Crawshaw School

Crawshaw School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within twelve months of the Education Review Office and Crawshaw 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 

Crawshaw School is a full primary school located in the Hamilton suburb of Nawton, catering for students in Years 1 to 8. 

The school’s vision ‘Give them wings so they may fly’ is underpinned by the values of be respectful, be responsible and be a learner. Together the vision and values promote the valued outcomes for learners to be successful.

Since the 2018 ERO report, there has been significant change to school leadership and staff. The present principal was appointed in Term 4, 2022. 

Ngāti Maahanga are recognised as mana whenua. The school is a member of the He Waka Eke Noa Kāhui Ako.

Crawshaw School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • consistent, equitable and excellence for all, particularly for Māori, Pacific and students with diverse needs
  • building and sustaining leadership and teacher capability to increase equity of learning outcomes
  • engaging with whānau and the community. 

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate to what extent leadership and teacher practice is progressing and accelerating equity of learning and wellbeing outcomes for all learners. 

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is: 

  • learner achievement and progress are not yet equitable and excellent 
  • leaders have identified the need to strengthen teaching strategies, practices and use of assessment
  • that equitable access to learning opportunities needs strengthening.

The school expects to see: 

  • accelerated learning outcomes for all students
  • improved and sustained consistency in effective teaching practice
  • all learners being well supported to achieve success.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the goal of to what extent is teacher practice progressing equity of learning and wellbeing outcomes for all learners:

  • leadership is establishing a clear improvement agenda for teaching and learning
  • school-wide professional development has a focus on raising achievement
  • strengthening community partnerships to value relationships and engagement.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise: 

  • strengthening systems to monitor and track learner achievement and progress
  • consistent use of agreed assessment tools across the school
  • using assessment information to better respond to learner needs
  • engaging whānau as partners in their children’s learning.

ERO has concerns about 

  • Learners' progress and achievement needs to significantly improve.
  • The consistency of effective teaching practices schoolwide.

Recommendation

ERO recommends that Te Mahau | Ministry of Education appointed Limited Statutory Manager continues to support the board in its improvement journey to improve learner outcomes. This includes developing more robust school systems, processes and practices for managing compliance.

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. 

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

9 February 2024

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

Crawshaw School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of March 2023 the Crawshaw School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Further Information

For further information please contact Crawshaw School, School Board.

The next School Board 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.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

9 February 2024

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 

 

Crawshaw School

Findings

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO ‘s overall evaluation judgement of Crawshaw School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Needs development.

1 Background and Context

What is the background and context for this school’s review?

Crawshaw School is a full primary school located in the Hamilton suburb of Nawton, catering for students in Years 1 to 8. The current roll of 318 students includes 64% who identify as Māori.

The school’s vision is ‘Give them wings so they may fly’ which is underpinned by the values of respect – whakaute, responsibility – takohanga, and learning – ako. Together the vision and values contribute to the valued outcomes for learners to be successful, outstanding, adaptable and resilient – so they can SOAR.

Crawshaw School has been involved in an ERO longitudinal evaluation process since November 2018. The principal resigned in May 2019 and an emergency principal was appointed for Terms 2 to 4, 2019. A new principal, employed under the Principal Recruitment Allowance initiative, was appointed in Term 4, 2019 and started in January 2020.

During the longitudinal process a limited statutory manager with the functions and guidance for personnel, curriculum, student achievement, health and safety and the wellbeing of students and staff was appointed.

The September 2018 ERO report identified improvements were required in leadership, planning and monitoring and the use of data for robust internal evaluation. The Ministry of Education and New Zealand School Trustees Association have provided targeted support to address these areas.

Crawshaw School is a member of He Waka Eke Noa (North West Hamilton) Kāhui Ako.

2 Review and Development

How effectively is the school addressing its priorities for review and development?

Priorities identified for review and development

The September 2018 ERO evaluation report identified the need for improvement in:

  • building a collaborative leadership team for collective decision making and strategic planning
  • aligning targets, action plans and regular reporting to monitor progress and acceleration for at-risk learners
  • the use of data from a range of sources for internal evaluation that better identifies what is working well for students’ learning and where improvements are needed.

ERO also identified several areas of non-compliance including health and safety, the adoption of a health curriculum statement and physical restraint practices.

