Hampton Hill School

Hampton Hill School - 02/04/2019

School Context

Hampton Hill School, located in the northern Wellington suburb of Tawa, caters for students in Years 1 to 6. Of the 210 students enrolled, 26% identify as Māori and another 15% identify as being of Pacific heritage.

Trustees and staff have developed the charter to align with the school’s vision of: Grow people to thrive. Valued outcomes for children are expressed through: GROW: confident, connected and curious learners, Real World Learning, Oral Language, Whānau matters. These are underpinned by the RIMU values of: Resilience, Integrity, Manaakitanga and Unity. Changes have fed in to the design of the curriculum. Involvement in Enviroschools is ongoing.

Student achievement targets for 2019 focus on raising achievement in mathematics and writing.

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

  • achievement in literacy and mathematics

  • attendance and wellbeing

  • curriculum enrichment opportunities.

Trustees, leadership and staff have a particular lens on reducing disparity for Māori and Pacific learners, and for boys. Professional development for staff in 2019 includes an emphasis on cultural responsiveness.

The school has experienced changes in leadership, teachers and trustees since ERO’s last review in May 2016. A new principal was appointed in 2017. Leadership of the board changed in 2018. Three new teachers have been appointed for the start of 2019.

The school is part of the Tawa Kāhui Ako. Hampton Hill School’s strategic aims are aligned to the achievement challenges set by the 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?

End-of-year school data for 2018 shows that most students, including Māori, achieve at and above expected curriculum levels in reading and mathematics. In writing, the majority of students are at and above curriculum expectations with girls achieving more highly than boys.

Māori students achieve at similar levels to their peers in writing. The majority of Pacific students are at and above expected curriculum levels in literacy and mathematics.

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

The school’s end-of-year data for strategic targets in writing and mathematics shows that over half the students involved had their progress successfully accelerated.

Leaders are aware that while progress is being made, disparities still exist for some Māori and Pacific learners, and for boys. Achievement targets for 2019 have been set with a view to addressing known disparities.

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?

Leadership has a well-considered approach to building collaboration and coherence across the school and its community. Leaders have a clear vision for learning and shared teacher practice. Deliberate actions are effectively building distributed leadership.

Students experience a broad curriculum designed to engage and interest them. It includes a focus on individual children’s needs and interests through authentic contexts, community engagement and hands-on experiences.

Increasing students’ understanding of their learning, progress and opportunities for student leadership, including input into curriculum decisions and programme design is a key feature. Teachers are focused on growing student understanding and control of their learning, and creating collaborative learning conditions across the school.

A range of professional development is provided to grow leadership capacity, staff collaboration and knowledge. External support is appropriately accessed, as well as effectively using teachers’ strengths.

Parent involvement in the school is strongly supported. Staff and trustees are beginning to explore, alongside whanau Māori and the Pacific community, what success looks like for particular groups of children. They are starting to look at useful research and supporting documents to grow knowledge of cultural competencies. A range of initiatives encourage and enable parents to contribute to curriculum delivery and support their children’s learning.

Trustees participate actively in the life of the school. They have worked strategically and collaboratively with leaders, staff and families to establish the school community’s vision, values, goals and priorities, and ensure the charter and curriculum are inclusive and responsive to local needs and contexts. These actions should support improved engagement and achievement.

Trustees engage in a range of professional development to grow their understanding of school stewardship. They bring a variety of skills and knowledge to their roles, and actively represent and serve the school and community. Board roles and responsibilities are clear.

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

Appraisal is regular, with goals appropriately linked to the school’s strategic priorities and improving outcomes for priority learners. It incorporates new coaching practices with feedback based on regular classroom observations. Processes are aligned to the Professional Standards for the Teaching Profession. Practices to support the issue and renewal of practising certificates should be strengthened through the introduction of an end-point summary.

Leaders agree there is a need to continue to build understanding of inquiry and evaluation for improved teaching and learning. Strengthening teacher inquiry should lead to increased knowledge, skills and adaptive expertise. Evaluation should enable leadership and staff to better identify the impact of specific changes to practice on student outcomes.

Continuing the current curriculum development to include specific guidelines, measures and indicators for each essential learning area is important. This should ensure the school achieves the coherence intended.

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 ERO’s Overall Judgement

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO‘s overall evaluation judgement of Hampton Hill School performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Developing.

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 shared approach by the board, leadership and staff that contributes to students’ holistic development, wellbeing and learning success

  • strong partnerships with the parent community that support learning and provide opportunities and experiences for students.

Next steps

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

  • continuing to strengthen the curriculum and embedding the redesigned aspects

  • building shared understanding of inquiry and evaluation to improve teaching and learning.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

2 April 2019

About the school

Location

Wellington

Ministry of Education profile number

2852

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

210

Gender composition

Girls 51%, Boys 49%

Ethnic composition

Māori 26%
Pākehā 36%
Asian 17%
Pacific 15%
Other ethnic groups 6%

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)

Yes

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

February 2019

Date of this report

2 April 2019

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review May 2016
Education Review July 2013
Education Review April 2010

Hampton Hill School - 24/05/2016

1 Context

Hampton Hill School is located in Tawa, Wellington. It caters for students in Years 1 to 6. At the time of the review the roll was 174 students, 14% identify as Pacific and 12% as Māori. The roll has grown significantly over the last three years.

