Ratapiko School

Ratapiko School - 21/08/2019

School Context

Ratapiko School is a rural school in central Taranaki. There are 23 students and nine identify as Māori on the roll. The school is currently experiencing roll growth.

The school’s vision ‘strive for excellence in all we do’ underpins the school’s aim to maximise learner achievement. There is a particular focus on achieving equitable access to learning and positive outcomes for all students, empowering them to be confident, connected and actively involved learners.

Learning priorities identified in the school values: ‘respect, responsibility, ready to learn – whakaute, takohanga, takatu, ako’ underpin outcomes for students to be:

  • actively engaged and achieve success
  • positive and to persevere
  • inquisitive, reflective and resilient
  • guardians of their environment
  • inclusive and tolerant of differences and diversity.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:

  • achievement for reading, writing and mathematics against The New Zealand Curriculum levels
  • progress in relation to school targets
  • attendance.

There have been changes to staffing over the past year, and new trustees elected to the board in June 2019. Staff are participating in centrally funded professional learning and development to support building teachers’ literacy capability.

The school is a member of the Inglewood Kāhui Ako.

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?

The school’s outcomes are continuing to improve towards equitable and excellent outcomes for all students. End of 2018 data indicates that a large majority of students achieved at or above expectation in reading and mathematics, and half in writing.

Student achievement information over the past three years indicates that a greater percentage of students achieved at or above expectation in reading and mathematics.

1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?

The school continues to focus on accelerating learning for those students who need this.

Of the students identified, school reported progress information for 2018 shows that the majority of those students made progress in reading and some students in writing and mathematics.

Mid-2019 data, for identified target students, shows that many students have made accelerated progress in reading, writing or mathematics, with some identified on track to be at expected levels of achievement by the end of the year.

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?

School values of ‘respect, responsibility and ready to learn’ are clearly evident in classrooms. Students are well-engaged through focused learning opportunities that integrate curriculum areas and relevant contexts including interactions with local whānau and the wider community. A range of teaching approaches effectively support students to know about and manage their own learning and contribute to the development of others in their class. There are increased opportunities to experience and understand te ao Māori.

The wellbeing and learning goals of students with additional and complex needs are well known by staff. Programmes to support these students are thoroughly planned and managed.

Staff collect an appropriate and useful range of information about student progress and achievement. They use this information to plan deliberate learning opportunities based on identified needs of individuals. The current professional development in writing is supporting this improved practice.

The principal’s leadership focuses purposefully on improving student outcomes through building teacher confidence and capability, and the provision of an environment that is conducive to learning. Staff reflect collaboratively and frequently on how their teaching practice is improving learning and wellbeing outcomes for students. Meaningful changes are made to processes and practices as result of these reflections.

Trustees are well informed through receiving comprehensive, regular information about student progress and achievement that allows them to identify and discuss challenges and opportunities for change. They ensure that school resources are appropriately allocated to learning areas of greatest need. Trustees are supportive of staff.

2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

ERO identifies and the principal agrees that rewording annual targets to more closely focus on the number of students whose learning needs acceleration is a next step. This should assist staff and trustees to have a clearer understanding of what works, what isn’t working and what needs to change to further improve outcomes.

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:

  • board administration
  • curriculum
  • management of health, safety and welfare
  • personnel management
  • finance
  • 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 and certification
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand down, suspension, expulsion and exclusion of students
  • attendance
  • school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Children’s Act 2014.

4 ERO’s Overall Judgement

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Ratapiko School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Well placed.

ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance is available on ERO’s website.

5 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

  • a culture of collaboration among staff, trustees and whānau that maintains clear expectations for teaching and learning across the school
  • clear direction setting that establishes challenging goals for student achievement
  • alignment of school priorities and values that are consistently enacted through to the curriculum and class programmes.

Next steps

For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:

  • leaders and trustees extended use of data to better identify students whose learning needs acceleration, and to know about what is working well for students’ learning and where improvements are needed.

Phillip Cowie

Director Review and Improvement Services Central

Central Region

21 August 2019

About the school

Location

Ratapiko, Taranaki

Ministry of Education profile number

2227

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

23

Gender composition

Male 14, Female 9

Ethnic composition

Māori 9
NZ European/Pākehā 14

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)

Yes

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

July 2019

Date of this report

21 August 2019

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review August 2016
Education Review May 2013
Education review July 2010

Ratapiko School - 08/08/2016

1 Context

Ratapiko School is a rural, sole charge school catering for students in Years 1 to 8. Located in central Taranaki, the school has 10 students on the roll, and one identifies as Māori.

