Kamo School

Education institution number:
1030
School type:
Contributing
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
402
Telephone:
Address:

Three Mile Bush Road, Kamo, Whangarei

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Kamo School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 10 months of the Education Review Office and Kamo School working in Te Ara Huarau, an improvement evaluation approach used in most English Medium State and State Integrated Schools. This timeframe was impacted by COVID Lockdowns.  For more information about Te Ara Huarau see ERO’s website www.ero.govt.nz

Context 

Kamo School is a state school located in Kamo, Whangarei catering for students from Year 1 to Year 6. Kamo Primary School’s vision is ‘Learning for the Future’.  

Kamo School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • Quality relationships

  • Quality teaching

  • Quality communication

  • Quality value for all stakeholders.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Kamo School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well Kamo School’s assessment practices are meeting the learning strengths, interests and needs of all ākonga 

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to determine to what extent Kamo School’s assessment practices:

  • are inclusive and culturally responsive

  • are facilitating high levels of engagement for all ākonga  

  • empower ākonga to analyse their own achievement data, define their next learning steps and lead their own learning

  • inform the curriculum design and implementation of rich, meaningful, and authentic learning experiences.

The school expects to see as the result of the evaluation:          

  • ākonga who are agentic and confident leaders of their own learning

  • innovative teaching approaches that are based on agreed and sound recommendations from the evaluation findings

  • all ākonga progressing and achieving 

  • assessment practices that value the identity and culture of all ākonga  

  • a strengthened partnership with whanau, working together to grow and support ākonga learning. 

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school to evaluate assessment practices:

  • a strong relational approach to nurturing ākonga in an inclusive learning environment

  • highly reflective leadership practices that inform the school’s curriculum design and implementation of learning programmes 

  • teachers who strive for high quality, relevant and current teaching practices that engage students.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • modifying professional development from the analysis of mid-point evaluation data
  • continuing to undertake in-depth data analysis of priority and targeted learners to determine school-wide next steps
  • strengthening school-wide collaboration to achieve consistency of quality assessment practices throughout the school. 

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. ERO will support the school in reporting their progress to the community. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

29 August 2022 

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement.  educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Kamo School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of February 2022, the Kamo School Board of Trustees has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Further Information

For further information please contact Kamo School Board of Trustees.

The next Board of Trustees assurance that it is meeting regulatory and legislative requirements will be reported, along with the Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report, within three years.

Information on ERO’s role and process in this review can be found on the Education Review Office website.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

29 August 2022 

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Kamo School - 02/06/2017

Summary

Kamo School caters for 447 children from Years 1 to 6. About a third of the children enrolled are Māori and a small number are from Pacific nations. Increasing numbers of children attending the school have additional learning needs.

ERO’s 2014 evaluation identified many positive aspects of the school. It noted that the school’s next steps were to continue to embed and sustain effective teaching practices, and to develop a meaningful and engaging curriculum. Since that time the school has continued to improve its teaching approaches and has begun to promote students’ contributions in the curriculum. A new principal was appointed in 2016.

Teachers have recently participated in professional learning to help them raise achievement in mathematics, and to improve their teaching of writing. The impact of this intervention on children’s mathematics achievement was significant. Skills learned by teachers and children were able to be transferred to reading and writing across the school. Teachers are trialling new ways of teaching and are collaborating with each other to improve their practices.

Kamo School is a member of the Ngā Kura mo te ako o Whangarei (Raki Whangarei) Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako (CoL), which is in the early stage of setting its improvement focus.

How well is the school achieving equitable outcomes for all children?

School leaders and staff are successful in promoting outcomes that are valued by parents and the community, and that support equity and excellence. They are developing approaches to better respond to Māori students and children whose learning and achievement needs acceleration. The board of trustees, principal and teachers place Māori children and boys at the forefront of their interventions for equity and excellence.

The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all children. However, disparity in achievement for some Māori and other children remains. Further developments required include developing and monitoring targeted planning that supports improved teaching and accelerated learning.

ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop to support the school to develop effective planning and monitoring processes to support equity and excellence for all children.

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

Equity and excellence

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

Kamo School is developing approaches to respondmore effectively to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

Achievement data for 2016 show that most children achieve at or above the National Standards in mathematics and reading and that nearly three-quarters of all children achieve at or above the National Standards in writing. While Māori children’s achievement improved in 2016, a small disparity remains. There is significant disparity between boys’ and girls’ writing achievement.

