Wakari School

Education institution number:
3859
School type:
Contributing
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
296
Telephone:
Address:

150 Helensburgh Road, Wakari, Dunedin

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Wakari School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 15 months of the Education Review Office and Wakari 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 

Wakari School is situated in the hill suburbs of Dunedin. It provides education for students in Years 1 – 6. The school has a vision for happy, confident learners - ngā akonga harikoa, ngā ākonga māia hoki. The school is currently undergoing significant property improvements. An Acting Principal has been appointed until a permanent Principal appointment is made in 2023.

Wakari School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

  • provide classroom learning programmes that reflect a commitment to high-quality teaching and learning

  • perform to the highest professional standards - critically reflecting, adapting and implementing change

  • provide the staff and pupils of Wakari School with the best facilities and resources to enable a full and rich curriculum delivery.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of the Mathematics curriculum across all levels of the school.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • school leaders have identified a need to improve teachers’ collective pedagogical knowledge of mathematics teaching and improve the consistency of teacher practice across the school

  • the school has recently implemented the PRIME Maths programme and wishes to evaluate its impact on learning outcomes for all students.

The school expects to see consistent and effective Mathematics teaching practices embedded across the school and that the positive trends, recently identified in the school’s achievement data for Mathematics, are sustained and extended.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the effectiveness of the Mathematics curriculum across all levels of the school:

  • a strategic, collaborative approach to improving outcomes for learners

  • a stable and experienced staff, who are adaptive and responsive to the needs of their students

  • the pedagogical expertise to lead curriculum change from within the school.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • continued professional learning for teachers to further compliment the existing Mathematics programmes

  • the refinement of the school-wide basic facts programme, with a renewed focus on division, in line with the recent achievement gap analysis

  • continuing to extend and challenge learners to exceed expectations in Mathematics.

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

22 March 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

Wakari School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of October 2022, the Wakari 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 Wakari 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
Acting Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

22 March 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

Wakari School

Provision for International Students Report

Background

The Education Review Office reviews schools that are signatories to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Findings

The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code.

No international students were enrolled at the time of the ERO review.

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

22 March 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

Wakari School - 13/07/2017

Summary

The school has a roll of 329 children. Children come from a wide range of ethnicities. There has been steady roll growth over the past three years. This has included a growing number of children who are learning English as a second language.

The school has made good progress on the areas that were identified for development in the 2014 ERO review.

The proportion of children achieving at or above the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics has remained very stable over the last three years.

How well is the school achieving equitable outcomes for all children?

The school responds well to children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. These children receive appropriate additional support and have equitable opportunity to learn alongside their peers.

This school has many processes that effectively enable the achievement of equitable and excellent outcomes for children. A strength is the highly respectful and inclusive school culture that provides a positive learning environment for children, families/whānau and staff.

School leaders and teachers are in the process of embedding a number of key processes for improving equity and excellence. These include the way they identify and monitor the progress of those learners needing additional support, and how they evaluate the effectiveness of planned actions to raise achievement.

At the time of this review most children achieve well in relation to the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics.

The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all children. However, disparity in achievement for some children remains.

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

Equity and excellence

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

The school responds well to children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. School information shows that the progress of a number of these children is accelerated over time. School leaders know they need to develop more effective approaches to lift the achievement of boys in writing.

School information shows most children have achieved well in relation to the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics over the last three years.

Overall, Māori and Pacific children achieve equitable outcomes.

Boys and girls achieve equitably in reading and mathematics. The school has yet to achieve equitable outcomes for boys in writing.

Children with additional needs, including English language learners, are very well supported to progress towards their individual learning goals.

The school has appropriate processes in place to ensure the reliability of teachers’ judgements about children’s achievement. The school and ERO agree these could be strengthened through external moderation with other schools.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

This school has many processes that are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence.

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

The curriculum is increasingly responsive to children’s interests and strengths and is effectively supporting their engagement in learning. Children and adults actively demonstrate the school values of courtesy, consideration and co-operation. These respectful relationships are the basis of a positive learning environment. Children’s transitions into, through and from school are very well supported.

Inclusive practices have been strengthened and ensure that children needing learning support have equitable opportunity to access learning alongside their peers. Teachers and teacher aides collaboratively develop targeted plans to respond to children’s learning needs.

School leaders have put in place effective organisational structures, processes and practices to strengthen and sustain focused professional learning and collaboration to improve teaching and learning. This includes a focus on building leadership capability and supporting teachers to share and develop good practice. Leaders and teachers make effective use of community and education sector networks to improve teaching and increase opportunities for student learning and success.

