Rangiātea: Hamilton Girls' High School

Project focus: Māori student engagement

Teachers look for advice and support to build relationships with their Māori students, to learn more about their lives. There is a transfer of skills happening from Māori teachers to others. (Teacher)

Hamilton Girls' High School is an urban, decile 6 school. Maori students make up 25 percent of the roll.

The case study

Download the Hamilton Girls' High School case study (PDF 292 kB)

Key points

High goals and expectations

School addresses specific barriers to learning and works to increase staff understanding and knowledge of Māori students.
Goals are clearly communicated to staff, students and whānau.
The school’s response to poor attendance is clearly stated in its policies and any attendance concerns are shared immediately with whānau.

Strategic resourcing

Mentoring programme in place for Māori students.
Vertical tutor groups support students as Māori.
Whānau group is active in school.

Ensuring quality of curriculum and teaching

Māori achievement data reported widely within school and at whānau group hui.
Māori teachers hold pivotal roles.
Professional learning groups focus on teachers constantly reviewing their teaching, their personal learning journey and the support they need.
Curriculum adapted to respond to interests of Māori students.

Regular, powerful connections between school and whānau

Whānau contacted regularly to discuss student progress, through tutor group mentoring model.
Whānau involvement through whānau ropu.
Expert advice for principal from whānau, kaumātua and Māori staff.
Systematic processes for gathering feedback from whānau and community.

The exemplar

The Hamilton Girls' High School exemplar explores how the school, working collaboratively with whānau and Māori students, built powerful educational relationships using whānau tutor classes, vertical tutor classes and mentoring.

Download the Hamilton Girls' High School exemplar (PDF 625 kB)