School Context
Don Buck School caters for students in Years 1 to 8. The culturally diverse school roll has continued to grow since ERO’s 2013 review. The roll includes 32 percent Maori learners, 23 percent of Pacific heritage and seven percent Indian. There is an increase in the numbers of learners from the Middle East and South East Asia who make up 10 percent of the school roll.
Don Buck School is the RTLB (Resource Teachers for Learning and Behaviour) lead school for 53 local schools and 31 RTLB staff. There is one social worker attached to the school.
The school’s strategic focus is the implementation of play-based learning, the wellbeing of the school community, and community involvement and participation. The charter targets improvement in reading, writing and mathematics achievement. Leaders and teachers are currently updating parents/whānau understanding of progress and achievement across the curriculum.
Consultation with the school community has guided the mission/vision statement ‘with a sense of optimism, in partnership with our community, we will provide a nurturing and stimulating learning environment, based on individual needs, which promotes personal success for all children.’ The vision is underpinned by values of manaakitanga (care), hiranga (excellence), matauranga (knowledge), whakaute (respect), whaiwhitanga (participation), kawenga (responsibility), whanaungatanga (community) and rerenga ketanga (diversity).
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
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achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
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achievement in relation to school targets
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initiatives and programmes that improve valued outcomes for learners.
The principal’s reports to the board also reflect the school’s use of curriculum expectations, key competencies and the significance of student wellbeing outcomes.
Since the 2013 ERO review, there has been continuity of leadership. The board of trustees includes an experienced, long serving board chair and newly appointed and experienced members. Staff have participated in professional learning in literacy to increase their capability to make positive changes for learners. 2018 professional learning includes a focus on play-based 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?
School data over the last three years show that the school has sustained and improved the levels of student achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. The majority of children achieve at national expectations across the three learning areas.
Pacific girls have made significant gains in their achievement in writing and mathematics. The school is successfully working toward parity for Māori students in mathematics. Data show increased levels of mathematics achievement for these students.
School literacy data show some disparity between the achievement of boys and girls, with girls achieving at higher levels although this gap is closing. This disparity reflects a recent trend due to a large increase of new learners in the school, particularly boys, needing specific support to begin their school learning journey. Senior leaders target, deliberately plan for, and monitor the outcomes for these learners using the concept of hauora/wellbeing.
Learners achieve very well in relation to the school’s broader valued outcomes. Most students:
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have strong relationships of care and respect for each other
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display skills to self-manage and reflect on their growth as learners
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collaborate with, learn from and support the learning of their peers
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are inclusive and accepting of difference
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exhibit high levels of citizenship and pride in themselves and the school.
1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?
The school is highly effective in its response to those students whose learning and achievement needs acceleration. Senior leaders place a high priority on responding to the learning and wellbeing needs of these children. They promote high expectations and personalised learning practices. Their commitment is underpinned by increased teacher accountability for the progress of these children.
Charter targets are appropriately focused on those students not achieving at expectation in reading, writing and mathematics. Teachers, leaders and whānau work together to develop strategies for these children. Teachers reflect on the effectiveness of these strategies and class programmes in supporting student success. Children’s progress is well monitored, and responded to at syndicate and school-wide levels.
A very effective intervention to accelerate reading has accelerated the progress of a group of Year 4 to 6 learners. This intervention has also increased children’s self-confidence as learners, and extended ways of engaging parents in learning partnerships. As a result, teachers are improving the way they arrange for learning to happen in reading for all students across the school.
In 2015, teachers implemented an effective intervention for Year 2 students to accelerate their writing skills. Significant shifts were achieved predominately by Māori and Pacific students.
Teachers continue to work on improving parity for boys in literacy. They prioritise the use of oral language skills by deliberately extending children’s voice and agency in their practices across the curriculum.
Teachers and leaders have established learning progressions that allow students to know what they are learning, and increasingly take responsibility for their learning progress.
Children show positive shifts in their wellbeing, confidence and engagement in learning. These accelerated shifts help them become more independent and improve and sustain their learning over time. The school has a holistic focus on wellbeing, and learning competencies and skills development. This is highly significant in ensuring learners’ readiness and engagement in their learning.
