Tirau Primary School

1 Context

Tirau Primary School is located in the rural township of Tirau. It caters for children in Years 1 to 6.  The school roll at the time of this ERO review was 118, including 36 children identified as Māori.

Since the 2013 ERO evaluation there has been changes to the staff, including the appointment of a new principal in Term 4, 2014. Teachers have engaged in a range of professional development, especially in the teaching of writing.

The school is well supported by the board of trustees and engages positively with the local community.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are that 'What is worth doing is worth doing well.' The school curriculum has recently been reviewed and now promotes the 'Tirau School LEARNerS' concepts. These concepts promote life-long learning, excellence, active involvement, respect, nurture and success.

Māori parents and whānau have recently contributed their own perspective - 'Tū te ihi, tū te wana, tū te wehi.  Kia maumahara ki tō Rangatiratanga hei whai koe ki te taumata teitei.  Ma te manaaki i te tangata e tū ai te mana wehi ai te tangata ki a koe. Be empowering through success, hold your beliefs and values to lead you to your highest achievement. Showing love and nurture to people is mana, which gains us respect.'

The school’s achievement information shows that in 2015, approximately one third of children were below or well below National Standards in reading and mathematics. In writing, slightly more were below or well below expected standards. The information shows that Māori children are not achieving as well as non-Māori, except in mathematics. This pattern has been consistent over at least the last three years.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has strengthened assessment and moderation practices. Leaders and teachers are now monitoring and tracking the progress of target children. They are developing and sharing innovative strategies to respond to children's needs.  Expectations for teachers have been clarified and strengthened, and learning progressions made more visible. Teachers have engaged in professional development to increase their knowledge, particularly in the teaching of writing.

3 Accelerating achievement

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

The school has recognised that it has not responded effectively to Māori children whose learning and achievement has not been accelerated and has recently taken a more targeted and focused approach.

The school has had problems identifying Māori children because, on enrolment, not all parents identify their children as Māori. With improved relationships with Māori parents, the principal is able to report that there is now clearer identification. All achievement data shared with parents, teachers and the board now differentiates between Māori and non-Māori so that their progress and achievement in comparison to others can be tracked and monitored more easily.

Reliable overall teacher judgements identify those children at risk of not achieving who are identified on enrolment as Māori by their parents and whānau.

In addition to the strategies reported above, the school is exploring ways to develop stronger relationships with Māori parents, whānau and the local Māori community. Also, teachers are beginning to increase their own knowledge of Māori preferred ways of teaching and learning, these new understandings are beginning to change classroom practice.

There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that some Māori children's progress is being accelerated. The school has only just begun to collect formal evidence of this. It is too early to tell whether the various strategies being used by the school are leading to accelerated achievement over time.

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

The school identifies children below and well below National Standards through robust assessment data, which includes a mix of both nationally normed and anecdotal information. Internal and external moderation ensure teacher judgements are reliable and robust. The school is embedding learning progressions and individual monitoring profiles, which track the progress of these children, help teachers to identify their next learning steps, and how to respond to these. Teachers are exploring ways to develop stronger partnerships for learning with parents and families through 'learning hui' where ideas like 'acceleration' and 'progressions' are explained. Goal setting meetings with parents clarify learning needs and child portfolios document individual children's progress and explain to parents how they can help at home.

There is strong, coordinated support for children with special needs and those at risk of underachieving. These strategies occur through a range of interventions, including specialist teachers for writing, the use of external agencies and expertise, and a range of targeted, school-wide professional learning and development.

There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that some children's progress is being accelerated. The school is in the process of developing more effective systems to record and track this accelerated progress. It is too early to tell whether the various strategies being used by the school are leading to accelerated achievement 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 board of trustees, led by a capable chairperson, is committed to the well being of all children within the school community. Trustees receive and scrutinise student achievement data provided by the principal and effectively allocate appropriate resources to support the learning needs of children at risk in their learning. School-wide targets in relation to National Standards clearly identify children at risk of not achieving. These targets are shared with the board, staff and parents. Trustees are supportive of the school's efforts to strengthen relationships with Māori parents, whānau and community.

