Campbells Bay School

1 Context

Campbells Bay School, located on the East Coast Bays area of Auckland, is a large school catering for children in Years 1 to 6. Campbells Bay School is a member of the recently established Mid Bays Schools' Community of Learners (CoL).

The school serves its ethnically diverse community very well and represents a culture of strong relationships, respect and inclusion. The evolving nature of the community is underpinned by a sense of continuity, history and belonging. The school's roll is 64 percent Pākehā and 4 percent Māori. Chinese students are a significant ethnic group in the school, 16% of the roll, and the remainder of students identify with a range of other ethnicities.

Since the 2010 ERO review, the school has a new board of trustees who provide a foundation for professional leadership and to support the enactment of the strategic plan. Two new appointments have been made to the leadership team. High quality leadership of the principal and senior leaders, the board of trustees, and other leaders promotes effective internal evaluation and ongoing school improvement.

The school has a positive reporting history with ERO. The 2010 ERO report noted strengths in school governance and leadership that support very good levels of student achievement. These practices have been sustained and further developed. Major developments include teaching as inquiry to improve teaching practices and student achievement, and bi-cultural responsiveness.

School leaders are active contributors within the education sector. They are well informed about developments in education, and network usefully through their professional associations and local school community clusters. Resourcing decisions are made thoughtfully considering children's needs, best practice research and community aspirations.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are to provide a learning environment focused on "growing learners for life". Children are encouraged to be effective communicators, thinkers, self-managers and citizens who strive for excellence. The school's motto, Ko te ratonga te tautahi, ko koe te taurua - Not self, but service, is transparent and clearly embedded and understood by children. Having compassion for others, respecting diversity in the individual, maintaining a diverse range of social relationships and acting as role models are the school's values.

Collectively, Campbells Bay School's mission, vision and values form strong foundations for successful learning. Positive relationships with students, teachers, families and whānau are regarded by the school as essential to meaningful learning, underpinning equity and excellence.

Students experience a positive, caring learning environment that develops the whole child, physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially and culturally. Teachers focus on promoting a school culture where students experience success, challenge and the enjoyment of learning.

School leaders actively promote a moral imperative and sense of urgency to do things differently to raise achievement for children at risk of underachieving.

The school’s achievement information shows that over three quarters of children achieve at or above National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Māori achievement is reflective of that for all children. A wide range of professional development for teachers, together with targeted in-class and out of class support have accelerated progress for those children working below National Standards.

Student achievement data is tracked and carefully monitored from school entry. Identified groups of children, including English language learners (ELLs) and those with special abilities are tracked through the English Language learning Progressions (ELLPs) and/or Individual Education Plans (IEPs). These children are progressing and achieving successful outcomes.

Since the last ERO evaluation, the school has: 

• widened the scope of what constitutes success as a learner to include deliberate development of learning dispositions
• developed learning leader roles for teachers to closely monitor and promote student progress and achievement
• shared the ownership of achievement data with teachers and children to promote student agency
• strengthened partnerships between parents/whānau and the school to improve student outcomes. 

3 Accelerating achievement

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

The school is highly effective in responding to children whose learning and achievement needs acceleration. Raising the achievement of Māori and Pacific children and those with special educational capabilities and needs is one of the school's key priorities.

From the time children arrive at the school teachers are focused on maximising their opportunities to be successful in their learning. Leaders and teachers use an extensive range of targeted approaches to identify children not achieving, and children requiring enrichment and extension. Education plans are developed for children with families and whānau, to identify and prioritise pathways that help identify children's individual strengths and prior knowledge, and to build their understanding of each child as an individual learner.

School leaders collate and analyse a wide range of data to critically evaluate the success of initiatives designed to accelerate students' learning progress with respect to National Standards and other indicators, such as curriculum levels, learning confidence and dispositions. Identifying how well programmes suit each child's specific learning requirements allows for refinement and refocussing to maximise the opportunities for success. Maintaining longitudinal records of each child's learning progress while at the school and highlighting key acceleration points helps ensure that rates of progress are maintained or improved 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 priorities for equity and excellence?

The school conditions very effectively support the school's curriculum, processes and practices in developing and enacting the vision, values, goals and priorities for equity and excellence.

The school's charter contains goals, targets and actions focused on accelerating student achievement, particularly for Māori and Pacific children and those with special educational needs. These goals support the enactment of equity and excellence through key improvement strategies focused on teaching and learning, inclusion, and digital citizenship.