Through the Māori concept of hauora, the school has a wraparound approach focused on the wellbeing of all tamariki/children. This is inclusive of children’s health, social, behaviour and learning needs, inclusive of whānau/family. This approach is key to how this school is achieving equity and excellence.
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’s processes and actions are very effective in supporting learners to achieve excellence and equity. This is mostly attributable to highly capable school leadership, strong engagement with the community, a responsive curriculum with a holistic wellbeing focus, and meaningful use of evaluation.
School leaders give professional guidance to maintain an inclusive learning environment that values diversity. They model optimism and authentic relationships that set learners up for success, participation, wellbeing and citizenship. Through their strongly collaborative approach, leaders promote a collective responsibility for students’ equitable and excellent outcomes.
Leaders and teachers foster children’s confidence and skills to be active members in the school community. Special programmes promote leadership, self-efficacy and independence through a focus on social skills and relationships. Strong learning partnerships between learners, teachers, teacher aides and whānau support high levels of student engagement in learning. Trusting and respectful relationships form the basis of a team approach for each individual child within an inclusive environment.
The school’s curriculum promotes students’ development of learning dispositions and skills for self-directed learning. Literacy, numeracy and the key competencies are prioritised across the curriculum. Children have opportunities to make links in their learning and connections to real world contexts though the school’s integrated inquiry model and a strong focus on the arts. Student leaders in the middle and senior school promote and sustain the school’s culture through tuakana teina opportunities.
Māori perspectives are reflected in class programmes, the environment and everyday school life. This provides opportunities for Māori children to have a sense of identity in the school, and for all children to learn about New Zealand’s bicultural heritage.
The board, leaders and teachers maintain strong connections with parents, whānau and the community. These relationships enhance students’ learning opportunities, achievement and wellbeing. Parents and whānau are valued partners in children’s learning, and their opinions are regularly sought. The whānau learning centre is a designated place for parents/whānau to connect with each other and gain a sense of community.
A professional culture is actively nurtured by school leaders. Professional learning is linked to the school’s strategic direction. These opportunities are increasing teachers’ knowledge and skills, and the school’s curriculum. Professional learning is based on educational research, and adapted to what will be most effective in improving outcomes for learners at Don Buck School.
Internal evaluation includes layers of in-depth reflection that contribute to changes in thinking and actions for ongoing improvement. Evaluative practice has an explicit focus on student wellbeing, readiness for learning and the reduction of achievement disparity. As a result school processes are modified, changed or introduced to overcome barriers to achieving equity and excellence for all learners.
The school has an explicit aim for Māori learners to be confident in their language, culture and identity, and it has high expectations for all learners. Collective responsibility for achieving success for each learner is highly evident through whanaugatanga, manaakitanga, and the many tuakana teina learning opportunities in the curriculum.
2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?
Agreed next steps are to:
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continue to extend the school-wide pedagogy to promote student agency and develop self-directed, creative and collaborative learners
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strengthen the board’s focus on more rigorous evaluation of its stewardship processes and systems to bring about parity for all learners.
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:
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:
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emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
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physical safety of students
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teacher registration and certification
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processes for appointing staff
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stand down, suspension, expulsion and exclusion of students
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attendance
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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:
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a culture of respect and care that responds to students’ individual needs, promotes their wellbeing and supports their learning success
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a responsive curriculum that offers breadth and depth of learning opportunities
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educationally powerful connections and relationships with parents, whānau and community that positively impact on children’s achievement and wellbeing
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internal evaluation processes that contribute to changes in thinking and action for ongoing improvement.
Next steps
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:
ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing
ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in four-to-five years.
Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
7 June 2018
About the school
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Location
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Massey, Auckland
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Ministry of Education profile number
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1262
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School type
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Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)
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School roll
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282
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Gender composition
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Girls 53% Boys 47%
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Ethnic composition
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Māori
Pākehā
Samoan
Indian
Tongan
Middle Eastern
Niuean
Filipino
other Pacific peoples
other South East Asian
other European
other
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32%
11%
20%
7%
4%
3%
2%
2%
7%
7%
2%
3%
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Provision of Māori medium education
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No
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Review team on site
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April 2018
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Date of this report
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7 June 2018
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review
Education Review
Education Review
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June 2013
December 2009
June 2006
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