School leaders are strongly focussed on developing effective systems and processes to identify and accelerate the progress of those children, including Māori, who are at risk of not achieving. In addition, they are fostering an inquiry approach to improving the consistency and quality of teacher practice so that they are able to respond better to children's needs.

Children experience warm, positive, welcoming classroom environments where their work is celebrated. Respectful relationships are fostered with their teachers and each other. Teachers know the social and economic backgrounds of their children and use this information to deepen their understanding of children's needs, interests and strengths. Children's ability to take responsibility for their own learning is being strengthened. They are able to talk about how well they are learning and their next steps. There are opportunities for children to follow their interests in their learning through an 'inquiry learning' approach, and opportunities to provide feedback to their teacher about the quality of the programme they experience.

Teachers have engaged in ongoing professional development to enhance their understandings of current theory and best practice in teaching and learning. They have strengthened their cultural competence using the Ministry of Education resources, Tātaiako and Ka Hikitia. A strong, collaborative professional culture amongst teachers ensures that their individual strengths are valued and utilised. A culture of 'teaching as inquiry' is being embedded and strengthened through professional discussion at staff meetings, the use of monitoring profiles, and action research projects.

The Tirau LEARNerS valued outcomes underpin children's participation in a wide range of learning experiences both inside and outside the classroom. A broad range of co-curricular and leadership opportunities allows all children the chance to experience success.

The principal, with the support of external advice and guidance, has undertaken a range of reviews of school systems and processes including teacher performance management, curriculum delivery and financial practices. All of these reviews have sharpened the focus on raising children's progress and achievement.

5 Going forward

Leaders and teachers:

• know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
• respond to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
• regularly evaluate how teaching is working for these children
• need to systematically act on what they know works for each child
• need to have a plan in place to build teacher capability to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it.

In order to strengthen the schools' ability to accelerate children's achievement the board, leaders and staff of the school must:

• strengthen a culture of continuous improvement where risk taking and change is seen as safe and positive
• strengthen relationships between members of the newly formed senior leadership team
• clarify and strengthen the consistency of anecdotal record keeping in order to ensure its validity and the consistency of its use in making overall teacher judgements of children's achievement
• clarify and embed the consistent use of learning progressions to support the robust identification of learning needs in relation to National Standards, and facilitate the collaboration between teachers, children, parents and whānau in accelerating achievement
• develop a systematic and sequential approach to the learning and teaching of te reo Māori and of the history of the local area and the local iwi
• ensure that the language, culture and identity of Māori children is visible in classroom environments.
• strengthen assessment of the other learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum such as Social Studies, Science, Health and Technology
• complete the programme of policy review with particular emphasis on those policies which potentially have a high impact on student wellbeing.

Action: The board, principal and teachers should use the findings of this evaluation, the Effective School Evaluation resource, the Internal Evaluation: Good Practice exemplars and the School Evaluation Indicators to develop a Raising Achievement Plan to further develop processes and practices that respond effectively to the strengths and needs of children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated.

As part of this review ERO will continue to monitor the school’s Raising Achievement plan and the progress the school makes. ERO is likely to carry out the next full review in three 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 

7 Recommendation

The school should continue to embed the systems and processes already introduced and strengthen the way it responds to the language, culture and identity of Māori children. 

Lynda Pura-Watson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Waikato/Bay of Plenty

10 August 2016 

About the school 

1 Context

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

Tirau Primary School is a small rural school catering for students in Years 1 to 6 located in the township of Tirau in the South Waikato. At the time of the ERO review there were 85 students, 31 of whom are Māori. This represents a decline in roll since the last review in 2010.

Since the last review there has been significant change in staffing and leadership of the school. There is a new principal and three of the five class teachers are new. Membership of the board of trustees has been largely stable. The board continues to be led by an experienced chairperson. There are two new parent representatives.

