Summary
Mairehau School has a current roll of 437 children. This includes 104 Māori children, 31 Pacific and 26 Asian children. About a third of these children remain at the school for shorter periods of time.
Since the 2012 ERO report there have been a number of staffing changes in the school. These include the appointment of a new deputy principal, three appointments to the senior leadership team and a significant change to teaching staff. The board of trustees has four new members, including one co-opted as a whānau liaison person.
The school has addressed the recommendation in ERO’s 2012 report to improve the alignment between strategic and annual planning.
Leaders and staff have worked with a Ministry of Education Student Achievement Facilitator (SAF) to further develop te reo and tikanga Māori practices.
The school’s achievement information shows a similar pattern over the last three years. Achievement in mathematics is lower than reading and writing. 2016 achievement information shows that disparity for boys in reading and writing has decreased. There is an evident disparity in achievement for Pacific children, many of whom have English as a second language.
How well is the school achieving equitable outcomes for all children?
The achievement of Māori and some other groups of children needs to be accelerated to ensure that they are making sufficient progress, over time, against the National Standards.
The school has some processes in place which provide a basis for enabling achievement of excellence and equity. However, these processes need to be effectively evaluated to determine their impact on student progress and achievement.
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?
The school is not yet responding effectively to those children whose learning and achievement need acceleration..
Overall achievement against the National Standards (NS) for reading and writing has remained at a similar level, around 70% at or above national expectations, over the past three years. NS achievement in mathematics has remained low during this time, and is especially low for Pacific children, many of whom are second language learners.
Achievement data for 2016 shows:
- between 71% to 73% of children are at or above NS for reading and writing
- 55% of Maori and 57% of other students are at or above NS expectations for mathematics.
Moderation practices require further development. This includes completing the curriculum so that teaching and assessment guidelines and expectations are clear and consistently implemented. A sustained focus on this development is likely to strengthen the reliability of the school’s publicly-reported achievement information.
School conditions supporting equity and excellence
Some of the processes in place to support equity and excellence are in the early stages of implementation. Because of this, ERO was unable to evaluate the impact of these processes during the on-site stage of the review.
What school processes are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?
The board and senior leaders are improvement focused. There is good alignment between the board’s strategic plan and the annual plan. This alignment supports a focus on strategic goals.
The vision and values component of the school’s curriculum is well developed and integrated into classroom practice. It provides a useful foundation for curriculum delivery.
The school has a very strong focus on pastoral care for all children. There is an emphasis on connecting with the community and building relationships with family and whānau. Leaders and teachers make good use of external agencies to support the wellbeing of children and develop the conditions necessary for students to achieve.
A Ministry of Education SAF has provided professional development for the board, school leaders, and teachers to promote te reo and tikanga Māori. As a result, the school is developing its understanding of how to support Māori achievement and develop a culturally responsive curriculum.
Sustainable development for equity and excellence
Many school processes that support equity and excellence require further development. School leaders need to effectively evaluate the impact of initiatives on teaching practice, and on learning outcomes for children.
What further developments are needed in school processes to achieve equity and excellence?
The school needs to further develop its internal evaluation of processes and practices in order to determine the impact on student progress and achievement. The board, school leaders and teachers need to more closely monitor how well school processes and practices are accelerating progress for those groups of children who are at risk of not achieving.
Data and information about children’s progress and achievement needs to be better analysed to provide a clear and accurate achievement picture. The board and leaders need to more fully understand how well the learning of all groups of children, especially those at risk of underachievement, is being accelerated.
School achievement targets in the annual plan need to be clearer, and more specific in regard to those children requiring additional support with learning. This will help to align board achievement targets with classroom targets.
The school curriculum needs to be completed for each learning area and should clearly specify teaching and learning expectations. This is likely to support the consistency of teaching expectations across the school and provide more assurance that children are experiencing the depth and breadth of the New Zealand Curriculum.
Curriculum development is also an essential part of the moderation work the school needs to undertake to ensure that NS judgements are reliable. Currently, the consistency of teacher judgments in relation to NS needs improvement. The board, senior leaders and teachers should develop more effective ways of ensuring that assessment and moderation practices are robust.
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 improve the school conditions that support the acceleration of children’s learning and achievement.
- 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.
Recommendations
ERO recommends that the Ministry of Education, through a Student Achievement Facilitator, works with the school to lift student achievement and reduce disparity.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)
27 September 2017
About the school
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Location
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Mairehau
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Ministry of Education profile number
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3425
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School type
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Full primary 1-8
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School roll
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437
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Gender composition
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Males 212
Females 221
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Ethnic composition
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Māori 24%
Pākehā 60%
Pacific 7%
Asian 6%
Other 3%
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Provision of Māori medium education
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No
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Review team on site
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May 2017
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Date of this report
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27 September 2017
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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October 2012
June 2008
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