Surveying Our Community:

WHS Strategic Plan 2027 to 2028

This plan sets the big direction and answers:

Where are we going, and why?

Leading into

Annual Implementation Plan 2027

Which in turn answers:

What specifically will we do this year, what will success look like, and how will we know?

Leading into

Board monitoring throughout 2027

Answering what happened? What difference did we make? What did we learn?

That creates a clear governance line:

Direction → Action → Evidence → Evaluation → Next action.

Your Part In This:

Central Consultation Question

We believe these are the three things that matter most for our children over the next two years:

AKO               Every child learning, progressing and achieving. 

AROHA        Every child known, valued, safe and belonging.

ARATAKI     Children learning to lead and leading with love.

This survey is anonymous. No one at school will know how you responded.

We would love to have your input — visit this link to answer four short questions.

Thank you all.

Summary of Resposnes Received To Date:

1. What is most important to you within these three areas of Ako, Aroha and Arataki?

Response Summary

• Ako Focus: Several respondents prioritized Ako, emphasizing learning, progress, and achievement.
• Aroha Focus: Others highlighted Aroha, specifically focusing on children feeling valued, safe, loved, and experiencing a sense of belonging.
• Balanced Approach: A respondent noted the importance of balancing all three areas, while another combined Aroha and Ako as top priorities.

2. What is Western Heights already doing well that we must protect?

Response Summary

• Community Culture and Values: Fosters a strong sense of belonging, pride, and care through values like aroha and mana.
• Staff Stability and Quality: Benefits from low teacher turnover, with calm, friendly, and supportive educators who actively engage students.
• Diversity and Inclusion: Successfully celebrates and values cultural diversity while providing environments that foster friendships and positive interactions.

3. Where do you believe we need to improve?

Response Summary

• Academic and Learning Focus: Improve focus on academic success, identify and support children at risk of not achieving to reach curriculum levels, and introduce financial literacy.
• Inclusion and Individual Support: Ensure neurodivergent or challenging children do not miss out, and provide greater support for children to identify and build on their strengths and confidence.
• Special Interests and Activities: Offer more special interest groups and improve the promotion of extracurricular activities so information is easier to find.
• Parental Engagement: Increase parent involvement by helping them understand the curriculum to better support learning at home.

4. Is there anything important for our children’s future that you feel should also be prioritised?

• Yes, Academic Focused around literacy and numeracy and ways for parents to be more involved at home around these so it’s a whole wrap around system for the child.
• Build confidence, problem solving
• Nothing beats face-to-face friendship. Give the space for them to learn/feel that without screens, technology or social media and talk about it too. Help them label what a good friend does and what a good friendship feels like.
• More school activities so that they can learn more different things.
• More focus on performance in year 5 and 6 which affects their intermediate school opportunities.
• Yes we must also prioritise math and music . It has a way of improving the mind and somehow helping children
• Career exposure
• Resilience
• Homework.
• A holistic focus on learning that’s about growing good people vs just academic success
• Caring for their needs.