students. Their progress towards achievement is well monitored, and student course selections are considered and personalised. Students integrate well into the school community. Evaluation processes are in place to ensure systems continue to develop and improve.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

• a culture of collaboration among leaders, that is future focused and is committed to ongoing innovation and improvement

• pastoral care that systematically responds to students’ needs, promotes their wellbeing and supports their learning success

• Treaty of Waitangi based practices, and a commitment to culturally sustainable teaching and learning approaches to strengthen and accelerate learning for Maori and all students.

Next steps

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

• improving learning outcomes for students with an increasingly challenging and engaging curriculum, to achieve equity for all groups in the school and raise overall levels of achievement

• use of data from a range of sources, for internal evaluation that better identifies what is working well for students’ learning and where improvements are needed

• targeted planning to accelerate learning for Years 9 and 10 [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.]

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

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

Julie Foley

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)

Te Tai Raki - Northern Region

28 June 2018

About the school