Wharenui School

Education institution number:

3591

School type:

Full Primary

School gender:

Co-Educational

Definition:

Not Applicable

Total roll:

428

Website:

http://www.wharenui.school.nz

Telephone:

03 348 5263

Address:

Matipo Street, Riccarton, Christchurch

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Wharenui School - 16/01/2020

16 Jan 2020

School Context

Wharenui School is situated in Riccarton, Christchurch, and provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. At the time of this review, the school’s roll was 329 students.

The school’s vision for learners is ‘Knowing your yesterdays, embracing our todays, learning for tomorrow, being the best me I can be/Kia eke panuku ahau’. The following school values support this vision:

Respect/Whakaute
Caring/Manaaki
Doing your Best/Pukumahi
Being Fair/Matatika
Responsibility/Kawenga

The school’s current strategic priorities are to develop a rich curriculum that inspires a passion for lifelong learning, improves learning outcomes for all and builds collaborative teaching practice.

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

achievement and progress in reading, writing and mathematics
wellbeing, identity, culture and language
progress and achievement in relation to school targets
outcomes for students with additional learning needs.

Recent professional learning and development has been undertaken across the school in the areas of literacy, behaviour management and appraisal.

The school is situated within an ethnically diverse community. There has been significant recent roll growth since the 2016 ERO review, including an increasing number of English language learners. New teachers have been appointed as a result of this roll growth. An associated refurbishment and building programme is underway.

Wharenui school shares its site with a hub of the Van Asch Deaf Education Centre.

The school is part of the Pūtaringamotu Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning.

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 effectively achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for the large majority of its students.

Student achievement data for 2017-2018 shows that the large majority of students achieved at or above curriculum expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. The school is focused on continuing to raise the achievement of all students.

Māori and Pacific students achieve as well as or better than others in reading, writing and mathematics.

English language learners show similar rates of achievement to others in reading, writing and mathematics.

There is ongoing disparity for boys in reading and writing, and to a lesser degree in mathematics.

A recent survey shows that students believe their languages, cultures and identities are acknowledged and valued at the school.

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

School achievement information for 2018 shows that, overall, learning is being effectively accelerated for those Māori and other students who need this.

Achievement data on the progress of priority students in 2018 shows that:

the majority of students targeted to make improvements in literacy and mathematics made progress toward curriculum expectations, with many making accelerated progress
rates of progress, including accelerated progress, are similar for all ethnic groups and English language learners.

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?

The school provides an inclusive and caring learning community that values children’s language, cultures and identities. Students demonstrate a noticeable sense of belonging and pride in their school. There is a strong focus on continuing to build learning partnerships with parents and whānau through effective communication.

Leaders have a clear focus on improving wellbeing and learning outcomes for students. Collaboratively-developed organisational systems help support staff to provide differentiated approaches to meet the needs of individual students. Systems for identifying, monitoring and supporting the progress of at-risk students are well developed. Warm relationships, a high degree of relational trust and distributed leadership opportunities promote a shared responsibility for improving student outcomes.

The school proactively draws on community resources and makes good use of external expertise to support students, whānau and stakeholders. Educational experts in the wider community are used effectively to support students with additional needs. They are given good support to engage in a meaningful curriculum alongside their peers. Wellbeing and support groups work alongside the school to help meet the needs of various groups within the local community.

Students experience a wide range of opportunities through the local curriculum, with a particular emphasis on learning the skills, dispositions and competencies expressed within the New Zealand Curriculum. Teachers and learning assistants are creative in modifying curriculum programmes to engage learners and meet individual needs. Respectful, caring and inclusive relationships and calm, purposeful classroom environments support learning.

PLD opportunities and a reflective culture within the school support culturally responsive practices. Evidence-based inquiry, useful induction programmes and appraisal systems help to develop teachers’ capabilities.

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

School leaders need to continue to strengthen evaluation, inquiry and knowledge-building processes. More purposeful and coherent processes in these areas are likely to better promote improvement at classroom and school-wide levels. This will also help to more clearly identify and measure the impact of interventions and innovations on meeting school priorities.

It is timely for trustees and leaders to strengthen strategic planning to more effectively set priorities that are well understood and aligned at all levels of the school. This should help teachers and leaders to pursue specific goals and targets that are likely to have the most significant impact on improving student 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 Children’s Act 2014.

4 ERO’s Overall Judgement

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Wharenui School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Well placed.

ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance is available on ERO’s website.

5 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

strong partnerships with parents, whānau, community and external experts
a collaborative school culture that is focused on continuing to improve outcomes for learners
a welcoming, positive and inclusive environment that values students’ cultures, languages and identities.

