Silverstream School

Silverstream School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Silverstream 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 

Silverstream School sits in the lower end of the Upper Hutt valley and caters for children from Years 1-6. The vision for the school community is Kia Ngākaunui Tātou te Whaia Akoranga - Together We Inspire a Passion for Learning. The strategic direction for 2022 -2024 is ‘A System that Learns.’

Silverstream School’s strategic priorities for Improving outcomes for learners are:

  • a clear focus on what supports the progress and achievement of all learners

  • highly effective teachers

  • Māori success as Māori.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively and consistently teachers use assessment information to inform their practice for improved student outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • the priority the school places on teachers systematically using data to ensure all students make expected progress across the curriculum

  • the importance the school places on empowering a culture of critical reflection whereby teachers grow their reflective practice.

The school expects to see:

  • continued acceleration of learners to achieve the expected curriculum level, and to achieve excellence, for those above teachers continually adjusting their practice to be more responsive to student needs

  • consistency of instructional and evaluative approaches to teaching literacy and numeracy across the school.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate how to promote and improve consistent approach to teaching and learning across the school:

  • an accepted drive for excellence and high achievement for learners  

  • an established expectation for teachers to engage in research to inform their practice to understand what make the most difference for learners and their wellbeing 

  • communication with parents to enable them to participate in their children’s learning alongside the school.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • supporting teachers to deepen their knowledge of what each student needs to understand and know to progress, so that nothing is left to chance in teaching and learning contexts

  • engaging children in deep thinking and purposeful use of literacy and numeracy skills and knowledge, through well planned thematic work so they can make connections across learning contexts.

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

19 May 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

Silverstream School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of October 2022, the Silverstream 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 Silverstream 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

19 May 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

Silverstream School - 01/02/2018

School Context

Silverstream School, in Upper Hutt, caters for 526 students in Years 1 to 6. Of the learners enrolled, 18% are Māori and a small number are of Pacific heritage.

The school is working to build a shared vision for learners, through a review of the charter, to inform strategic direction and curriculum development. The school’s vision is underpinned by a developing emphasis on future-focused education to empower learners.

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

  • achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
  • progress and achievement in relation to school targets
  • participation in specific interventions
  • wellbeing.

A new principal was appointed in 2016, joining a stable leadership team. There have been a number of staff changes since the 2014 ERO review. Experienced and newly elected members make up the board of trustees.

The school continues to participate in established collaborative networks with a focus on strengthening school developments, particularly student agency. 

Leaders have participated in coaching and mentoring workshops to support their role in developing teacher capability.

Evaluation Findings

Equity and excellence – valued outcomes for students

1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?

Reported achievement data, since 2014, indicates that most students achieve at or above expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. For Māori students, most are successful in reading and the large majority achieve expectations in writing and mathematics. Māori students’ achievement in writing and mathematics is lower than their non-Māori peers.

There is increasing disparity for boys in writing and ongoing disparity for girls in mathematics. Reported data shows high levels of achievement for nearly all students in Year 6.

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

There is evidence of accelerated progress for some students. However the schoolwide picture of achievement for groups of students is not sufficiently clear. Leaders and teachers are working to develop a shared understanding of acceleration. Further development of school processes to better identify achievement and progress is a next step.

The school has strengthened its response to students at risk of not achieving through the implementation of ‘Targeted Student Intervention Plans’. This framework enables teachers to determine students’ specific learning needs, plan and targeted teaching strategies and interventions to promote their accelerated progress.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence

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

The senior leadership team works strategically to develop schoolwide systems, practices and processes to promote equity and excellence for all students.  A well-considered approach to developing shared understanding of the school’s vision for successful learners is evident. This contributes to ongoing curriculum design. Leaders have set clear expectations for consistent practice, and developed processes to provide information about the quality of teaching.

Leaders are focused on building a good platform for collaborative practice. Leaders’ and teachers’ capability is strengthened through coaching and appraisal. Emphasis is placed on staff working together to review the achievement and progress of learning and share strategies for promoting learning. These opportunities promote their collective capacity for improvement and innovation.

There is a strong focus on developing relational trust across the school. Trustees, leaders and staff use a range of strategies to engage with the community. Whānau voices are sought to contribute to direction setting and decision making for improvement. Teachers and students are involved in the development of an environment that supports their learning and wellbeing. Participation in local educational networks enhances leaders’ and teachers’ responsiveness to students. 

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

Continuing to co-ordinate school practices and processes to focus more deliberately on equity of outcomes for all students is a key next step. Strengthening school targets and improving the use of student achievement information is required to more clearly identify areas for development, progress in learning and effective strategies for promoting acceleration.

The school has identified the need to improve its response to Māori learners’ culture, language and identity, and further develop teachers’ culturally responsive practice. Students have some opportunities to learn though culturally appropriate experiences. A key next step is to develop a shared vision of success for Māori, informed by whānau and iwi aspirations.

Trustees, leaders and teachers should further strengthen collective understanding of effective inquiry and internal evaluation to build more robust knowledge about what is required to improve educational outcomes.

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:

  • leadership that sets a clear vision
  • schoolwide collaboration that promotes responsive teaching to students’ needs
  • developing relational trust that engages all stakeholders to contribute to schoolwide success. 

Next steps

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

  • strengthening inquiry and analysis of achievement information, by trustees, leaders and teachers, to systematically address in-school disparities
  • knowing the valued outcomes for Māori success as Māori, as determined by parents, whānau and iwi, to ensure a culturally responsive curriculum
  • building internal evaluation processes and practices, to better understand the impact of programmes and initiatives on acceleration and achievement for learners at risk of not achieving. 

ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop for trustees and senior leaders.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

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

Alan Wynyard
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)

Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region

1 February 2018                                                                                                                                       

About the school 

Location

Upper Hutt

Ministry of Education profile number

2990

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

526

Gender composition

Female 52%, Male 48%

Ethnic composition

Māori                             18%

Pākehā                           66%

Pacific                               1%

Other ethnic groups     15%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

November 2017

Date of this report

1 February 2018

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review   November 2014

Education Review   December 2011

Education Review    December 2008