Martinborough School

Martinborough School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and Martinborough School working in Te Ara Huarau, an improvement evaluation approach used in most English Medium State and State Integrated Schools. For more information about Te Ara Huarau see ERO’s website www.ero.govt.nz

Context 

Martinborough School, located in Martinborough, provides education for learners from years 1 to 8. 

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

  • Achieving: learners show evidence of growth – academically, socially culturally and physically.
  • Challenged: learners can state set goals, know next steps, evaluate progress in effort and outcome.
  • Engaged: learning maps show the links and connections for learners.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively structured literacy is being implemented, embedded and sustained so that learners are equipped with effective skills, knowledge and strategies for sustained progress and achievement.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is: 

  • the board, leaders and teachers want to evaluate the effectiveness of the school’s structured literacy programme that has been in place for two years
  • this will guide the board, leaders and teachers in their future strategic decision-making as they work together to embed and sustain structured literacy.

The school expects to see a responsive evaluation of structured literacy that will support and inform the school’s strategic direction, further strengthen teacher professional practice and sustain ākonga improvement in literacy. 

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to know the impact of structured literacy on ākonga outcomes:

  • staff, whānau and ākonga are reflective learners; open to change and to improving achievement in literacy
  • a board, focused on learner achievement and wellbeing, that prioritises the resourcing of ākonga and kaiako learning.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise the development of a strategic framework that will guide and inform the evaluation of the structured literacy programme. This will include:

  • the development of responsive and useful assessment expectations that measure ākonga achievement over time in structured literacy
  • the further strengthening of teacher capability and decision making through distributed leadership
  • continuing to build culturally responsive pedagogical practices, supported by local kaumatua, that promote learning success.

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.
 

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

12 December 2023

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

Martinborough School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of April 2022, the Martinborough School Board 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 Martinborough School, School Board.

The next School Board 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.
 

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

12 December 2023

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

Martinborough School - 04/09/2019

School Context

Martinborough School is a full primary school located in the South Wairarapa district. The roll of 271 includes 78 Māori students.

The school vision is ‘learning together’ and is underpinned by the community ‘spirit’ values of striving, positivity, independence, respect, innovation and tolerance. The school acknowledges that whānau involvement is a critical component of the learning process.

In 2018 staff professional learning focused on mathematics. In 2019 the school will engage in coaching and mentoring. The school targets focus on achievement in reading, writing and mathematics.

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

  • progress in relation to strategic priorities.

The school is an active member of the Southern Wairarapa Kāhui Ako I Community of Learning.

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?

Most students achieve at or above the school’s expectations in reading, writing and mathematics with steady improvement over time.

There is large and ongoing disparity for Māori, especially boys in literacy. The 2018 data shows that Māori students made significant gains in mathematics.

Other outcomes include the school’s spirit values and wellbeing. The school has extensive anecdotal evidence to show how these are achieved.

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

There is evidence of accelerated progress for a small majority of target students, including Māori, in reading and writing. A range of support is provided for students at risk of not achieving. Students are identified and systems for tracking and monitoring are used well to support learning programmes for students.

Students with more complex learning needs have appropriate support systems in place. Their progress is well monitored against individual education plans.

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?

Students benefit from a positive and responsive learning environment. Relationships are respectful, reciprocal and focused on care and achieving success. Digital technology is well used to support learning in appropriately resourced classrooms.

Students’ ideas are valued and acknowledged. They have meaningful choices and are encouraged to take increasing responsibility for their learning. Students are on task and engaged in their learning. They demonstrate a sense of belonging and confidence in their learning and environment.

A wide range of opportunities across the curriculum supports learners to engage in many relevant contexts for learning. There are high expectations for teaching and learning which are well documented. Literacy and mathematics are prioritised. The learner profile provides clear indicators for the skills and attributes of a successful graduate.

A well-considered approach to supporting students’ transition into and through school includes the sharing of relevant information. This promotes students’ sense of wellbeing and belonging. Enrichment programmes, well supported by the community, provide further opportunities for students to explore areas of interests in depth.

Teachers are collaborative and reflect on their practice. They regularly engage in professional dialogue and learning opportunities to develop their practice that is focussed on outcomes for students. The new senior leadership team is working to promote consistent and cohesive practices and progress strategic priorities.

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

There has been significant development in redefining school values and approaches to teaching and learning. The school recognises present systems to evaluate the impact of these changes and other practices on student outcomes require strengthening. ERO affirms this. The school is working within current systems to better identify and measure the rates of progress for students within target groups.

The school acknowledges that deeper analysis and collective responsibility is required to support learners at risk of not achieving. The rates of progress of priority learners is needed to better inform leaders and trustees of the effectiveness of programmes and interventions.

While governance guidelines provide appropriate structure for the work of trustees these are not consistently implemented. Currently:

  • school operational policies and procedures need updating, reorganisation and to be made readily accessible
  • progress in relation to strategic priorities is not regularly evaluated and reported
  • agreed expectations in relation to reporting by portfolio holders are not being consistently met
  • records of board meetings are not complete or do not contain all relevant reports.

The school has strengthened its culturally responsive practices and connections with the local Māori community. It is now well positioned to use new knowledge to further extend opportunities for meaningful learning. The next development step should include:

  • meeting with the school's Māori community to share success
  • developing and make known plans and targets for improving the achievement of Māori students
  • involve whānau Māori in strategic decision making.

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 Children’s Act 2014.

4 ERO’s Overall Judgement

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

ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance 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:

  • systems and processes that support student wellbeing and promote an inclusive culture and sense of belonging for students
  • extensive curriculum that involves the community and encourages student engagement, learning and achievement
  • growing staff professional capability through a strategic and coherent approach that is focused on improving outcomes for students.

Next steps

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

  • the process for monitoring legislative requirements
  • ensuring clear, robust processes for internal evaluation are implemented, including policy review to improve analysis, reporting and better measure the impact on student outcomes
  • the enactment of a strategic focus on decision making about Māori success as Māori.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified non-compliance in the school related to health and safety. To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:

  • maintain an on-going programme of self review in relation to policies.
    [National Administration Guidelines, NAG 2b]

In order to address this, the board of trustees must:

  • ensure police vetting requirements are met in relation to the appointment of non-teaching staff
  • ensure all policies and procedures are current and accessible.

Since the onsite phase of this evaluation these have been addressed.

Recommendations

ERO recommends that the board use development opportunities from New Zealand School Trustees Association (NZSTA).

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini

Southern Region

4 September 2019

About the school

Location

Martinborough

Ministry of Education profile number

2906

School type

Full Primary (Years 1-8)

School roll

271

Gender composition

Female 51%, Male 49%

Ethnic composition

Māori 26%
NZ European/Pākehā 67%
Pacific 3%
Other ethnic groups 4%

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)

Yes

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

May 2019

Date of this report

4 September 2019

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review June 2016
Education Review April 2013