Clayton Park School

Clayton Park School - 10/08/2016

1 Context

Clayton Park School caters for students in Years 1 to 8. The roll is currently 383 students, of whom 48% are Māori and 28% are Pacific. The school celebrates more than 13 nationalities. The different ethnicities of students and their families, whānau and aiga are reflected in the members of the staff and board. Trustees and leaders ensure that the school supports the interests and cultural backgrounds of its students and their families. A significant number of teachers are new to the school, having been appointed over the past year.

The school continues to work with Ministry of Education to replace buildings with modern learning environments. The administration area has been rebuilt. Future developments to replace learning spaces are planned, with the aim to be fully operational from late 2018.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are 'the best for each child, ko te pai rawa mo ia tamaiti; the best from each child, ko te pai mai ia tamaiti'. The school's strategic goals clearly outline what it means for adults and students. There is an expectation that all students will be supported to achieve their maximum potential.

The school's values are expressed as ARISE (aroha, respect, initiative, integrity, safety and engaged in learning industry) and focus on relationships for teacher practice and student learning.

The school’s achievement information shows that across the past three years, over 70% of Māori students achieve at or above in relation to National Standards in reading and mathematics. In 2015, half were assessed as achieving at or above National Standards expectation in writing. This represents a considerable drop from previous years. Pacific students' achievement across the school is yet to match other groups. School data shows that the trajectory of learning for students builds over time, with rates of progress improving the longer students remain at the school.

Leaders and teachers collaboratively form overall teacher judgements (OTJs) about progress and achievement. These are moderated across the school. School leaders have identified the need to continue to improve the quality and consistency of these judgements in relation to National Standards.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has:

  • worked to enhance student engagement by introducing the practice of bring your own devices (BYOD) in the senior school and increased provision, access and use of digital technologies across the school
  • restructured and strengthened the Māori Enrichment programme
  • revised syndicate structures to year-level studios to enable better teacher collaboration
  • continued to build positive partnerships with parents, whānau, aiga and the wider community.

3 Accelerating achievement

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

The school's data from 2015 indicates accelerated progress for many Māori students, particularly in mathematics. However, insufficient progress has been made by some students who have been identified as underachieving.

In order to accelerate the progress of underachieving students, trustees, leaders and teachers have:  

  • continued the successful mathematics intervention into 2016, to include a greater number of students
  • identified students whose learning is at risk and implemented an extensive range of interventions to promote accelerated progress
  • worked collaboratively to track and monitor their progress overtime
  • formed measurable performance goals differentiated for each year level, Māori and Pacific students in reading, writing and mathematics
  • acknowledged and valued the language, identity and culture of Māori students and their whānau and have welcomed whānau as partners in their child’s learning.

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

The school responds to other students whose learning and achievement need acceleration by using the strategies identified above.

A systematic, wrap around approach effectively supports students with higher needs.

Data from 2015, shows that the school has yet to accelerate progress for some Pacific students.

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 appropriately focuses on the priorities of literacy and mathematics in class programmes. Teaching to needs is evident across classrooms, through workshops, instructional groups and individual conferencing. ARISE values support teachers to implement conditions that promote learning and are visible across the school. There is a culture of high expectations for student success. Staff foster inclusive, respectful and trusting relationships with students and whānau. Difference and diversity are valued.

Students are confident and curious learners. They are an integral part of the welcoming school tone where manaatikanga and whanaungatanga are embedded. They successfully take on a range of leadership roles. Tuakana teina relationships are strongly apparent across the school. 

Teaching and learning is guided by The New Zealand Curriculum. To further promote equitable and excellent outcomes for all students, the following should be developed to assist evaluation of the impact that the curriculum has on student achievement and wellbeing:

  • documented guidelines for consistent high quality teaching that reflects current practice
  • clearly defined and documented expected outcomes, related to the school vision.

Many Year 4 to 8 students choose to participate in the Māori Enrichment programme, that includes a focus across a range of learning areas in a te ao Māori context. Teachers are incorporating aspects of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori in collaboratively planned studio programmes.

School leaders systematically gather, analyse and use student achievement data to consider student outcomes. Useful and detailed information about student achievement is reported to the board throughout the year. Trustees continue to improve their capability to inquire into the data and make decisions to improve student outcomes. Appropriate schoolwide targets are developed.

Curriculum leaders work collaboratively with teachers to enhance teaching and learning. The board is supportive of building teacher capability. Teachers and school leaders regularly reflect on their practice. A revised appraisal process has been introduced in 2016. This should continue to be developed to ensure it:

  • meets accountability requirements
  • is robust and improvement focused
  • includes promotion of cultural competencies
  • focuses on student outcomes.

Teachers are developing strategies that promote students' ownership and responsibility for their learning and engagement. Learning relationships assist students to build their confidence and knowledge to be self-motivated. Digital technologies are increasingly integrated into classroom practice to enhance engagement and support independent learning.