The school’s mission statement places emphasis on an intention to develop ‘confident, connected, life-long learners’. During the past two years, under the new leadership, there has been a period of review and consolidation, which has included refining the way in which the school uses achievement information. There is a focus on professional learning for teachers about the teaching of writing.

The school is well resourced. Buildings and grounds are attractively presented and well maintained. A recent development has been the conversion of the library area into a spacious multi-purpose area that is used for school and community events and meetings.

The school has a number of strategies in place to communicate and consult with parents including an active Parent Teacher Action Group (PTA). The principal and board recognise that engaging with some families, especially Māori, continues to be a challenge.

2 Learning

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

The board, principal and staff are making effective use of good quality achievement information to support students’ engagement, progress and achievement.

Achievement information drawn from a range of appropriate sources, including nationally recognised assessments, is well used by senior leaders and teachers to:

• inform planning by teachers to meet the needs of groups and individual students
• enable teachers to make overall judgements in relation to National Standards
• identify students requiring additional learning support
• determine teachers’ professional learning and development needs
• report to the board and community
• identify school-wide trends and inform decision making about strategic achievement targets and resourcing.

This information indicates that a significant majority of students is achieving at or above the National Standard in reading and that a majority is achieving above the standard in writing and mathematics. The school is able to demonstrate that most students made progress in these areas between 2010 and 2012. This information also shows that while the achievement of Māori students as a group has improved they are not progressing at the same rate as other students.

The school and ERO agree that there is a need to set more specific achievement targets for Māori students as priority learners.

3 Curriculum

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

The school is continuing to review and develop the curriculum to ensure that it promotes positive learning outcomes for students. The curriculum has a strong focus on the teaching of literacy and mathematics. Information and communication technologies are increasingly being used to support learning. Students have opportunities to experience a range of education outside the classroom activities. The school makes good use of the local community and rural environment to broaden the curriculum to extend opportunities for students.

Teachers have clear guidelines and expectations about the learning students should experience as they progress through the school. This is supported by the ongoing development of a robust teacher appraisal process that ensures that teachers’ professional goals are aligned with the school’s overall goals for raising achievement. There is also a commitment to providing good quality professional learning and development for teachers.

Teachers are using a range of appropriate strategies to engage students in learning and provide well organised, attractively presented classroom environments. ERO observed students to be positively engaged in learning in settled classrooms where supportive, respectful relationships among students and teachers were evident.

A number of appropriate strategies are in place both within classrooms and in withdrawal situations to assist students who require additional learning support.

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

The school is committed to promoting education success for Māori, as Māori. This is reflected in the school’s charter and there is Māori whānau representation on the board of trustees. The achievement of Māori students as a group is monitored in relation to that of other students and reported to the board of trustees and community. A planned te reo Māori programme is in place for each class and aspects of tikanga Māori are reflected in school events and ceremonies. Students have the opportunity to participate in kapa haka and there is a biennial whole school overnight visit to a local marae.

4 Sustainable Performance

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

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

Features of the school that support sustainability are:

• strong educational leadership for improving teaching and learning by the principal and deputy principal
• effective teaching by an enthusiastic team of teachers who are focused on student learning and raising achievement
• sound governance and effective management of finances and resources by the board of trustees
• self-review that is informed by the use of good quality student achievement information.

Agreed priority for development

ERO and the school agree that an important priority is the ongoing development of an inclusive culture for learning.

To assist in achieving this:

• under the direction of the principal, the school should continue to build on the positive momentum of a shared vision being owned by all staff
• the board, principal and staff should give careful consideration to setting more specific targets and implementing strategies to accelerate the achievement and progress of priority learners, particularly Māori
• the principal should work with staff to consider key Ministry of Education documents (Ka Hikitia and Tātaiko) to establish a shared understanding about success for Māori, as Māori.

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.

Dale Bailey

National Manager Review Services

Northern Region

22 April 2013

About the School