School Context
Greendale School is a Year 1 to 6 rural school with a roll of 44 children. In the last three years the roll has continued to grow.
The school's vision is to be ‘A great place to Learn’, and the valued outcomes for children are for them to be life-long learners who are focused on:
- excellence
- being actively involved
- developing positive relationships
- persevering in order to achieve success now and in the future.
The values of caring, respect, responsibility, achievement, self-worth and honesty are central to the school’s culture. The vision and values provide clear expectations for success that the trustees and staff have for all children.
The school’s strategic aims include providing children with an increasingly higher quality literacy programme and developing an ICT plan which will expand learning opportunities and enhance the achievement of children.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
- achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
- the progress and outcomes for target students
- outcomes related to wellbeing and maintaining connections with the school community.
Greendale School is a part of the Malvern Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning (CoL).
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 is making progress in achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students.
Achievement information for 2015-2016 generally shows that the majority of children achieve at expected levels in reading and mathematics. 2017 data shows that children achieve better at reading and mathematics with 66% achieving to expectations in both learning areas. Writing remains at a lower level with 58% of children achieving at or above the expected level.
The school’s achievement information shows that most children whose learning has been targeted for improvement are making accelerated progress. This data also shows ongoing disparities in boys’ achievement.
Leaders and teachers know individual children’s learning and wellbeing needs well. They have good systems and practices in place to identify, monitor and respond to children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.
1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?
The school is effectively responding to those Māori and other students whose learning needs acceleration. The school’s achievement information shows that most children whose learning has been targeted for improvement are making accelerated progress.
During 2017 between half and three quarters of the students performing below expectations had made accelerated progress by the end of the year.
Children with additional learning needs are well supported through regular and careful planning and monitoring of their progress and their inclusion in school life.
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?
The board, leaders and staff use many effective processes to progress the learning and achievement of all children.
The board actively represents and serves the community and school in its governance role. Trustees receive regular, detailed reports about school priorities, curriculum and student achievement targets. They use this information well to ensure the focus remains on equity and excellence for all children.
School trustees, the principal and staff promote a bicultural learning environment that positively benefits all children. Tuakana-teina relationships are well embedded in the school culture and learning environment. Children are provided with opportunities to experience and value te ao Māori. Local expertise is used well to guide and enrich learning programmes. Professional development is helping to build culturally responsive practices across the school.
Children benefit from programmes that are highly responsive to their needs, interests and abilities. A responsive curriculum provides them with many opportunities to extend their knowledge and understanding of the community and wider world. Children’s wellbeing, agency in learning and sense of belonging are prioritised. The principal and teachers work in inclusive and respectful ways with children.
Collaborative practices among staff are leading to shared responsibility for children’s wellbeing and learning. Teachers use learning information to inform teaching, programmes and initiatives to improve children’s achievement. Appropriate moderation and assessment practices contribute to effective teacher judgements about children’s learning.
Effective internal evaluation is evident in the review and redevelopment of the literacy and numeracy curriculum and in some other aspects of the school’s operations. A robust performance management system is focused on increasing teacher capability to improve learner outcomes.
Leaders and teachers have responded well to the recommendations for improvement identified in the 2014 ERO review. Among other things, this includes supporting teachers to extend the ways they raise achievement and progress, increasing the local content within the curriculum, and updating and reviewing policies and procedures.
2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?
Some areas of the school’s processes need to be strengthened and embedded to increase effectiveness in achieving equity and excellence.
The board and leaders need to continue to develop and strengthen internal evaluation to build understanding and practices for ongoing improvement and innovation. This includes evaluating the impact of strategies and initiatives to identify what is contributing most positively to learning improvement.
Trustees and leaders need to be better informed about how well children are achieving the school’s valued outcomes over time. Developing clear indicators for success is likely to help clarify school outcome goals, provide useful indicators against which progress can be measured, and better inform trustees and leaders in their future strategic planning.
Leaders and teachers should continue to:
- strengthen and embed current bicultural practices, evaluate outcomes and report to the board progress made towards set goals
- reduce disparities in boys’ learning and achievement.
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:
- school leadership and a positive, supportive and inclusive school culture
- strong relationships within the school and with the community
- shared responsibility across the school for children’s wellbeing and learning.
Next steps
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:
- continuing to strengthen internal evaluation to provide greater clarity about how well the school’s valued outcomes are being achieved
- further strengthening and embedding of bicultural practices
- maintaining a strong focus on accelerating boys’ learning and achievement.
ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing
ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
10 April 2018
About the school
|
Location
|
Christchurch
|
|
Ministry of Education profile number
|
3357
|
|
School type
|
Contributing ( Years 1-6)
|
|
School roll
|
44
|
|
Gender composition
|
Girls: 18
Boys: 26
|
|
Ethnic composition
|
Pākehā
Māori
Pacific
Other Ethnicities
|
35
6
1
2
|
|
Review team on site
|
February 2018
|
|
Date of this report
|
10 April 2018
|
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review October 2014
Education Review April 2011
Education Review November 2007
|