Trustees and leaders consult regularly with their community to assist in decision-making and promote community partnerships to extend students' learning opportunities. Parents, whānau, aiga and the community are welcomed and involved in school activities as respected and valued partners. They participate in learning opportunities that enable them to support and promote their children's learning.

Parents receive information about their children's learning in a range of ways. Written reporting to parents includes students' comments about their progress and achievement of in reading, writing and mathematics against National Standards. 

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 to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
  • regularly evaluate how teaching is working for these children
  • need to systematically act on what they know works for each child
  • need to have a plan in place to build teacher capability to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it.

The school has a range of tools for targeting teaching and learning to promote acceleration for students below expectation. An evidence-based approach to systematic review and monitoring across the school is embedded at leadership level. School leaders continue to support teachers to more consistently respond to target students, monitor their progress and evaluate the effectiveness of teaching strategies.

Action: The board, principal and teachers should use the findings of this evaluation, the Effective School Evaluation resource, the Internal Evaluation: Good Practice exemplars and the School Evaluation Indicators to develop a Raising Achievement Plan to further develop processes and practices that respond effectively to the strengths and needs of children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated.

As part of this review ERO will continue to monitor the school’s Raising Achievement plan and the progress the school makes. ERO is likely to carry out the next full 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 Recommendations

ERO recommends that leaders and teachers:

  • develop clear guidelines and expectations for effective teaching
  • continue to evaluate the impact of the curriculum on achievement and wellbeing. 

Joyce Gebbie
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central

10 August 2016 

About the school 

Location

Manurewa

Ministry of Education profile number

1247

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

383

Gender composition

Female 53% Male 47%

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pacific
Pākehā
Indian
Other ethnic groups

48%
28%
  7%
  8%
  9%

Review team on site

May 2016

Date of this report

10 August 2016

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review
Education Review
Education Review

February 2013
August 2009
August 2006

Clayton Park School - 15/02/2013

1 Context

What are the important features of this school that have an impact on student learning?

Tēnei te mihi ki a koutou o te kura o Clayton Park, tēnā rā koutou katoa.

Clayton Park School, in Manurewa, caters for students from Years 1 to 8. The board, principal and staff have ensured that the school provides for the interests and cultural backgrounds of its students and their families. The different ethnicities of students and their families, whānau and aiga are reflected in the composition of the members of staff and board. The school’s commitment to bi-culturalism is evident in the interactions between teachers and students, in the provision of Māori language enrichment classes, and in the operations of the board of trustees.

Students respond well to the inclusive environment that staff provide. They are considerate of others and show pride in their work. Students support each other well in their learning. Senior students provide models of responsible behaviour.

The school has a history of positive ERO reports. Since the 2009 ERO review, several school-wide initiatives have enhanced reflective teaching practice. Staff are well supported by relevant professional learning development programmes that are focused on improving outcomes for students.

2 Learning

How well does this school use achievement information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement?

Students engage in their learning and respond well to teacher-led programmes. Teachers have a very good understanding of the learning requirements of diverse learners. They target their teaching to individual students by referring to ongoing assessment information and students’ feedback. Students who are underachieving are provided with targeted programmes that cater for their learning needs. School leaders report that students make good progress and, in reading, writing and numeracy, achieve at levels similar to those of students across the country.

Students’ ability to talk confidently about what they are learning and how they achieve their goals is evidence of good quality practices in teaching and learning. Teachers could now support students to more consistently identify what they need to learn next and to plan how they will achieve their goals. Developing students’ awareness of their own learning needs would help them to understand the purpose of independent learning activities. This development would be consistent with the board’s longer-term strategic aim of increasing student-led learning and would build on the school’s recent successful initiatives that have focused on raising student achievement levels.

A particular strength of the school is the way in which families, whānau and aiga are informed about, and are included in, school programmes that are focused on improving learning. Events focused on student learning are well attended by parents. Most parents have joined a home/school partnership programme that is designed to support them to help students maintain their levels of progress and achievement over school holiday periods. Relevant, ongoing achievement information provided by senior leaders and staff assures parents that this programme is successful.

The school’s student achievement tracking system enables senior leaders and teachers to identify trends and patterns and to respond quickly to emerging gaps in students’ learning. Increasingly, teachers are using these innovative visual records of individual student progress and achievement to identify areas for development in their teaching practice.

Trustees use analysed achievement information to identify school priorities. The board reports to the Ministry of Education on students’ progress towards achievement targets in relation to the National Standards.

Senior leaders are supporting teachers to write reports to parents that inform them more accurately about how well their children are progressing and achieving in relation to the National Standards. Teachers’ involvement in the school’s comprehensive moderation processes for mathematics and writing means that they are well positioned for this development.

