Paparoa Street School

School Context

Paparoa Street School provides education for 561 children from Years 1 to 6 in Christchurch City.

The school is working through a consultation process to establish a direction for the future. This is likely to lead to a revision of the existing vision and values. The current mission statement is ‘enhancing the pathway for lifelong learners'.

School leaders have stated that the school’s principles are the most evident signs of valued outcomes. These include passion, partnership, pride, participation, and protection.

The school's current achievement targets are:

• to increase the percentage of Pacific children achieving at or above the National Standard in reading and mathematics
• to reduce the percentage of Year 6 children achieving below and well below the National Standard in Year 6 for reading, writing and mathematics.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board school-wide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:

• achievement in reading, writing and mathematics in relation to the National Standards

• outcomes for students with additional learning needs, including gifted and talented students.

Since the 2012 ERO review there have been many staff changes. These have been due to a number of circumstances outside the school’s control. There have been five principals during the past five years. The current principal began at the beginning of 2017. The two deputy principals are new to their roles within the last year. Several class teachers are in their first or second year of teaching. Senior leaders view this as an opportunity for the development of a new approach across the school.

Evaluation Findings

1 Equity and excellence – valued outcomes for students

1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?

The school is achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for most of its students.

Achievement is high, with most students achieving at or above their expected levels in relation to the National Standards. Māori children also achieve well. Students with additional needs, and those who are gifted and talented, have high-quality support to enable them to achieve to their potential.

Boys and girls achieve equally well in reading and mathematics. Boys do not achieve as well in writing. This has been a major school focus in previous years. While there has been improvement, there remains some disparity.

1.2 How effectively does this school respond to those Māori and other students whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

The school does not currently make sufficient use of its achievement information to determine the proportion of students who are making and sustaining accelerated progress.

However, the school responds very effectively to individual Māori and other students whose learning and achievement needs acceleration. ERO saw many case studies of children who had individual support programmes within and outside of the classroom that were leading to success.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence

2.1 What school processes and practices are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?

Students have effective and equitable opportunities to learn. Teachers are increasingly gathering comprehensive information about the students they work with . In 2017 they have gathered detailed information about key groups of students, including Māori and Pacific students. Teachers adapt programmes for individuals and groups based on students' needs, experiences and interests. Students are able to make choices about how they learn. Their views are sought and used in teachers' planning.

Trustees and school leaders are building the collective capability and capacity of the board and staff. They have made several strategic staff appointments to further their goals. Trustees and teachers have engaged in a considerable amount of high-quality professional learning and development collectively, in groups, and individually. This is deliberately focused on the school's key priorities. Professional activities that teachers are engaged in are being used to stimulate robust reflection and dialogue about school improvement. This is leading to greater sharing of good practice, and a collaborative ownership and approach to the learning of all students.

Leaders are building evaluation and inquiry approaches for school improvement. The 2017 school-wide evaluation and development plans for literacy and mathematics provide good models for a more comprehensive approach to evaluation. School improvement has been well resourced. More in-depth approaches to review and evaluation are developing in board practices and teachers' professional learning and development. The greater focus on evaluation should lead to more certainty in determining the most effective strategies for accelerating learning.

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

Some aspects of evaluation and curriculum responsiveness need to be improved.

Processes for gathering, collating and analysing achievement data need to be improved. The new student management system needs to be further developed so that priority groups are identified and the data can be viewed and analysed for groups of students.

Teachers need to continue to develop their assessment skills so that judgements about progress and achievement are made consistently across the school and over time. These initiatives, which are already under way, will mean that teachers and leaders will be in a better position to evaluate students' progress and achievement as they progress through the school.

School leaders are in the early stages of using evaluative practices to investigate the impact of the initiatives being put in place to improve student outcomes. They have rich sources of information from a variety of sources, including the views of students and their parents. They are aware of the need to use this and overall achievement information to more effectively evaluate the success of various initiatives.

The school's curriculum needs to be updated. The current document does not reflect current practice, particularly in the way that teachers are working and planning together. Technology has been identified by the board and leaders as an area that needs attention to ensure students are getting a balanced curriculum. Teachers and leaders know they have further work to do in order to ensure that the school is effectively promoting Māori language, values and culture so that all students understand and participate in their bicultural heritage.

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.

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 (the Code) established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code.

At the time of this review there were 5 international students attending the school.

International students are well included and involved in a broad range of learning experiences at the school. They receive considerable support to promote their learning, wellbeing and English language acquisition. The school has effective systems in place for monitoring its compliance with the Code.

Areas for improved compliance practice

The new principal and board chair indicated that a number of the statements on the board self-audit checklists needed further clarification. Although in many instances actions were being completed, there was insufficient documented evidence of this.

To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:

• ensure that they have sufficient evidence that legal requirements are being met

• complete its consultation on the health curriculum.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

• providing opportunities for students to learn that meet their needs and interests

• school leadership building the capability and capacity of trustees and teachers for school improvement

• leadership of internal evaluation of school-wide programmes and teachers’ inquiry and reflection on their teaching that results in improved programmes and practices.

Next steps

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

• improving the analysis and use of data in order to better evaluate students’ progress and achievement

• evaluating the impact of initiatives so that resourcing decisions can be made on the basis of evidence of success

• further developing the curriculum to reflect best practice in biculturalism and ensuring a balanced curriculum.

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 Southern

Te Waipounamu - Southern Region

21 December 2017

About the school