Te Mata School (Raglan)

Te Mata School (Raglan)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 10 months of the Education Review Office and Te Mata School (Raglan) 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 

Te Mata (Raglan) is a full primary school, situated at the base of Karioi Maunga, in the rural community of Whaingaroa and Aotea Harbour. The school promotes the vision of ‘courage to be yourself’ which is fostered through the FISH philosophy.

Te Mata School (Raglan)’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • supporting Māori students to achieve success

  • supporting inclusion for all learners with particular focus for learners with educational and health needs

  • assessment reviews and planning

  • quality teaching and learning.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Te Mata School (Raglan)’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school’s culturally responsive curriculum supports student progress and achievement.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that it is consistent with:

  • the strategic goals of the school

  • key areas of development in relation to the national educational learning priorities (NELPs).

The school expects to see increased partnership with local whānau and hapū, normalised use and delivery of te reo, tikanga and Aotearoa history, and improved student progress and achievement for all learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to implement a culturally responsive curriculum:

  • A teaching team that works collaboratively to improve outcomes for all learners.

  • Leadership focused on equity and excellence.

  • An established professional learning and development plan that involves, teachers, leadership and the board.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • continuing to develop the school’s local curriculum by deepening knowledge and culturally responsive practices

  • building reciprocal relationships with mana whenua.

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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

15 February 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

Te Mata School (Raglan)

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of May 2022, the Te Mata School (Raglan) 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 Te Mata School (Raglan) 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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

15 February 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

Te Mata School (Raglan) - 15/05/2018

School Context

Te Mata School is a rural school located near Raglan and provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. It has a roll of 136 students, 27 of whom identify as Māori. Students come from the surrounding rural areas and the township of Raglan. Since the previous ERO review in 2013, most trustees have been newly elected to the board, and a new principal was appointed in Term 4 in 2017.

The school’s philosophy aims to provide a welcoming and respectful culture for learning.

The charter includes targets to accelerate learning and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. School leaders have led ongoing teacher professional learning to support the implementation of the school’s expectations for teaching and learning and student wellbeing. Parents and the wider-school community are well involved in the life of the school.

The school has had a positive reporting history with ERO in recent years.

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

  • reading

  • writing

  • mathematics

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?

The school is achieving equitable and excellence outcomes for most of its students. School achievement information from 2017 showed that most students including Māori achieved at the expected level in reading, writing and mathematics. In reading and mathematics, boys and girls achieved at comparable levels. In writing however, boys as a group achieved at slightly lower levels. Māori students achieved at comparable levels with other students.

School-wide data over the last three years shows positive lifts in achievement levels, especially in reading and particularly for boys. In addition there has been significant improvement over time in the achievement of girls in writing.

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

The school needs to strengthen its response to Māori and other students whose learning needs acceleration. While teachers are closely monitoring and tracking the learning and achievement of students who are being targeted in their classrooms, this practice needs to be extended to include all students whose learning needs acceleration.

Leaders now need to aggregate individual achievement information of these at-risk students. This is necessary to enable leaders to show and respond to rates of expected and accelerated progress for at risk students.

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 with additional learning needs are well supported. The board is committed to providing equitable opportunities through resourcing and programmes. Teachers work well in partnerships with parents and families to plan for individual learning needs for these students. These students are able to experience success in their learning.

Teachers know children well and are responsive to their individual interests and needs. Affirming and reciprocal relationships contribute to calm and conducive environments for learning. Leaders and teachers are increasingly integrating practices of tikanga and Māori values into the curriculum. Students wellbeing and sense of belonging is affirmed through a positive and inclusive culture for learning

Leaders and teachers work collaboratively to raise student achievement. They use a range of assessment practices to develop student’s understanding of their learning pathways. Leaders actively facilitate and lead the implementation of professional learning and development and the school goals for raising levels of student achievement. An ongoing focus on literacy and mathematics is supporting students to progress and achieve success in their learning. Teaching practice is contributing to positive learning outcomes for students.

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

The collation, management and the use of school-wide achievement information needs to be further developed. As a priority leaders need to make better use of trend data over time to identify patterns of student achievement and progress. Targeted action to accelerate achievement of at-risk students, needs to be inclusive for all and aligned to classroom target groups.

Internal evaluation practices need to be strengthened. More purposeful consultation with the parent community is necessary to gather parent and community aspirations to inform strategic direction. An inclusive process of curriculum review is necessary for trustees and leaders to further support the schools vision for equity and excellence and acceleration for all learners

Leaders also recognise the need to:

  • ensure formal observations of practice and quality goal setting as part of the appraisal process are clarified and consistently implemented

  • develop shared expectations for learning and teaching and to provide relevant professional learning and development that will support teachers to develop greater consistency of classroom practice

  • extend current practices and approaches including the use of more deliberate teaching strategies to ensure all students whose learning is at risk is accelerated.

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:

  • the provision of equitable opportunities that enable students to achieve their potential

  • a culture for learning that supports and enables effective collaboration and improvement.

Next steps

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

  • the use of achievement data to accelerated learning and progress for at risk students

  • the provision of a local curriculum to engage and respond to the varying needs and abilities of all students

  • internal evaluation processes and practices leading to continuous school improvement.

[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.

Lynda Pura-Watson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Waikato

Te Tai Miringa - Waikato / Bay of Plenty Region

15 May 2018

About the school

Location

Raglan

Ministry of Education profile number

2010

School type

Full Primary (Years 1-8)

School roll

136 students

Gender composition

Girls 57%

Boys 43%

Ethnic composition

Māori 20%

Pākehā 73%

Other 7%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

February 2018

Date of this report

15 May 2018

Most recent ERO report(s)

June 2013