A change of leadership and staffing has occurred since the May 2013 ERO report. The current principal was appointed recently and is supported by a part-time release teacher, teacher aide and longstanding school administrator. The school benefits from a high level of parent and wider community involvement. A local playgroup operates on the site.

There are close links and involvement with nearby schools and contributing early childhood centres. The principal is a first time principal and is involved in new principal groups and those for sole charge schools. The school is a member of the recently formed Inglewood Community of Schools (CoL).

2 Equity and excellence

The school's vision and valued outcomes are that the community of Ratapiko School will work co-operatively to empower their children to become confident, connected, actively involved life-long learners. The shared values of respect (whakaute), responsibility (takohanga) and ready to learn (takatu ako), are underpinned by the Māori values of manaakitanga and whanaungatanga.

The school’s achievement information shows that most students achieve at or above in relation to the National Standard in reading, writing and mathematics. Teachers have identified some students whose progress requires acceleration. A range of responses are in place to monitor improved achievement.

Teachers promote the validity and reliability of their achievement information and judgements through in-school and external moderation with other cluster schools.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has begun to:

  • raise Māori achievement and build closer home-school partnerships
  • consider how the curriculum makes visible the school's commitment, responsibilities and actions in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi
  • develop teaching as inquiry to promote more reflection on teaching practice and strengthen the ways teachers can make changes to support student learning
  • develop formative assessment practices to assist students to better understand their learning purpose and goal setting.

The school and ERO agree that these are areas for continued development.

3 Accelerating achievement

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

The school responds well to the learning needs of students, in order to address disparities in achievement. Robust and valid achievement information is collated to identify those students who are underachieving, identify gaps in their learning and set expectations for accelerating their progress. Evidence shows that underachieving students are making progress towards meeting the National Standards.

Students with special needs have additional planned assistance. The principal and staff work closely with outside agencies to ensure students' learning, progress and wellbeing are supported and monitored.

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?

Trustees are actively involved in the school. Strategic and annual planning establishes key priorities. The board receives a range of assessment information during the year showing student progress over time. It uses the reports to plan and strategically resource for improved student outcomes. The principal should consider more frequent reporting to assist trustees to monitor and evaluate the impact of resourcing.

The board's roles and responsibilities are clear and well-structured to support succession. Trustees are growing their capacity through ongoing governance training. The charter, goals and priorities for equity and excellence have been developed with community input. The views and aspirations of parents, whānau and iwi are beginning to influence the curriculum.

Trustees and the principal recognise that ongoing evaluation is an essential part of improvement processes. Systems are being established to monitor the effectiveness of the curriculum. Currently, the school has limited evidence of impact. Strengthening understanding and use of internal evaluation is a next step.

The school has begun to reflect on and increase ways to meaningfully embed te ao Māori across the curriculum. This is happening through staffing and incorporating local te reo Māori me nga tikanga into the daily programme. This continues to be an area for development.

Students' participation in the curriculum supports positive progress, achievement and engagement at school. The tone is warm and welcoming and the school is well-resourced and the classroom environment is appealing. Digital technologies are used to meaningfully support learning.

Teachers actively promote student learning and wellbeing. They work collaboratively and have high expectations. Agreed next steps are: continuing to refine teaching approaches to cater for the differing ways individuals learn; and provide sufficient differentiation for the various year groups operating within the multi-level classroom.

Interactions between staff and students are respectful and positive. Students are happy to work collaboratively to complete a range of tasks and they are growing in confidence to take responsibility for their learning. Sharing clear indicators of progress and specific next steps with students will support their further development in this area.

The appraisal process is improvement focused and linked to strategic goals and student achievement targets. The performance of the principal is appraised by an external appraiser.

Parents are able to engage in formal and informal conversations about their children's progress and achievement. Many parents, family and whānau have taken up the opportunity to participate in their child's education by forming a reciprocal learning partnership with the school.

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 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 develop a more systematic approach to act on what they know works for each child
  • have a plan in place and need to build teacher capability effectively to achieve equitable outcomes for all children.

Developing internal evaluation practice, to enable the school to know about what works well and for which students, will assist the school to promote equity and excellence.

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

To improve current practice, the principal and board of trustees should

implement a robust and regular cycle for the review of policies and procedures to ensure they are aligned to current 'best practice' and legislative requirements.

7 Recommendations

ERO recommends that the school continues to develop and implement:

  • a culturally responsive, localised curriculum that supports differentiated learning
  • internal evaluation processes for building capacity to evaluate outcomes.

Joyce Gebbie

Deputy Chief Review Officer Central

8 August 2016

About the school

Location

Inglewood

Ministry of Education profile number

2227

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

10

Gender composition

Male 9, Female 1

Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

1

9

Review team on site

May 2016

Date of this report

8 August 2016

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

May 2013

July 2010

May 2007