The involvement of families and whānau in their children’s learning is highly valued by trustees, leaders and teachers. This has led to increased levels of participation in school programmes and activities by families and whānau.

The school has taken a well-considered approach to the sustainable development of bicultural practices and partnerships and are working alongside whānau to achieve this. Children’s and families’ culture, identity and language are valued.

Good processes for internal evaluation are well used to inform improvements in many areas of school operation. These explicitly seek the perspectives of families and children.

The school is well governed by a capable and committed board.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

The school is in the process of embedding some key processes for better supporting the achievement of equity and excellence.

What further developments are needed in school processes to achieve equity and excellence?

Leaders and teachers needs to:

  • use the systems in place to better evaluate the impact of planned actions and interventions on the progress and achievement of students who need to make accelerated progress.

Strengthening children’s achievement targets and the evaluation of the impact of teaching will enable trustees, leaders and teachers to know what is working and for whom, and provide a basis for ongoing improvement.

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

  • 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. 

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code.

No international students were enrolled at the time of the ERO review.

Going forward

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

The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all children. However, disparity in achievement for some children remains.

Leaders and teachers:

  • know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated

  • need to develop and implement approaches that effectively meet the needs of each child.

The school agrees to:

  • develop more targeted planning to accelerate learning for children

  • monitor targeted planning, improved teaching, and children’s progress

  • discuss the school’s progress with ERO.

ERO will provide feedback and resources to support the development of more targeted planning. 

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

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)

13 July 2017

About the school 

Location

Dunedin

Ministry of Education profile number

3859

School type

Contributing

School roll

329

Gender composition

Girls 51%

Boys 49%

Ethnic composition

Māori 17%

Pākehā 62%

Pacific 3%

Middle Eastern 3%

Asian 2%

Other 13%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

May 2017

Date of this report

13 July 2017

Most recent ERO reports

Education Review March 2014

Education Review November 2010

Education Review May 2007

 

Wakari School - 17/03/2014

1 Context

What are the important features of this school that have an impact on student learning?

For over 150 years, Wakari School has provided education for Year 1 to 6 students in the Wakari suburb of Dunedin. The school is a valued part of the community and some children are the third generation to attend.

Parents and the wider community support the school in many ways and often attend school events. The Home and School group raise significant funds for resources and organise social occasions, including a welcome for new families. Parents are often in the school and are encouraged to be involved in their children’s learning.

There is an increasing number of students from different cultural backgrounds, including students who speak English as a second language. These students are very well supported in their learning and quickly become valued members of the school community.

The school values of consideration, cooperation, common sense, courtesy, respect and honesty are strongly evident in the way adults in the school and students relate to each other. Students spoken to by ERO described their school as ‘safe’, and as a place ‘where you are looked after’ and ‘where we can trust people’.

The school is welcoming and inclusive. It is an especially supportive and caring place for students who have special needs.

Students learn in settled, well-organised and well-resourced classrooms where the focus is on learning. The school’s present priorities are that teachers and students confidently use Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) as a teaching and learning tool and that students' have wide and interesting learning experiences. These priorities are very evident in students’ day-to-day learning.

At the beginning of 2013, a new principal was appointed. Teachers and support staff emphasised how much they appreciate the positive and collaborative ways different groups in the school work for the benefit of the students. Staff feel well supported by their principal and the board of trustees.

The school has made good progress in addressing the recommendations from ERO’s 2010 report.

2 Learning

How well does this school use achievement information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement?

The school uses achievement information very well to support student learning.

Areas of Strength

Students have useful learning goals that are shared with parents, revisited and changed over time. They have meaningful opportunities to assess their own and their peers’ work.

The teachers know their students very well. They use a wide range of assessment information to make well-informed judgements about students’ progress and achievement and to plan their next teaching steps. Teachers and syndicate leaders quickly identify students who need extra help with their learning. They share relevant learning information, and teaching ideas, with teacher aides who also work with these students.

Senior leaders regularly share with the board, information about how well students are achieving from across the curriculum. From this information, the school has set appropriate targets to lift achievement for specific groups of students. Trustees feel well informed and prioritise significant funds for students who need extra support with their learning.

Overall, students achieve well against the National Standards. In 2012, 81%, 78% and 74% of students achieved at or above the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics respectively.

Through face-to-face meetings, samples of children’s work, and written reports, parents receive very good information about their children’s progress and achievement.

Areas for review and development

The teachers and senior leaders have identified that with their new student-management computer system, they could better analyse student achievement information and students’ progress over time.