School leaders continue to develop strategies for accelerating learning progress. Changes in teaching approaches are having a positive effect on reading achievement and good ongoing support is in place to improve writing achievement.

The school’s PRIDE values of Proactive, Respect, Independence, Determination and Excellence are evident in the school’s curriculum and are enacted by the children, staff and whānau. Children and whānau have strong, respectful relationships with the principal and staff.

School leaders have developed good processes to help teachers make more reliable overall judgements about children’s progress and achievement. Teachers use personalised, levelled assessment tools to assess individuals’ progress and identify next steps in teaching and learning. Leaders are now keen to work with other CoL schools to further moderate their assessment practices and increase the validity of Kamo School’s achievement information.

The new principal provides strong professional leadership. Her approaches to maintaining existing initiatives and supporting ongoing improvements have been collaborative and well considered.

Teachers support each other to focus on alternative strategies for accelerating individual children’s achievement. They have also improved the way they analyse and use data to reflect on and evaluate their teaching practice.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

What school processes are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?

School processes are becoming more effective in enabling the achievement of equity and excellence. Children and whānau appreciate the strong sense of belonging at their school. Effective support is in place to ensure that all children are included and integrated into the school.

Māori children are proud and confident in their cultural identity and language, and all children experience a culturally inclusive curriculum. Staff support children to be confident, capable and engaged learners.

Teachers are recognised for their individual strengths and expertise, and their leadership is valued. They are developing professional practice that supports improvements for tamariki. Teachers implement learning programmes that connect to children’s interests and strengths. Children have a good understanding of their learning and achievement.

Leaders and teachers have identified the positive differences that new approaches are making to children’s learning. A collation of acceleration strategies are available to teachers. Leaders recognise that strategies for accelerating learning need to be personalised for individual children. Leaders and teachers clearly identify children who require focused support and involve parents in their planning. They regularly discuss children’s achievement and share teaching strategies. This professional collaboration promotes shared responsibility for all children.

School leaders model the professional behaviours they expect from teachers and children. They have high expectations for themselves, staff and children. Leaders promote deeper learning to improve teaching and leadership capability. Collaborative practice is encouraged and supported. Leaders establish a secure environment for teachers to trial new practices and inquire into the effectiveness of their teaching.

The board is very supportive and resources the school effectively. Decision making is well informed by deliberate scrutiny of student achievement. Trustees’ decision to fund an external facilitator to raise the mathematics teaching knowledge and strategies was significant. They have a strong interest in progressing valued student outcomes.

The school’s parent body is committed to improving learning environments. Digital devices are plentiful and support children’s learning. Modern furniture in open and spacious classrooms supports children’s engagement with learning.

The school’s strategic goals promote high quality teaching, student agency and parent partnerships for learning. These goals are well aligned with the school’s short-term planning and teachers’ professional learning and appraisal. Achievement targets focus appropriately on accelerating Māori students’ and boys’ achievement in writing, reading and mathematics.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

What further developments are needed in school processes to achieve equity and excellence?

Good practices and new initiatives have been developed to help establish a positive school culture and give clarity of direction. A next step is to make more effective use of robust internal evaluation to establish future goals and school direction.

Very good systems and strategies have been developed to accelerate learning progress, including that of Māori students and boys. These systems and practices need to become part of the teachers’ professional learning programme. The school’s charter targets should focus on accelerated learning for specific groups of children.

To achieve greater levels of equity and excellence, further developments for school leaders and teachers include:

  • refining the charter to specify acceleration targets

  • continuing to develop robust internal evaluation

  • continuing to develop and measure valued student outcomes.

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

  • 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.

Going forward

How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?

The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all children. However, disparity in achievement for Māori and/or other children remains.

Leaders and teachers:

  • know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
  • need to develop and implement approaches that effectively meet the needs of each child
  • need to build teacher capability to accelerate children’s learning and achievement.

The school agrees to:

  • develop more targeted planning to accelerate learning for children
  • monitor targeted planning, improved teaching, and children’s progress
  • discuss the school’s progress with ERO.

ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop to support the school to develop effective planning and monitoring processes to support equity and excellence for all children. 

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

Steffan Brough

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)

2 June 2017

About the school 

Location

Whangarei

Ministry of Education profile number

1030

School type

Contributing (Year 1-6)

School roll

447

Gender composition

Boys 53% Girls 47%

Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

other

31%

61%

8%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

March 2017

Date of this report

2 June 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

January 2014

February 2011

July 2007