Progress

The school has made some progress in the areas identified. However, they remain priorities for improvement.

The school continues to prioritise building trusting and professional relationships schoolwide. Deliberate strategies to support this priority have resulted in some positives shifts. A considered approach to establishing purposeful leadership roles across the school is evident. A priority on building relationships within the senior leadership team is strengthening a collaborative response for improvement.

Leaders and teachers are working on developing shared understandings of progress and achievement across the curriculum. A wide range of professional learning has been accessed to support improved use of achievement information and inform quality teaching practice to accelerate progress.  

A new student management system is supporting teachers to better know and understand appropriate goals for student learning. Teachers’ understanding of the use of differentiated learning progressions is developing. Their understanding of these progressions for planning, increased monitoring of achievement and more frequent tracking of all learners is supporting accelerated progress in reading.

Positive and respectful interactions and relationships are evident. Target and focus students have been clearly identified. Regular discussions across division meetings are supporting more contextually relevant programmes for learning. The increased focus on data is supporting student progress and achievement to be at the forefront of professional discussions.

Teachers’ understanding of using formative assessment practices to support overall achievement judgement decisions is improving. Students are beginning to be able to articulate what level they are at and their goals for learning.  

Key next steps

It is timely for leaders and teachers to develop and implement a high quality responsive, localised and integrated curriculum that:

  • reflects students’ needs, interests and strengths to enhance student engagement, success and raise achievement
  • recognises Ngāti Māhanga, Tainui and the dual heritage of Aotearoa to enhance children’s languages, cultures and identities
  • recognises what knowledge learners bring and how programmes can foster further curiousity
  • maximises the local community for rich and authentic learning opportunities to build confidence and competence in lifelong learning.

3 Sustainable performance and self review

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

The school is not well placed to sustain and continue to improve and review its performance.

Leaders and trustees have recently introduced policy and procedural frameworks, which they are beginning to review, align and implement. Consistent frameworks for reporting to the board about strategic goals are evident.  

The school charter is being reviewed and community consultation is being undertaken. Trustees and leaders have revisited achievement targets for learning to ensure these are focused on accelerating the progress and achievement of all learners.

Strategic goals are aligned to priorities for improvement. Consistent frameworks for reporting to the board alongside strategic goals are evident.

Key next steps

To sustain and embed the ongoing changes that are required, trustees need to:

  • urgently build their knowledge and understanding of their roles and responsibilities for effective governance
  • ensure systematic communications and professional relationships are maintained to support a unified approach to school improvement
  • improve reporting and scrutiny of achievement information to inform resourcing decisions that better respond to student needs.

Leaders need to continue to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of effective leadership of learning within senior and middle leaders’ roles and responsibilities. This needs to include:

  • establishing effective communication practice that builds clarity and consistency for schoolwide improvement
  • ensuring clear and documented expectations that guide decision making, improve teaching practice and build accountability are developed
  • continuing to build effective use of achievement information to inform practice
  • developing cohesive and aligned systems and processes to inform school operation.

Attention to these key next steps should support the effective evaluation of change strategies to improve student achievement, build ownership and collaboration among staff and further foster a positive schoolwide culture.

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
  • school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Children’s Act 2014.

During the course of the review, ERO identified several areas of non-compliance. In order to address these, the board of trustees must:

  • ensure that the school is a physically and emotionally safe place for all students and staff
    [NAG 5; HSWA 2015]
  • undertake complete safety checks on the appointment of staff
    [Children’s Act 2014]
  • ensure processes are appropriately followed, reviewed and the required documentation is completed when physical restraint of a child is undertaken
    Physical Restraint Rules 2017]
  • adopt a statement on the delivery of the health curriculum including sexuality education.
    [s91 Education and Training Act 2020]

To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:

  • develop robust systems and processes to ensure policies, procedures and legislative requirements are known, implemented, monitored and reported.

Conclusion

Trustees, leaders and teachers are developing the consistent use of systems and processes to support positive learning outcomes. Growing teacher capacity to accelerate learning, particularly for those at-risk with their learning, has begun but remains a priority. A more formal approach to evaluating what is working well and where improvements are needed is required.

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO ‘s overall evaluation judgement of Crawshaw School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Needs development.

ERO will maintain an ongoing relationship with the school to build capacity and evaluate progress.

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

15 April 2021

About the school

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement.