Rangiātea: Kakapo College

This case study and exemplar examine the journey Kakapo College is on towards realising Māori student potential. The case study looks at the strategies used by the school leadership team and reports on the key factors that are contributing towards lifting Māori student achievement. The exemplar steps through how a particular programme has been successfully used.

Project focus: building relationships

The school has had a longstanding focus on supporting Māori students to achieve, but more recently with the new curriculum, the developments have been in pedagogy rather than pastoral care. The whole school has the warm feeling that it does because there was a real focus on the pastoral side of the school. The form teacher starts with a class in Year 9 and goes through with them to Year 13. It’s about building relationships. (Principal)

Kakapo College is a decile 9 co-educational school in an urban setting. Māori students make up 16 percent of the roll.

The school chose to remain unnamed, so the pseudonym Kakapo College is used here.

Case study key points

Download the Kakapo College case study (PDF 272 kB)

Establishing goals and expectations enhances Māori student achievement:

Charter contains strategic long-term goals for Māori student achievement written in clear language.
Teachers from every learning area meet to discuss progress of each student.

Strategic resourcing to support Māori student achievement:

Māori interests are strongly represented on board of trustees.
Targeted resourcing of Māori staff in key roles, such as Māori dean and Māori student support.
Resourcing for strong pastoral care and extracurricular activities.
Resourcing for special initiatives in some subjects.

Curriculum and teaching focused on enhancing Māori student achievement:

Curriculum shaped to meet student need.
Form teachers monitor academic progress of students across all classes.
Students involved in appraisals of classroom teaching.
Māori staff feel valued as Māori within school.
School leadership constantly looking for new ways to use data to inform teaching and learning.

Building educationally powerful connections with whānau:

Māori students choose whether to be in whānau class (vertical form class) or mainstream.
Principal seeks advice from kaumātua; for example, on matters of tikanga.
Wide range of approaches used to communicate with whānau.

About the exemplar

Download the Kakapo College exemplar (PDF 532 kB)

The Kakapo College exemplar tells how the school built relationships and modified the curriculum in order to engage the interest of Māori boys in English.