Waikaia School

Waikaia School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and Waikaia 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 

Waikaia School is a full rural primary school located in Northern Southland. A new principal was appointed in 2020. The school values are to be kind, to be responsible and for all to do their best.

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

  • to provide a safe and supportive environment where children, staff and the school community will have respect for themselves, others and the environment

  • for students to develop skills to enable them to become independent and lifelong learners.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effective Waikaia School’s reading programme is in improving outcomes for learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

  • make the implementation of the reading programme more consistent within the school

  • determine what is best practice and how a refreshed programme can fit the needs of the students and staff

  • ensure children will receive learning opportunities that enable them to become competent and confident readers. 

The school expects to see a reading programme that caters for all learners, whether they are achieving at their expected level, or require extra support or extension. This programme will include clearly developed processes and targets that show the progress and achievement of all learners to inform individualised next steps.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to develop an effective reading programme that improves learning outcomes for all students:

  • teachers who work collaboratively to respond to students’ individualised needs

  • community support from whānau, the board and the wider community

  • well considered professional development that supports children’s learning and progress.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • establishing clear learning goals that will give all children opportunities to succeed in reading

  • which assessment tools are best suited to the school to monitor and analyse rates of progress for individuals and small groups

  • building and establishing a process of evaluation that will ensure valid and robust findings and that can be applied to improving curriculum areas.

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.

Kathy Lye
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

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

Waikaia School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of November 2022, the Waikaia School 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 Waikaia 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.

Kathy Lye
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

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

Waikaia School - 18/01/2017

1 Context

Waikaia School is a small Years 1 to 8 school located centrally in the rural township of Waikaia. Children learn in two multi-age classes with 10 to 15 children in each. The school roll comprises approximately two-thirds boys and one-third girls. Most children travel to school by bus.

The school is an important part of the wider community. Staff know the children and their families well. The Home and School Committee provides considerable resources for the school. Local businesses also play an important role in supporting the school. The school appreciates and makes good use of local expertise and knowledge to support the children and their learning. Location does not constitute a barrier to learning or to effective communication. Good use is made of ICT for teaching, learning, and communication between school, families and the wider community.

A new principal has recently been appointed and will start in the role at the beginning of 2017. The school is a member of the Fiordland Northern Southland Community of Learning.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are to 'begin their journey, be empowered and enrich the school/local community'. The school's recently developed WAIKAIA values are 'Whānau, Appreciative, Integrity, Kia Kaha, Achievement and Atawhai'. The children are working on the design of a logo that reflects these values. The school plans to extend this work to include its vision and values.

The school's achievement information for the period 2013 to 2015 shows that most children achieve at or above the National Standards (NS) in reading, writing and mathematics.

In 2016, no student was judged to be well below the NS in reading, writing or mathematics. The majority of students, based on a teacher judgement made in October 2016, are above the NS in reading.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has extended the curriculum for children. They are now provided with a wider range of learning opportunities, some of which make good use of local and regional contexts and expertise. A next step for the board, leaders and teachers is to ensure that students are sufficiently challenged by the depth of the New Zealand Curriculum at each year level.

Leaders and teachers have identified and are implementing what works at this school to engage boys in their learning. For example, the school has specifically focused on engaging boys in writing, and has used external expertise very successfully to motivate boys in writing. Children's ownership of their learning has been given more emphasis with them being more actively involved in decisions about their school and learning environment.

3 Accelerating achievement

How effectively does this school respond to children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

This school responds effectively to children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

Leaders and teachers identify children at risk of not achieving equitable outcomes. They use a range of information from previous assessments (if available), children's behaviour, current assessment and information from parents.

The school's response to the identified needs of these children is specifically and thoughtfully tailored to their needs. This includes:

  • formal and informal planning to accelerate progress for each child
  • targeted additional support, often one to one, from teachers and external experts
  • monitoring these children's progress through ongoing reassessment
  • involving parents in supporting their children's learning at home.

The school's information shows that from the end of 2015 to the second half of 2016 nine, four and three children have made accelerated progress in reading, writing and mathematics respectively in relation to the NS. The school reports increased confidence and motivation in learning for these children.

The board and principal can see the value of extending the school's analysis and reporting of school-wide achievement and progress in relation to the NS. This includes monitoring and evaluating the sufficiency of progress targeted children or groups of children are making, to help inform school decision making.

4 School conditions

How effectively do the school’s curriculum and other organisational processes and practices develop and enact the school’s vision, values, goals and targets for equity and excellence?

The school's curriculum and collaborative, positive culture are effectively supporting its focus on promoting equity and striving for excellence for all children. All groups associated with the school show a strong commitment to, and are working hard to support the children.

The board is providing effective governance for the school. It uses a strategic approach in its decision making. Trustees are supported by a sound governance framework and are clear about their respective roles and responsibilities. The board is well led and is making good use of relevant resources and learning opportunities. Trustees are aware of their responsibility to be assured about the quality of the information that is reported to them.

Children experience a broad curriculum. Years 7 and 8 children enjoy a regular programme, with similar aged children from other small schools, where they participate in a range of curriculum experiences. These include art, technology, international languages, learning about careers and additional camps. All children have increased opportunity to learn beyond the school. The children continue to contribute to community events in line with the school's vision. They enjoy their ongoing opportunities to learn te reo and tikanga Māori and local Māori legends. 

The board, principal and teachers are making good use of professional learning and development opportunities to benefit children. The board is receiving a good range of information about students' participation and achievement in the curriculum. It is important that the board is assured that the curriculum development that has occurred since the last ERO review is sustained and built on.

Teachers need to use a wider range of information to inform their overall teacher judgements (OTJs) about children's progress and achievement against the NS. At the time of this review, the school was primarily using standardised assessments to inform OTJs about children's achievement and progress in relation to the NS in reading and mathematics. Teachers use limited information from across the wider New Zealand curriculum to inform their OTJs in reading and writing. To significantly improve the reliability of OTJs in relation to the NS, the principal and teachers should:

  • evaluate the quality of the information used to make OTJs in relation to the Ministry of Education's guidelines
  • develop and implement school guidelines to support consistent judgements in relation to the NS
  • strengthen and extend moderation practices within and beyond the school.

The principal and teachers have begun to use a useful framework to support internal evaluation. This should be used more widely to strengthen curriculum evaluation and evaluation beyond learning areas.

5 Going forward

How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?

Leaders and teachers:

  • know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
  • respond effectively to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
  • regularly evaluate how well teaching is working for these children
  • act on what they know works well for each child
  • build teacher capability effectively to achieve equitable outcomes for all children
  • are well placed to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children.

High levels of children's engagement, significant staff and community collaboration and support contribute to a positive school culture and a learning environment that effectively support all children to learn. Improved assessment and evaluation practices will assure the board and staff how well children are learning and progressing.

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

6 Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review, the board of trustees 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

  • processes for appointing staff

  • stand down, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions

  • attendance

  • compliance with the provisions of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

ERO discussed with the board and principal the importance of current police vetting for all employees.

7 Recommendations

The principal and board should be assured about the reliability of teachers' judgements in relation to the NS in reading, writing and mathematics.

The principal and teachers should ensure that all children are being sufficiently challenged in the breadth and depth of the New Zealand Curriculum.

Internal evaluation practices and processes should be extended.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Te Waipounamu Southern

18 January 2017

About the school 

Location

Southland

Ministry of Education profile number

4036

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

25

Gender composition

Boys: 16

Girls: 9

Ethnic composition

Pākehā

25

Review team on site

November 2016

Date of this report

18 January 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

February 2013

June 2009

February 2006