3 Curriculum

How effectively does this school’s curriculum promote and support student learning?

Senior leaders and staff have aligned the school’s curriculum with the principles of The New Zealand Curriculum. Teachers have implemented a variety of teaching and learning strategies to accelerate students’ progress. Teachers reflect on the effectiveness of their teaching and modify programmes and practices to cater for students’ emerging learning requirements. This responsive approach is having a positive impact on students’ achievement levels.

Staff appraisal processes are well considered and provide opportunities for teachers to outline what they do to improve outcomes for students. Senior leaders monitor teachers’ planning and assessment to ensure that good quality teaching practices are used consistently across the school. Teachers work collegially and are receptive to new ideas and ways of working.

The principal takes an active role in promoting effective school-wide teaching and learning practice. He has introduced a distributed leadership structure to provide opportunities for team leaders and teachers with specialist knowledge to help ensure that curriculum initiatives are embedded in practice. This development is consistent with the school’s focus on enhancing reflective teaching practice. The theories and practices of student-led learning are increasingly understood by teachers.

How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?

Very good progress is being made to promote educational success for Māori, as Māori.

Currently fifty-one percent of the school roll identify as Māori. Māori students have positive attitudes to school and learning. They take pride in their culture and have various opportunities to express themselves as Māori and to take leadership roles in the school.

Māori students value the increasing inclusion of aspects of Māori culture and language in the environment, learning programmes and school practices. These opportunities celebrate the bicultural backgrounds of the school’s Māori students and contribute to all students’ knowledge.

The principal and staff have made good use of the Ministry of Education’s Māori Education Strategy, Ka Hikitia: Managing for Success, as a tool for reviewing how well school policies and practices develop the potential of all Māori students. Staff have taken part in professional learning that has enhanced their cultural awareness of te ao Māori.

The viewpoints of Māori students and their families/whānau and staff professional learning have underpinned the establishment of five Māori language enrichment classrooms for Year 1 to 8 students. Approximately fifty percent of Māori students are enrolled in these classrooms.

Māori teachers and school leaders, many of whom are teachers in the enrichment classes, are well supported in their roles. While the school is poised to increase levels of instruction in te reo Māori, it is timely that the board coordinates the formation of a strategic vision for bi-lingual education in the school. It is important that the views and aspirations of all parents of Māori students are considered in a review of the school’s provision for success for Māori students.

4 Sustainable Performance

How well placed is the school to sustain and improve its performance?

The school is well placed to sustain and improve its performance.

  • Trustees are committed to enhancing positive outcomes for all students.
  • The principal and the senior leaders provide strategic leadership.
  • Pastoral care and learning support systems promote an inclusive school culture and support student wellbeing.
  • Parents, whānau and aiga actively support school initiatives that are focused on raising student achievement levels.
  • Self review is used to improve teaching practice and school operations.

The board governs the school successfully and supports the principal and teachers in their work. Trustees value parent feedback and are responsive to parents’ aspirations. Trustees have supported initiatives to provide Pacific students with opportunities to experience success as Samoan, Niue, Cook Island Māori, Fijian and Tongan students. Senior leaders have led the development of teaching strategies to meet the learning requirements of students from different Pacific cultures.

The board is currently involved in planning building redevelopment because of the unsatisfactory condition of many of the buildings. The principal, senior leaders and the board recognise that this planning process provides an opportunity to reconfigure building layouts to provide students with facilities and learning environments that support modern practices for teaching and learning.

ERO agrees with the areas that the board has identified for further development and review in the school. These include:

  • increasing opportunities for students to lead their own learning
  • promoting further opportunities for Māori students to experience success as Māori
  • refining ways of reporting students’ progress and achievement in writing, reading and mathematics in relation to the National Standards.

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:

  • board administration
  • curriculum
  • management of health, safety and welfare
  • personnel management
  • financial management
  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
  • physical safety of students
  • teacher registration
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
  • attendance.

In order to meet legal requirements, the board of trustees, with the principal and teaching staff, is required to report at least twice a year in plain language in writing to students and their parents on the student’s progress and achievement in relation to the National Standards [National Administration Guidelines 2A (b, c)].

When is ERO likely to review the school again?

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

Dale Bailey

National Manager Review Services

Northern Region

15 February 2013

About the School

Location

Manurewa, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1247

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

475

Gender composition

Boys 51%

Girls 49%

Ethnic composition

Māori

NZ European/Pākehā

Samoan

Indian

Cook Island Māori

Niue

Tongan

other Asian

other Pacific

other ethnicities

51%

13%

10%

6%

5%

2%

2%

4%

4%

3%

Special Features

5 Māori language enrichment classes

Review team on site

September 2011

Date of this report

15 February 2013

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

August 2009

August 2006

June 2003