Hay Park School

School Context

Hay Park School in Roskill South, caters for 163 children in Years 1 to 6. The school roll is comprised of 11 percent Māori, 23 percent Tongan and 20 percent Samoan children. Indian children make up the next largest group. Many families are new to New Zealand. Approximately 30 percent of children are supported to learn English as an additional language.

Almost all staff, including school leaders, are new to the school since the 2014 ERO review. Nearly two thirds of teachers have been at Hay Park School for less than a year. Most of the trustees on the board are new. The school vision was reviewed to incorporate, and expand upon, the existing school motto of Believe, Achieve, Succeed. The school’s valued outcomes are for children to be connected, confident and actively involved lifelong learners who have a strong sense of identity and belonging.

Current targets for improvement and learner success are focused on supporting children to achieve success in reading, writing and mathematics. Specific targets have been identified to improve the achievement of Māori students.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:

• achievement in reading, writing and mathematics

• outcomes for students with additional learning needs, including second language learners

• outcomes related to engagement and wellbeing for success.

This enables the board to be strategic in their decision-making.

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 working towards equitable and excellent outcomes for all students. Considerable work has been undertaken to improve the dependability of student achievement data.

School data for 2017 report a small majority of students achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics. Overall achievement is higher for reading and mathematics than for writing. School leaders have developed action plans to support teachers to address the low achievement.

Less than half of Māori students achieve well in reading and writing. A small majority of Māori achieve well in mathematics. There has been some improvement in writing and a significant improvement in mathematics achievement for Māori students over the past two years.

A small majority of Pacific children achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics. School leaders are aware of the disparities between Māori achievement and that of other groups of students. There is some disparity in the achievement levels of boys and girls. Girls achieve slightly better than boys in reading and writing.

Leaders gather considerable student voice during the course of their internal evaluations. This information tells them that most children:

• have a sense of belonging and are proud to attend the school
• understand the school values and the Hay Park Way
• are well engaged in their learning
• have a strong cultural identity.

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

The school is part of an external research project that provides comprehensive achievement information for the whole school, groups of students and individuals. This analysed data show some children are making accelerated progress.

The school sets appropriate student achievement targets. Current targets focus on improving writing outcomes across the school. Further targets are set specifically to improve Māori achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. Leaders and teachers develop action plans to achieve these targets. School leaders should continue to develop their critical evaluation of the effectiveness of strategies, approaches and interventions in achieving planned outcomes.

Leaders and teachers work collaboratively to use assessment information to plan teaching and learning programmes. Teachers identify students who need to make accelerated progress. They participate in professional forums to share effective strategies, and to inquire into the impact of their practice on these students’ learning. These processes are helpful in growing teacher capability to respond effectively to the diverse learning needs of students. Children with identified learning needs receive additional help through a variety of programmes that are designed to support their literacy learning.

The school is building on established programmes that inform and engage parents in supporting their children’s learning. This learning-focused partnership is helpful for all students and especially for those who need to make accelerated progress.

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 school’s vision and values are embedded in the ‘Hay Park Way’ which establishes positive behaviour, learning and relationship expectations. Children and adults know what these expectations are within a range of school settings.

Children’s learning and wellbeing are the focus of the school. The inclusive culture recognises children as unique individuals. Children are positive about school and engaged in their learning. Classes are whānau grouped so that children from multiple year levels learn together and from each other. Children work together and collaborate willingly. Tuakana/teina relationships are strongly evident throughout the school.

There is a commitment to ongoing improvement. Leaders have identified areas for development. Action plans support the strategic direction and promote the achievement and success of Māori and Pacific students. Hui and fono provide opportunities to share information with parents and gather aspirations they hold for their children’s learning. Parents, teachers and students are invited to share their opinions. These influence school decisions.

Students have good quality learning opportunities using digital technologies. The school is a member of the Ako Hiko cluster that provides equity of access to digital technologies for children and their families. Teachers are well supported by the cluster to develop their teaching practice aligned to a ‘learn, create, share’ learning model. In Years 4 to 6, students largely work on their own devices and engage well in this learning approach.

The school has strengthened its provision of learning opportunities around te Ao Māori. A specialist te reo teacher provides regular lessons for students to learn te reo Māori. Students have good opportunities to participate in kapa haka. As a result all students are becoming familiar with aspects of tikanga Māori. Leaders are considering how they can extend this work to the identification of students with gifts or talents in this area.

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

There have been many staff changes in recent years. Most teachers are either new to teaching, new to the school or in new roles. Leaders are focusing on building shared understandings of effective practice and their impact on outcomes for students. This continuing focus could further extend the teacher capability and collective capacity of the staff in planned and purposeful ways.

Leaders have focused on increasing the dependability of student achievement data that are reported to students, their whānau, the board and the Ministry of Education. They are aware that student achievement needs to improve. Teachers are establishing shared understandings of effective teaching strategies to accelerate children’s learning and achievement. Leaders and teachers are continuing to refine systems and processes for:

• tracking and monitoring students’ progress and achievement
• planning to meet the learning needs of individual students
• strengthening learning-focused partnerships with parents.

The school has identified it is now timely to review the curriculum so it better reflects the current teaching approaches and expectations of practice. This includes growing student agency and the provision of a broader curriculum.

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 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

• the ‘Hay Park Way’ that promotes a supportive and inclusive school culture

• learning relationships that support children to learn together and from each other

• student and whānau access to devices and related teaching practice that promotes the ‘learn, create, share’ learning model

• opportunities for children that promote te ao Māori.

Next steps

For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in continuing to:

• accelerate the rate of progress for students to improve their achievement

• build shared understandings of effective practice to support consistency of good quality teaching across the school

• further strengthen learning-focused partnerships with parents to support improved achievement

• review the curriculum to better reflect the school’s current teaching approaches and practices.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

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

Julie Foley

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)

Te Tai Raki - Northern Region

29 August 2018

About the school