Broad Bay School

School Context

Broad Bay School is a full primary school for students up to Year 8 in Dunedin. It has a roll of 28 students.

The school’s vision and values include to provide learning opportunities for students that develop their strengths and abilities and a respect for and appreciation of others, their surroundings and the wider world.

The school states that is strategic aims are:

• teaching and learning
• wellbeing and culture
• community and communication
• environment.

The principal and teachers regularly report to the board schoolwide information about outcomes for students in relation to reading, writing, mathematics and science.

Teacher have undertaken professional development including ALIM (Accelerated Learning in Mathematics), ALL (Accelerated Learning in Literacy) and IYT (Incredible Years Training), funded by the Ministry of Education.

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 achieving positive outcomes for most students. It is working towards achieving equitable outcomes.

Over the last three years most students, including Māori students, achieve at or above school expectations in literacy and mathematics.  During this period boys’ achievement has been consistently lower in writing, mathematics and reading. However, school information shows boys’ achievement improving in reading over time. Girls’ achievement has been consistently high in all three areas.

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

The school effectively accelerates progress in mathematics for those students targeted for interventions. The school has been increasingly effective in accelerating progress in reading.

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 curriculum is focused on the learner. Teachers design experiences and contexts for learning in discussion with their students and support them to work collaboratively on challenges set in real world contexts. Programmes and practices in the junior class contribute to building a strong foundation for learning and engagement. Students’ motivation to learn is strengthened by participation in learning experiences that align with their needs, interests and abilities. Students benefit from teacher and community members’ strengths and expertise, particularly with language learning in te reo Māori, sign language, science and environmental projects.

Teachers inquire into their practice so they can better respond to students’ individual learning needs and promote engagement. They closely track and monitor student progress and work as a team to provide appropriate interventions for those in need of extra support.

Students have voice and choice about the direction of their learning. They learn in a safe and inclusive environment where they are challenged to learn and develop to their individual best.

A sense of whanaungatanga helps build students’ feelings of belonging to both the school and the community. Authentic whānau connections strengthen the links between home and school. Parents, whānau and community are welcomed and involved in school activities as respected and valued partners in learning. They receive regular useful information to enable them to constructively support their children’s learning. External community experts also effectively support students’ interests and enhance their learning and achievement.

The principal and teachers are committed to ensuring the school’s priorities are achieved. There is effective leadership within the school for integration of Māori perspectives and bicultural practice within the curriculum. Planning is underway to ensure students’ and teachers’ learning in these areas is ongoing and able to be sustained over time.

Trustees have a shared understanding of their roles and responsibilities and work collaboratively to continually improve the school and ensure positive outcomes for students. Students’ learning, wellbeing, achievement and progress are the board’s core consideration.

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

In order to build a coherent approach to further achieving equity and excellence for all students, leaders and teachers need to strengthen:

• internal evaluation processes to better know what is going well and what isn’t in relation to achieving valued outcomes for students
• some documentation and processes to ensure greater coherency across the school about aspects of teaching and learning.

Expectations for high-quality teaching and learning need to be systematically implemented across the school to help ensure the sustainability of best practice in improving student outcomes.

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.

4 ERO’s Overall Judgement

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

ERO’s Framework: Overall Findings and Judgement Tool derived from School Evaluation Indicators: Effective Practice for Improvement and Learner Success is available on ERO’s website.

5 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

• learner-centred curriculum that challenges students to develop to their personal best

• authentic relationships with whānau and community that enhance student learning and engagement

• collaborative practices that promote school improvement.

Next steps

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the key priority for further development is in:

• strengthening internal evaluation to know more about the impact of the school’s localised curriculum and how well school-wide practices promote student success.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

1 November 2019

About the school

1 Context

Children at Broad Bay School say they enjoy the small size of their school and they know everyone. The school is central to the life of the community. The values of the community are reflected in the strong focus the school has on sustainability and being active in the life and wellbeing of the local environment.

A new principal was appointed in 2015 and almost all the staff are new. The principal has responded well to the challenges of leadership in a new setting. He has established and ensured an orderly and supportive environment conducive to children’s learning and wellbeing. He is promoting positive attitudes and behaviours and building relational trust and effective collaboration at every level of the school community. He proactively maintains a focus on children and their achievement. With the new teaching team he is building solid foundations for reliable curriculum assessment and delivery.

