School Context
Tahatai Coast School is currently a full primary catering for students from Years 1 to 8. The Ministry of Education has redesignated the school as a contributing school, catering for children from Years 1 to 6. This is to accommodate growth on the Papamoa coast, and will take effect from 2019.
Approximately 22 percent of children identify as Māori, and 63 percent of children are Pākehā. The school is becoming increasingly culturally diverse. An enrolment zone assists the school to manage roll growth.
‘Learning today for tomorrow’s world’ underpins the vision of assisting children to become active, confident, creative, and innovative lifelong learners and thinkers. Values of respect, responsibility, integrity, perseverance, and excellence are encouraged and modelled. The school’s six learning behaviours; ‘we support’, ‘we communicate’, ‘we think’, ‘we self-manage’, ‘we belong’ and ‘we create’, are well understood by children, teachers and the community.
The school charter and strategic plan identifies goals to promote children’s learning and the school’s vision for learners. Detailed actions to reach achievement targets are also included.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
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progress and achievement of all children against school targets
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whole school improvement, trends, and patterns over time
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details of programmes for children with diverse and additional learning needs
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information related to children’s engagement and wellbeing
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‘connected’ curriculum information and reports on recently introduced acceleration programmes.
Since the 2014 ERO evaluation, a new principal and deputy principal have been appointed. Leaders have consulted with the community and reviewed organisational structures, the school’s charter and curriculum. Leaders and teachers have also participated in professional development to focus on accelerating children’s learning and progress.
Tahatai Coast School is a member of the Mt Maunganui Kāhui Ako|Community of Learning (CoL).
Evaluation Findings
1 Equity and excellence – valued outcomes for students
1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?
Tahatai Coast School is achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for children. The school has effective strategic planning and many acceleration strategies that are reducing identified disparities.
Achievement information between 2014 and 2016 indicates that most children achieve at expectation in reading, and that a large majority of children achieve at expectation in writing and mathematics.
The school’s 2017 data analysis shows lifts in achievement for all children. The majority of children are achieving at expectation in reading, writing, and mathematics. Disparity in literacy and mathematics for Māori learners has been significantly reduced, and boys’ literacy has significantly lifted. By the time children reach Year 6 most achieve well in reading, writing, and mathematics.
Clear schoolwide targets and effective tracking and monitoring of progress and achievement by leaders and teachers, are contributing to increasing achievement for boys, and for Māori children.
1.2 How effectively does this school respond to those Māori and other students whose learning and achievement need acceleration?
The school responds very well to those Māori and other students whose learning and achievement needs accelerating. School achievement data for 2016/2017 show the school has successfully accelerated the progress of many Māori children.
The following approaches have supported this progress:
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a strategic, bicultural focus promoted by the board and school leaders
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collaboration and learning partnerships with Ngā Potiki, the hapū and mana whenua
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specific targets to support Māori achievement
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whānau structures that provide children with a sense of belonging and collaborative learning opportunities.
School data for children achieving below expectations show positive shifts in achievement for most students, and accelerated progress for many.
Through appropriate charter and annual targets, leaders place a high priority on responding to the learning needs of children who need to make accelerated progress. Progress towards these targets is closely monitored. Leaders maintain a stringent ‘line of sight’ across the progress and achievement of all learners.
Effective schoolwide systems ensure the early identification of children who are at risk of not achieving. Leaders and teachers use their detailed knowledge of children’s strengths and learning needs to specifically plan for, and support children at their point of learning need. These plans promote targeted teaching strategies in class programmes, alongside a range of special interventions.
Whānau leaders and teachers proudly share the positive impacts of their teaching. They celebrate how well their combined efforts and strategies for acceleration, contribute to the learning progress of all children.
Leaders and teachers respond well to children with additional and diverse learning needs. Children are identified and provided with a range of specialist support and facilities. This support enables children to access the curriculum, and ensures they have a sense of belonging and wellbeing.
2 School conditions for equity and excellence
2.1 What school processes and practices are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?
The school has very good processes and practices that enable the achievement of equity and excellence.
Leaders are successfully building trusting relationships throughout the school community for supporting equity and excellence for all learners. Leaders are managing a period of change and a new direction that has been shaped through community consultation. A new sense of collaboration and transparency has resulted in shared understandings and raised expectations for learning and achievement.
The school has successfully re-established educational connections with parents, whānau, and its community. Parents, whānau, and Ngā Potiki are valued partners with the school in learning. Parents and whānau are kept well informed, and their opinions are regularly sought. This information is used well to support the child and their family and for ongoing school improvement.
Children benefit from a schoolwide and connected curriculum. They enjoy innovative, challenging, and fun learning opportunities that are engaging, and contribute to good levels of achievement. There is a continued focus on increasing children’s understanding and ownership of their own learning.
The school whānau structure allows teachers and children to work collaboratively. Inclusive and flexible groupings promote creative problem solving and future focused learning. The digital resources available in the school support children’s engagement and connection to learning.
2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence?
Leaders agree to continue:
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building the collective evaluation capacity of trustees, leaders, and teachers to extend the scope of evaluative thinking for ongoing improvement
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focusing on acceleration and achieving equitable outcomes for all children.
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:
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:
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emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
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physical safety of students
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teacher registration and certification
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processes for appointing staff
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stand down, suspension, expulsion and exclusion of students
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attendance
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school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.
Provision for international students
The school is a signatory to the (the Code) established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code. At the time of this review there were 22 international students attending the school.Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016
The school provides international students with a very good standard of education, and pastoral care. Students benefit from the school’s inclusive culture, and opportunities to participate in a wide range of school activities. They are well supported to achieve educational success and to integrate into the school community. The school’s monitoring systems are highly effective.
Areas for improved compliance practice
To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:
4 Going forward
Key strengths of the school
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
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school leadership that provides coherent school expectations through shared vision and values
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a collaborative teaching culture
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educational connections and relationships with parents, whānau, and community that support children’s wellbeing, social and academic outcomes
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a connected curriculum that promotes collaborative learning opportunities and grows student voice.
Next steps
For sustained improvement and future learner success, development priorities are in:
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continuing the focus on acceleration to achieve equitable outcomes for all children
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evaluating the impact of initiatives, to know the difference these are making in accelerating children’s learning
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using ERO’s School Evaluation Indicators as a self-review tool to refine and strengthen board systems and processes.
ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing
ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
17 January 2018
About the school
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Location
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Papamoa
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Ministry of Education profile number
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6742
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School type
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Full Primary (Years 1-8)
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School roll
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667
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Gender composition
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Boys 51% Girls 49%
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Ethnic composition
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Māori
Pākehā
Indian
Korean
African
British/Irish
other
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22%
63%
4%
3%
2%
2%
4%
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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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November 2017
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Date of this report
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17 January 2018
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review
Education Review
Education Review
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October 2014
December 2011
February 2009
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