Matangi School

Matangi School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Matangi 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 

Matangi School is a semi-rural school located on the southern outskirts of Hamilton. It provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. A new principal was appointed in Term 1 2022

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

  • raise student achievement in writing especially for boys and Māori students

  • raise cultural competency across all school practices

  • strengthen home-school partnerships, especially in areas of reporting student progress and achievement that reflects best practice.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well school conditions are sustaining equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners and supporting Māori students to achieve success as Māori.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

  • maintain a focus on equitable outcomes for all learners through culturally response and inclusive practices

  • develop collective capacity to implement a curriculum that reflects te reo, tikanga, matauranga and te ao Māori.

The school expects to see deliberate actions implemented to enable students to have effective and equitable opportunities to learn and succeed as self-empowered learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to strengthen equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners:

  • a well-established plan that clarifies actions for improvement, builds collective capacity and contributes to effective evaluation of the school curriculum and teaching

  • community partnerships that support ongoing growth and development within the school

  • ongoing professional development that supports the pursuit of the school’s vision, values, goals and targets for equity and excellence.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • continuing to develop collective capacity to implement a curriculum that reflects te reo, tikanga, matauranga and te ao Māori and to enable Māori students to achieve success as Māori

  • further developing tools for internal evaluation and reporting on student progress and achievement

  • building on existing partnerships to promote educationally powerful connections with parents and whānau that support improved outcomes for learners.

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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

8 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

Matangi School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of September 2021, the Matangi School Board of Trustees has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

No

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Actions for Compliance

ERO has identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

  • Police vetting for non-teaching positions and renewal process.

The board has since taken steps to address this area of non-compliance identified.

Further Information

For further information please contact Matangi School Board of Trustees.

The next Board of Trustees 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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

8 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

Matangi School - 17/05/2016

1 Context

Matangi School, located on the outskirts of Hamilton, caters for children in Years 1 to 6. There are currently 138 children enrolled, including 19 who are Māori.

The school is the focal point of the Matangi community and is well supported by parents and the wider community. School leadership and community work collaboratively to create a positive environment that is inclusive, values diversity, and promotes and sustains children's wellbeing. Roll growth has resulted in the appointment of additional staff, including the deputy principal. An enrolment scheme has now been established to manage the size of the school roll.

2 Equity and excellence

The school's vision and valued outcomes provide opportunity for all children to achieve their personal best in all aspects of learning. Core values of the school are respect, responsibility, resilience, reflection and relationships. The school mascot, 'Tui Riffic', reflects the community aspirations for children to be connected to others in the world, to be confident and creative, risk takers and future-focused learners. These aspirations contribute to a positive culture for learning.

The school’s achievement information shows that, in 2015, approximately 9 children were achieving below National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. A very small number of Māori children are included in this data. There were higher proportions of boys underachieving in reading and writing than girls. This proportion of children has decreased over the past three years.

Since the previous ERO evaluation the school has:

  • further developed the school curriculum to include the unique context of Matangi School
  • focused on strengthening teaching capability and practice to raise achievement
  • strengthened children's abilities as independent learners
  • further developed teachers' understanding of promoting successful outcomes for Māori.

Senior leaders and staff are building relational trust and effective participation and collaboration in school operations with all areas of the school's community.

3 Accelerating achievement

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

Matangi School has responded effectively to the needs of children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Teachers use an effective range of assessment tools to make valid and reliable judgements about the progress and achievement of children in relation to National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. This data is collated school wide and analysed to identify children at risk of not achieving equitable outcomes and for those children requiring extension. Leaders and teachers closely monitor the progress and achievement of these children.

School conditions that contribute to accelerating all children's achievement and progress include:

  • appropriate board of trustees funding for teacher professional development, teacher aide assistance and resources
  • positive learning strategies such as 'growth mindset' and the 'Tui Riffic' learning incentive programme
  • differentiated and cooperative teaching and learning to cater for individual strengths, needs and interests of children
  • regular conferencing with children and guided teaching
  • setting and understanding personal goals and next learning steps by children
  • positive and respectful relationships between teachers and parents, including sharing of useful strategies to support learning at home
  • the use of outside agencies and specialist support as appropriate.

The school reports that almost all of the children who were targeted to accelerate their progress in literacy during 2015 were achieving at or above National Standards by the end of the year. All target children, including Māori, made progress. The majority made expected progress and a few children made accelerated progress. All children have effective, sufficient and equitable opportunities to learn.

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 curriculum and other organisational processes and practices effectively develop and enact the school's vision, values, goals and priorities for equity and excellence. The board of trustees provides a strong sense of direction for the school. The school's curriculum is inclusive and responsive to children's needs, context and environment. Trustees are well informed about student achievement and scrutinise this information to guide their decision making about school resourcing.

Leaders are knowledgeable about best practice in education and use their strengths to promote effective learning and teaching for children who are achieving below National Standards. The principal, who is well supported by the deputy principal, has worked effectively with the staff and community to bring about significant change in school systems and performance. A positive learning culture and improved learning opportunities for all children has developed.

High quality teaching practices are evident across the school. Teachers use effective strategies to engage children achieving below National Standards in learning, and maintain valuable partnerships with their parents. Leaders and teachers are reflective practitioners, and use achievement information, self review and professional discussions to continually improve teaching and learning in order to accelerate children's progress.

The school has identified, and has responded well to building teachers' confidence and capability in te reo and tikanga Māori. Bicultural responsiveness is being strengthened across the school. As a result, teacher capability and confidence continues to develop.

5 Going forward

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

The school is well placed to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children. Leaders and teachers:

  • know the children who need their learning and achievement to be accelerated
  • respond effectively to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
  • regularly evaluate how well teaching is working for all 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.

Matangi School effectively provides a broad and relevant curriculum that strongly motivates and empowers children to learn and achieve well. Leaders, trustees and teachers are committed to providing a learning community that promotes the school values, maintains high expectations for learning and accelerates the achievement of targeted children.

The board should review the strategic plan to better reflect ongoing school changes and long-term goals that define the school's priorities in achieving and sustaining equitable and excellent outcomes for all children.

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.  

Lynda Pura-Watson

Deputy Chief Review Officer

17 May 2016 

About the school

Location

Hamilton

Ministry of Education profile number

1814

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

138

Gender composition

Boys 54% Girls 46%

Ethnic composition

Pākehā

Māori

Other

77%

14%

9%

Review team on site

March 2016

Date of this report

17 May 2016

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

February 2013

November 2011

April 2010