The school is an Enviro-School, focusing on developing sustainable environmental practice and building student knowledge through learning experiences. The outdoor environment, which includes community gardens and a challenge and curiosity playground, is well used to promote and support student engagement.

Three new teachers have been appointed to the school for 2016. Team teaching is being trialled in the school this year.

The July 2013 ERO review identified the need for strengthening use of data, development of the curriculum and internal evaluation. Improvements in these areas are ongoing.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are directly related to the school's motto of "Grow people to thrive". The school aims are to build good citizens, develop students' key competencies, foster strong learning relationships, and provide opportunities for leadership.

The school's philosophy is enacted through a team approach to foster a schoolwide, collective responsibility for their community of learners. This includes the board, leaders, teachers, children and whānau.

The school’s achievement information shows that the majority of students achieve at or above in relation to National Standards expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. Māori students achieve at similar rates to their peers. The school has yet to raise the achievement of some Pacific students to that of their peers in reading, writing and mathematics.

Leaders and teachers use data to identify and track students who are at risk of not achieving. The school uses a range of interventions to accelerate these students' achievement. Leaders and teachers need to more cohesively monitor, record and analyse student progress and achievement outcomes, including using assessment data to gain a clear picture of achievement for Māori, Pacific, boys and girls to ensure equitable outcomes for all students. This should better inform a more deliberate and purposeful response to students whose learning needs acceleration.

Since the previous ERO evaluation the school has focused on:

  • developing a shared understanding of high quality teaching
  • strengthening professional learning groups to target student achievement and engagement, especially for groups who are at risk of poor educational outcomes
  • building and understanding effective learning relationships, practices, and beliefs to inform the school's curriculum.

3 Accelerating achievement

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

Leaders and teachers know students well. They regularly discuss and share teaching strategies that impact on students' progress and engagement. Data informs the selection of students for targeted interventions. Delving deeper into data, including improving ways to show student progress overtime, should assist the school to appropriately respond to those below expected levels for National Standards. This should also help leaders to more closely monitor the implementation and effectiveness of strategies to accelerate student learning and progress.

The recent development towards a more localised curriculum has included the exploration of culturally responsive approaches to teaching and learning. Continuing to focus on this should help to inform further strategies which are responsive to Māori, Pacific and other cultures.

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 board connects with families and the community in various ways to gather their viewpoints to inform direction and change. There is a collective responsibility amongst board members for stewardship of positive outcomes for students. Levels of student achievement are regularly discussed. Resourcing decisions are made from the information received from leaders. Including more comprehensive progress data for those students achieving below expectations would enhance decision-making at the board level.

A collaborative approach to leadership is highly evident. A strong focus on students' wellbeing is maintained. Leaders identify that progress has been made in establishing productive learning relationships with parents and whānau. They intend to build on these to develop partnerships to enhance learning, especially for learners at risk.

The values, beliefs and philosophy for high quality teaching have been extensively explored since the previous ERO review. This includes the development of a curriculum designed to respond to student and whānau aspirations. The next step is to develop a cohesive implementation plan that includes clearly defined expected outcomes, related to the school vision, to assist leaders to evaluate the effectiveness of curriculum delivery.

Professional development to build the capabilities of leaders and teachers has been a significant focus for the school. The appraisal system has been aligned to the expectations outlined in the strategic plan. It is improvement-focused. Strengthening the cultural competencies for teachers of Māori learners and embedding throughout the school is a next step. Consistent application and monitoring of the process should help the school to achieve the desired changes for a successful school.

The school has a discussion-based internal review approach. Clearly articulating the success indicators the school wants to achieve from initiatives is a priority. This should support shared understanding and enable the implementation of a robust internal evaluation approach.

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
  • have not yet developed approaches that effectively meet the needs of each child
  • have not yet ensured the school is well placed to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children.

The school curriculum promotes success for many students. A range of approaches for targeting teaching and learning to promote acceleration for students below expectations is implemented. However, the school acknowledges that these approaches should be more cohesively aligned to improve outcomes for some students.

An evidence-based approach to systematic review, monitoring and implementation of processes is required. An important next step is to establish the intended effects of initiatives and strategies with measureable outcomes. This should assist the school to purposefully plan for improvement, based on information from internal evaluation that shows what works well and for who.

Action: The board, principal and teachers should participate in an internal evaluation workshop. They should use this workshop, ERO exemplars of good practice and the School Evaluation Indicators to address the findings of this evaluation and develop a Raising Achievement Plan that includes a significant focus on building teacher capability to accelerate learning and achievement.

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.

  • Provision for international students.

  • Provision for students in school hostels.

7 Recommendation

ERO recommends that trustees, leaders and teachers use evidence-based internal evaluation to know about and increase the effectiveness of the school's curriculum in promoting equitable outcomes for all learners. 

Joyce Gebbie

Deputy Chief Review Officer Central

24 May 2016

About the school

Location

Tawa, Wellington

Ministry of Education profile number

2852

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

175

Number of international students

1

Gender composition

Male 52%, Female 48%

Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

Samoan

Other Pacific ethnicities

Other ethnicities

12%

62%

6%

8%

12%

Review team on site

February 2016

Date of this report

24 May 2016

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

July 2013

April 2010

February 2007