Stratford Primary School

Stratford Primary School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 6 months of the Education Review Office and Stratford Primary 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 

Stratford Primary School is a full primary located in Stratford, Taranaki.

Stratford Primary School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • to continually improve the school’s learning culture so students are safe, secure, and engaged

  • to prioritise the first four years of a child’s schooling so they can achieve success with the Stratford Primary School Milestones

  • to build teachers' capability by embedding the Stratford Primary School philosophy into the curriculum, which supports each student to be the best they can be.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well teaching and learning of literacy increases student engagement and promotes equity and excellence for learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • leaders’ analysis and reporting of achievement in writing has determined a need to focus on building equitable and excellent outcomes for boys.

The school expects to see:

  • learners increasing their engagement and accelerating their progress in writing

  • collaborative teacher inquiry that collectively strengthens practice and builds effective strategies to achieve equitable and excellent outcomes for learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal of building effective teaching and learning of literacy:

  • leaders’ decisions are aligned to the school’s strategic priorities

  • inclusive practices ensure all stakeholders are valued contributors in supporting equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners

  • assessment processes and collaborative teacher inquiry are systematically used to plan for and reflect on the outcomes for learners

  • professional learning and development (PLD) for teachers and support staff is focused on building shared practice to strengthen the delivery of the writing curriculum

  • staff foster positive relationships with students that promote a learning environment conducive in promoting the engagement of learners.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • staff involvement in writing PLD to strengthen their collective knowledge and delivery of effective practice

  • exploring and developing strategies that extend partnerships with parents and whānau to support their learner progress and achievement

  • gathering the voice of learners to inform evaluation into the impact of changed practices on their engagement.

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

1 August 2022 

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

Stratford Primary School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of March 2022, the Stratford Primary 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

Yes

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Further Information

For further information please contact Stratford Primary 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

1 August 2022

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

Stratford School - 25/06/2018

School Context

Stratford School in Taranaki caters for students in Years 1 to 8. There are currently 426 students enrolled, including 114 who identify as Māori.

The school’s valued outcomes are for students to: achieve their personal best; inquire into what they know, need to know and want to know; and respect themselves, each other and the environment.

This year’s goals, aims and targets are focused on strengthening equitable and excellence outcomes for all students with a deliberate focus on Māori and boys. ‘AIM High – Ki Runga Rawa; achieve, inquire, manaakitanga’ underpins leadership, teaching and learning.

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

  • achievement in reading, writing and mathematics in relation to school expectations

  • progress and achievement in relation to school targets for writing and mathematics

  • positive behaviours contributing to learning

  • attendance for learning.

The school has had significant changes over the past four years. The principal, appointed in 2016, is supported by an experienced leadership team. Changes to membership of the board of trustees occurred at the last election and many new staff have been appointed over the past three years. In 2017 the school has implemented the provision of technology for Year 7 and 8 students.

Staff participate in Ministry of Education provided schoolwide professional learning and development in relation to school priorities.

The school is part of the Central Taranaki 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 continues to focus on deepening practices and processes to consistently promote equity of outcomes for all learners.

School reported data for 2017 indicates that most students achieve at or above school expectation in reading, with the large majority achieving at or above in writing and mathematics. Students achieving at or above expectation has remained stable over the past three years.

The percentage of Māori students achieving at or above school expectations is lower than Pākehā peers, with increasing disparity over the past three years for Māori in reading, writing and mathematics.

There is continued disparity of achievement for boys in reading and writing. Generally achievement for Year 8 students is higher than for other year groups, with a significant increase in the percentage achieving at or above in mathematics in 2017.

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

School wide data shows accelerated progress and improved outcomes for the majority of identified priority learners in 2017.

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?

Data is well used to meet the needs of identified priority students and those with high learning and wellbeing needs. Trustees are well-informed about student progress and achievement, including those identified in target groups. They scrutinise the data and use it to inform their decision making.

A range of programmes, interventions and targeted resourcing are in place to support student learning and cater for those with identified learning needs. Clear plans are developed that support and monitor progress, learning and wellbeing of these learners.

The principal and senior leaders collaboratively manage change and improvement to strengthen processes and practices in the promotion of equity and excellence. Close alignment across the school’s charter, strategic and annual goals supports a cohesive approach to promote ongoing improvement.

Comprehensive curriculum expectations are in place to guide effective teaching and learning practice. Leaders have established clear, well-aligned processes and expectations that guide the developing capability of team leaders and teachers. Effective monitoring and support is building more consistent implementation across the school. Collaborative practice encourages the development of a shared understanding of school priorities and expectations to meet the needs of learners.

students. Leaders and teachers reflect on the effectiveness of their practice and interventions supporting student outcomes. They identify what is successful and how this could be transferred to other situations.The appraisal process and inquiry are well aligned to school priorities to accelerate progress for identified Māori learners and boys, and supports teachers to improve their practice. Well-considered review models assist leaders and teachers to inquire and meaningfully reflect on outcomes for

The curriculum design and development increasingly promotes positive student engagement in learning. Teachers provide inclusive environments that support positive, respectful relationships and encourage students to be actively engaged in a wide range of learning opportunities. A key feature of the school’s curriculum is the focus on environmental education and sustainability. AIM High, ‘achieve, inquire and manaakitanga,’ clearly linked to the key competencies, assists students to develop their dispositions for learning.

Involvement of parents and whānau supports their understanding of learners’ needs and progress.Purposeful connections with parents, whānau and the wider education community supports the ongoing development of the school’s curriculum. The deliberate approach, in conjunction with whānau Māori, increasingly strengthens practices to more fully acknowledge Māori learners’ language and culture.

Well planned, flexible processes support successful transitions for students and their families in to and through the school and on to further education.

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

The school has established comprehensive processes and strategies to successfully identify, track and monitor progress and achievement. Overtime these should more successfully promote accelerated learning for Māori and other students whose achievement needs acceleration.

The next steps for further development of school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning are:

  • building leadership of teaching and learning across the school

  • developing the school’s curriculum to better respond to Māori, boys and students in the early years

  • extending the consistent use of strategies that will enhance positive learner outcomes

  • using more student voice to systematically evaluate the effectiveness of the provision for student wellbeing.

The school should strengthen and make wider use of internal evaluation, to better identify and understand the effectiveness of strategies that promote equity and excellence.

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 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:

  • use of data to meet the needs of identified priority students and those with high and
  • complex learning and or wellbeing needs
  • collaborative management of change and improvement by the principal and senior leaders that strengthens processes and practices in the promotion of equity and excellence
  • curriculum design and development that increasingly promotes positive student engagement in their learning.

Next steps

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

  • embedding processes and practices that are likely to improve outcomes for students to achieve equity and excellence

  • strengthening internal evaluation to better identify and understand the effectiveness of teaching on outcomes for students.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.

Patricia Davey

Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)

Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region

25 June 2018

About the school

Location

Taranaki

Ministry of Education profile number

2244

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

426

Gender composition

Male 57%, Female 43%

Ethnic composition

Māori 27%
Pākehā 67%
Pacific 1% 
Asian 2%
Other ethnic groups 3%

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)

Yes

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

May 2018

Date of this report

25 June 2018

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review August 2014
Education Review June 2011
Education Review September 2007