The board has provided stability through a period of significant change. In a short space of time, trustees have made a number of strategic appointments and initiated key developments. These include appointing staff, consulting with parents about the school’s vision and values, and building trustees’ capacity and understanding of their roles and responsibilities through external training. Trustees demonstrate an active commitment to an inclusive school culture and to ensuring staff and children are supported in their learning and achievement. The board funds an extra part-time teacher to keep classes small.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school are for all children to ‘Challenge themselves, Achieve their best, Respect others and the Environment’ (CARE). Other valued outcomes are to:

• achieve the highest standards of up-to-date teaching practice
• develop children’s strengths, promote positive skills and attitudes and support children’s aspirations
• encourage a strong family atmosphere and sense of community
• take advantage of the learning opportunities provided by the Otago Peninsula and wider world.

The school’s achievement information shows that most children, including Māori children, achieve at or above the National Standards. Overall, achievement in reading is highest. The 2016 targets and goals are to improve children’s performance in writing and mathematics.

In 2015, eight children were given extra support to succeed in mathematics. Six of these children made accelerated progress, two significantly so.

Since the 2013 ERO evaluation, the school has had a major turnover of staff and board members. This means attention to working with ERO’s recommendations was interrupted. Some recommendations from the last review have been successfully addressed while others are still work in progress.

3 Accelerating achievement

How effectively does this school respond to children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

The school responds very well to all children, including Māori children, whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Classes are small and children are identified quickly, using a range of assessment tools, if they are at risk of not reaching expectations. Teachers develop Individual Learning Plans that show in detail what the child’s learning and behavioural needs are and what strategies will be used to help them accelerate their learning. In 2016, specific targets were set for Māori children to accelerate their learning in mathematics and writing in order to reach the National Standards.

The board and new principal recognise the importance for Māori children to stand proudly in their culture, language and identity. Aspects of te ao Māori are increasingly becoming a normal part of all children’s learning at this school. This includes welcoming visitors and new children as they enrol, and learning and performing waiata.

Multiple initiatives are supporting the progress of all children who are at risk of poor outcomes. Some are leading to great success. A next step for the principal and teachers is to explicitly report to the board mid-year on the progress these children are making towards reaching the end-of-year expectations. 

4 School conditions

How effectively do the school’s curriculum and other organisational processes and practices develop and enact the school’s vision, values, goals and priorities for equity and excellence?

The school’s curriculum effectively links to the school's vision, values, goals and priorities for equity and excellence.

Children are actively engaged in learning that has relevance and meaning to them and the community they live in. The local harbour, surrounding peninsula and local community provide them with rich, authentic contexts, such as the Smith’s Creek planting and harbour dredging project. Local expertise, parent volunteers and professional experts are widely used to give breadth and depth to their learning. Children benefit from well-integrated learning of te reo and tikanga Māori in and beyond the school and meaningful experiences with the local iwi and marae.

The school’s close and ongoing relationships with other peninsula schools provide regular opportunities for children and teachers to experience valuable learning alongside their peers.

In response to the interests, needs and abilities of students, teachers have recently revised aspects of the writing, science and mathematics programmes. Teachers could better support children’s development as life-long learners by enabling them to take increasing responsibility for knowing about their progress and managing their own learning.

Teachers have rich data about their children’s learning. They plan well and in detail to meet the needs of all children, particularly those identified as needing to make accelerated progress. All children benefit from effective in-and-out-of-class support for their learning. This includes extra support provided by skilled teacher-aides and parent volunteers.

The next steps for teachers are to:

• use the cultural background of each Māori child to benefit their learning
• explore more intentional ways of involving parents in their child’s learning.

The board and school leaders need to continue to build a shared understanding of evaluation. This includes:

• adopting a process that will support robust evaluation
• developing a schedule of evaluation to cover all aspects of school operations
• refining the strategic plan to more specifically focus on the school’s current priorities
• improving the reporting of class and school-wide data by providing a commentary that includes identified trends and patterns.

5 Going forward

How well placed is the school to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children?

Leaders and teachers:

• know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
• respond effectively to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
• regularly evaluate how well teaching is working for these children
• act on what they know works well for each child
• build teacher capability effectively to achieve equitable outcomes for all children
• are well placed to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children.

Children, including children at risk of poor outcomes, are actively engaged in their learning and are progressing and achieving well.

The board, principal and teachers are involved in ongoing professional development to build a consistent approach to assessment and to ensure reliable assessment data is gathered, used and reported.

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

6 Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review the board of trustees 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
• 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
• processes for appointing staff
• stand down, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
• attendance
• compliance with the provisions of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014

7 Recommendation

The board, principal and teachers need to further develop, document and implement robust evaluation, and improve the strategic plan.

Chris Rowe

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)

26 May 2016

About the school