Next steps

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

increasing understanding of how to use internal evaluation and inquiry to ensure innovation and initiatives are improving student outcomes
refining strategic planning to focus on goals and actions that will have the most impact on student learning and wellbeing
continuing to build the board’s evaluation capability to more effectively identify, and measure progress against, strategic planning goals and decision-making priorities.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini

Southern Region

16 January 2020

About the school

Location	Christchurch
Ministry of Education profile number	3591
School type	Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)
School roll	329
Gender composition	Boys 55% Girls 45%
Ethnic composition	Māori 22% Pacific 10% Pākehā 15% Filipino 30% Indian 9% Chinese 4% Other Ethnicities 10%
Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)	Yes
Provision of Māori medium education	No
Review team on site	September 2019
Date of this report	16 January 2020
Most recent ERO report(s)	Education Review November 2016 Education Review March 2013 Education Review October 2010

Wharenui School - 15/11/2016

15 Nov 2016

1 Context

Wharenui School has a very diverse learning community. Children and families come from many different cultural backgrounds. Many children have English as a second language. The school site is shared with students from the Van Asch Deaf Education Centre who are well included in school events.

The school has experienced some roll changes. Many new children arrive at the school during the year. The board is looking at the implications of roll growth in managing learning spaces and class sizes. The board has a mix of new and experienced trustees following the 2016 elections.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are focused on supporting children's learning around the key areas of responsibility, respect, fairness, caring and "being the best me I can be".

The school's achievement information shows that many children in this school need additional support for their learning to reach the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Māori children achieve at similar levels to their peers at school. Overall, children's achievement is highest in reading.

A particular focus on mathematics in recent years has raised achievement in this area. The school needs to focus on raising boys' achievement in reading and writing. The school has identified writing as a targeted area for curriculum development. Additional support in oral language and social skills is given to children when they first arrive at school so they are better prepared to learn. Most children are making good progress in aspects of their learning in their first years of schooling.

Teachers regularly moderate their judgements about children's achievement. They work collaboratively, use a range of tools to support the consistency of their judgements and work with teachers from other schools.

Since the 2013 ERO review, the school has continued to focus on developing its curriculum and teaching practices to accelerate learning and achievement. This includes:

undertaking an extensive review of the way mathematics is taught and the introduction of a maths specialist teacher role
reviewing and updating teachers' appraisal practices and ways teachers inquire into their practice.

3 Accelerating achievement

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

The school effectively identifies and responds to Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Teachers know students well. They recognise children's interests and strengths. Māori language, culture and identity are celebrated and valued. Leaders and teachers closely monitor children's progress and teachers collaborate through ongoing professional dialogue to promote best outcomes for students. They access and implement a wide range of well targeted initiatives and support, both within school and from external agencies. Teachers and leaders have improved the ways they involve parents and children in goal setting and learning partnerships.

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

Teachers use similar processes and practices to effectively respond to other groups of children whose learning requires acceleration. The school implements a well-planned programme to support the significant number of children for whom English is a second language.

Senior leaders agree that the next step is to develop a clearer school-wide system of using achievement data to track and report on progress and acceleration of individuals and groups over time.

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 curriculum and other organisational processes successfully support the school's values and goals.

The school provides a stable, secure whānau-like environment to support children in their learning. A strong emphasis is placed on respecting diversity. The inclusive culture is highly responsive to the children and their families, creating a strong sense of belonging. Children have many opportunities to see their language, culture, and identity valued and reflected across the curriculum. Positive relationships are a feature of the school community.

Leaders and teachers place a priority on supporting children's well-being in order to enhance their readiness for learning.

Children are increasingly taking responsibility for managing themselves and their learning.

Children experience a wide range of curriculum activities within the school and the community that extend, accelerate and enhance their learning. School leaders and teachers have developed strong links within the community to provide additional support for families. The school maintains ongoing relationships with some local early childhood services and secondary schools to support successful transitions for children.

The recent review of the mathematics curriculum, aligning with the school's vision, values and context, has provided a useful template for the ongoing review of other curriculum areas.

School leaders and teachers are undertaking regular targeted professional learning and development that is well-aligned to school goals. School leaders have actively promoted collaborative practices among teachers and developed a culture of more professional discussion and reflection to improve teaching and learning across the school.

The school leadership agrees that they need to establish better systems and practices to evaluate the impact of interventions and initiatives. This would benefit the board's strategic decision making.

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.

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

ERO, the board and school leaders agree that the next steps are to:

strategically plan to implement changes to the school's curriculum, teaching practices and environment in line with modern learning practices
continue to develop school-wide evaluation practices
strengthen the board's understanding of its stewardship role, including strategic planning and evaluation.

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
provision for international students.

Provision for International Students

The Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 (the Code) was introduced on 1 July 2016. The school is aware of the need to update its policies and procedures to meet the new code requirements by December 1st 2016.

The school is making good progress in aligning its policies and procedures to meet requirements for the 2016 Code. At the time of this review, there were no international students attending the school.

7 Recommendations

ERO recommends:

using robust internal evaluation to support ongoing curriculum development
continuing to focus on accelerating children's achievement
continuing to build the board's capacity to fulfil its stewardship role.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer

Te Waipounamu Southern

15 November 2016

About the school

Location	Christchurch
Ministry of Education profile number	3591
School type	Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)
School roll	217
Gender composition	Males 56%; Females 44%
Ethnic composition	Māori Filipino Pacific Pākehā Other Asian Indian Other ethnicities	20% 23% 19% 17% 12% 5% 4%
Review team on site	September 2016
Date of this report	15 November 2016
Most recent ERO report	Education Review Education Review Education Review	March 2013 October 2010 June 2007