To further improve existing good practices, senior leaders need to report more specifically on:

  • progress towards meeting achievement targets
  • the impact of learning-support programmes.

3 Curriculum

How effectively does this school’s curriculum promote and support student learning?

Students enjoy and appreciate the interesting and broad curriculum. Most students show a high level of interest in their learning.

Areas of Strength

Students benefit from a well-planned, rich and varied curriculum that challenges and engages them. Topics have included interesting studies such as; ‘How things work - technology’, ‘Coping in War’, and authentic experiences such as designing and laying a pathway. Students have good opportunities to develop skills in visual and performing arts. This includes Māori and Pacific dance and song. Teachers thoughtfully integrate other curriculum areas into these studies.

Other strengths in the school’s curriculum include:

  • the frequent use of ICT by students and teachers to enrich their learning
  • the recent development of an ICT resource that enables students and teachers access to a variety of learning programmes, and to share and reflect on students’ learning and involve parents
  • well-planned support for new-entrant students to help them in their transition to school
  • teachers regularly reviewing different curriculum areas and units of study to see what went well and what they could do better
  • high expectations for behaviour and learning.

The school has a range of high-quality learning support programmes, including support for students who are learning English. Experienced and competent teacher aides work with teacher guidance to provide specific help for individuals and small groups of students. The learning-support programme is very well managed.

Teachers have benefited from recent professional learning to build their confidence and understanding in how to better value Māori culture. ERO noted that many of the school’s special qualities, like its culture of care (manakitanga) and valuing of family (whānau), strongly reflect core Māori values.

The staff includes a balance of new and experienced teachers who share their strengths, ideas and resources with each other. Students benefit from good to high-quality teaching.

Areas for review and development

School leaders have identified that their key priorities are to continue to:

  • implement the new school-wide ICT learning resource
  • develop teachers' understanding of culturally responsive teaching and learning.

Other next steps are to:

  • ensure that curriculum reviews clearly evaluate how well programmes are achieving planned outcomes
  • review how usefully student achievement and progress are reported to the board
  • review the guidelines and better document the many ways that the school provides for students with special abilities.

How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?

Thirteen percent of students at Wakari School identify as Māori. Overall these students achieve well. Those who need extra support with their learning are catered for.

The school has used a variety of ways to gather the views of whānau and parents of Māori students about how the school can better support their children. Since the last ERO review, there has been significant development in the way that the Māori dimension is valued in the school.

Area for Review and Development

The next step is for the school to regularly review how well the school’s curriculum, environment and practices reflect the Treaty of Waitangi principle outlined in its curriculum plan.

4 Sustainable Performance

How well placed is the school to sustain and improve its performance?

The school is well placed to continue to sustain and improve its performance.

The new principal has quickly established good working relationships with the staff. He makes good use of teachers’ strengths and interests and has been well supported by the board of trustees.

Senior leaders have found constructive ways within the school to help teachers further improve their practice. Initiatives include: teachers who have expertise in a particular area modelling new ideas and effective practices, professional discussion groups and very specific development goals for each teacher. The focus of these initiatives is to help teachers to better support students’ learning.

Trustees get regular information about curriculum initiatives and student achievement. They have specific roles and responsibilities. There is a good balance of new and experienced board members. New trustees have had relevant professional learning and support.

The school has an effective appraisal system and teachers feel well supported in their work.

Areas for review and development

The board and ERO agree that the next steps are to:

  • review the annual and strategic plans so that they better reflect the school’s current priorities
  • regularly monitor and document progress in implementing the annual plan.

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students (the Code) established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. At the time of this review there were two international students attending the school.

The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code. ERO’s investigations confirmed that the school’s self-review process for international students is thorough.

International students benefit from high-quality pastoral care. Their education and integration into the school and its community are closely monitored and supported. The school keeps parents of international students well informed about how well their children are supported and about their achievement and progress.

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:

  • board administration
  • curriculum
  • management of health, safety and welfare
  • personnel management
  • financial management
  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
  • physical safety of students
  • teacher registration
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
  • attendance.

When is ERO likely to review the school again?

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

Graham Randell National Manager Review Services Southern Region

17 March 2014

About the School

Location

Wakari, Dunedin

Ministry of Education profile number

3859

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

289

Number of international students

2

Gender composition

Boys: 53% Girls: 47%

Ethnic composition

NZ European/Pākehā

Māori

Asian

Pacific

Other

79%

13%

3.5%

2%

2.5%

Special Features

Base for Supplementary Learning and Support teachers

Review team on site

November 2013

Date of this report

17 March 2014

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

November 2010

May 2007

April 2004