The school's coherent curriculum reflects the aspirations of the community, board of trustees and staff. It is based on the values and vision that the stakeholders wished the curriculum to be built on. It promotes student engagement and learning through an integrated approach and is highly responsive to children.

An updated version of the curriculum is in place for 2016. This reflects the changes in delivery and teacher practices, and reflects modern learning expectations.

Positive and affirming relationships underpin the high quality learning interactions evident between children and teachers. Teachers effectively encourage children's creative and critical thinking using inquiry-based learning approaches. The greater emphasis placed on the inclusion of student voice is an essential aspect to the school's approach to engaging and connecting learners to their learning and chosen pathways.

Children participate and learn in a caring, collaborative and inclusive school culture. They reflect responsibility and accountability through being self-directed and self-motivated. They make decisions through owning and knowing their learning levels and making choices about their programme. Children see this as preparing them for the years ahead and enabling them to be ready for life's challenges.

The school recognises the positive impact that bicultural school practices, curriculum content and the use of tikanga and te reo Māori has on Māori student language, culture and identity. A staff committee focused on things Māori is strengthening the significance of The Treaty of Waitangi and biculturalism within the school's culture and curriculum. This committee also coordinates collaborative relationships with whānau and the local Māori community through a range of responsive approaches.

A professional learning programme, Te Reo Tuatahi, is growing the capability of children and teachers in learning te reo and tikanga Māori. Children have opportunities to be involved in kapa haka and to expand their knowledge of the Māori world through their learning inquiries.

Māori whānau acknowledge the school's responsiveness to cultural identity and the ways their children are valued both as Māori and as individuals. Māori whānau and Pacific parents also recognise the importance teachers give to the cultural knowledge their children bring to the school's curriculum. The value placed on children's prior knowledge and the significance of their heritage reflects the very good achievement outcomes for Māori and Pacific children.

The school is highly inclusive in its practices. Leaders and teachers work hard to engage and support children and their families with responsive and individualised approaches. Extensive support through interventions and programmes help students access the curriculum. Children manage their learning challenges and make progress within learning focused environments. Children benefit from staff members' in depth professional knowledge about individual student learning capabilities. The board of trustees demonstrate a commitment to providing timely and adequate resourcing to benefit children and families.

Modern learning pedagogy promotes a community of learners' approach that enhances student agency and their learning across the curriculum. Children have greater choice and responsibility for what and how they learn. They do their own assessments, know their learning levels and choose their own learning programmes to meet their individual needs. Teachers use purposeful explicit teaching strategies to develop children's dispositions and curriculum knowledge. Children regularly reflect on their learning, progress and achievement and these processes capture the depth of their understanding and what they need to learn next.

The quality of teaching is high. Teachers and support staff work collaboratively to find new and innovative approaches to stimulate and challenge children. A continued focus on improvement through professional learning and collegial support is a strong feature. Self and peer critique is integral to teachers' professional practice. An effective and well coordinated performance management system supports teachers' professional practice and growth.

5 Going forward

How well placed is the school to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children?

Leaders and teachers: 

• know the children who need their 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. 

Campbells Bay School is very well placed to sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children. At all levels there is a culture of continuous improvement. A high degree of coherence between all processes and systems is evident, due to the effectiveness of thorough, purposeful internal and external evaluation.

Capable, strategic vision-driven governance and leadership provide strong foundations and future direction for the school. High quality strategic planning, drawing on multiple perspectives, and responsive processes and outcomes support the achievement of the school's vision.

School leaders and teachers focus on modern learning practices, student inquiry, Māori learning as Māori and communication with whānau and community. They continue to support the development of a curriculum that successfully enhances learner outcomes. The focus on building collective capability and capacity in evaluation and inquiry is helping to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children.

The board of trustees very effectively evaluate their performance in their stewardship role and scrutinise the work of the school in achieving valued student outcomes.

The senior leadership team and the board of trustees acknowledge that their internal evaluation and ERO's external evaluation has prompted the emergence of their ongoing development areas. These include: 

• sharing the outcomes of inquiries to inform best practice, particularly in accelerating student achievement
• monitoring the progress and achievement of Māori children after they leave the school
• strengthening collaborative opportunities with the Community of Learning cluster to enhance student outcomes
• continuing to listen to and respond to student voice. 

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in four-to-five 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.
• Provision for international students.

7 Recommendation

ERO recommends that the school continues to use internal evaluation to achieve excellence and equity in outcomes for all children.

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

21 April 2016

About the School