Garston School

Education institution number:
3953
School type:
Full Primary
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
25
Telephone:
Address:

Kingston-Garston Highway State Highway 6, Garston

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Garston School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Garston 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 

Garston School in Northern Southland provides education for students from Years 1 to 8. It is a small school with multi-level classes. The Ministry of Education has a building project underway adding two modern learning teaching spaces in anticipation of population growth in the area.

Garston School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

  • lift the achievement in reading and writing for all students, including those who do not yet meet the expected levels
  • improve all students’ ability to use knowledge and apply strategies in mathematics
  • improve practices to specifically develop skills and competencies for life and learning
  • promote student wellbeing.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well the ‘Structured Literacy’ approach to teaching and learning is supporting improved outcomes for all students in literacy.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • that some new entrant children are entering school with lower-than-expected oral language skills and some older students have also shown gaps in their literacy learning
  • the school is embarking on a ’Structured Literacy’ approach to address the need to raise achievement in literacy
  • to build junior students’ literacy competence, strengthen their foundations in reading and writing, and support them to achieve well as they progress through the years.

The school expects to see:

  • consistent literacy teaching approaches across the school
  • explicit and deliberate acts of teaching in literacy
  • ongoing evaluation to be assured that the approaches are having the desired impact on students’ learning.  

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goals to lift student achievement in reading, writing and mathematics and to support them to acquire life skills by increasing their ability to self-regulate and respond positively to challenges.

  • There are low numbers of students in classes, so teachers know their students well, are able to identify and remove barriers to learning, and closely monitor each student’s progress.
  • Most students remain with a teacher for several years which supports effective teacher/student/parent relationships and provides seamless progression through the learning stages.
  • The school promotes a family-like environment where the senior students are responsible leaders who help and guide those younger than them (tuakana-teina).
  • The school makes effective use of the local environment and community resources to enhance learning opportunities through active participation.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • analysing literacy information to identify any barriers to learning and to determine the learning needs of all students to accelerate their progress and achievement
  • providing appropriate resources and continuing to build and embed across the school capacity in literacy teaching, including introducing the Best Start Literacy Approach in the foundation class
  • identifying the required understanding of concepts, knowledge and skills to progress students’ mathematics achievement, across the school.

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.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

11 July 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

Garston School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of February 2022, the Garston 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 Garston 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.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

11 July 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