Findings
The school’s curriculum is successfully engaging students and promoting their achievement. Students learn in a positive, inclusive, learning-focused environment. Effective leadership and governance practices mean the school is in a very good position to sustain and improve its performance. A positive school culture and a strong sense of community exist.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in four-to-five years.
1. Context
What are the important features of this school that have an impact on student learning?
This is a small rural school with three multi-level classes. It serves a wide-spread community with many students travelling to school by bus. Students attending the school come from an increasingly varied range of backgrounds and cultures.
The school has a long-serving principal and a stable, experienced teaching staff. This provides good continuity for students and in school practices. Involvement with other local schools extends learning opportunities for students and teachers.
A strong sense of community exists within the school and between the school and parents. Teachers make effective use of the local and regional environment to provide interesting learning opportunities for students. The board and leaders continue to make improvements to school facilities and resources.
Since the school’s May 2012 ERO review, the board, leaders and teachers have successfully retained the many positive features noted at that time. They have made good progress towards addressing areas that needed further development.
2. Learning
How well does this school use achievement information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement?
The school makes effective use of achievement information to improve outcomes for students. This is most evident in the way leaders and teachers analyse and discuss assessment results and actively respond to emerging student strengths and needs.
Regular sharing of this achievement information with the board results in trustees being responsive to emerging trends, and making well-considered decisions about how to best further support students and teachers.
Regular feedback to students about their learning, and to parents about their progress, helps teachers, students and parents to work in partnership towards common goals to promote student progress.
The quality of the school’s achievement information has improved through the assessments teachers use and in the way that they discuss and moderate results. The overall judgements teachers make about student achievement and progress have become increasingly accurate.
Teachers make effective use of achievement information to refocus their teaching, adapt programmes and adjust teaching groups.
The school provides significant additional support for those students with the greatest learning needs. This support is well targeted, resourced and monitored. Good use is made of support staff and external expertise to support students and teachers.
3.Curriculum
How effectively does this school’s curriculum promote and support student learning?
The school’s curriculum successfully engages students and promotes their achievement. Leaders and teachers provide students with a broad and varied range of interesting and well-planned learning experiences. Students have very good opportunities to achieve success across the curriculum.
The effectiveness of the curriculum is most evident in student achievement levels in reading and maths where seventy five percent of students are achieving at or above the National Standards. Accelerated student progress is most evident in mathematics. Māori students achieve at similar levels to their peers.
Leaders and teachers are taking appropriate steps to raise student achievement in written language. Ongoing professional development and collaboration continue to foster improvements to programmes and practices.
The school’s curriculum gives appropriate emphasis to literacy and mathematics learning, developing the skills for life-long learning and promoting students’ sporting and cultural interests. Older students in particular have good opportunities to develop their leadership skills. The school’s curriculum guidelines for teaching reading, writing and mathematics are particularly useful.
All class teachers consistently use a range of effective teaching practices. For example, they have high expectations for students and are strongly committed to raising student achievement. Their teaching is clearly focused and well paced. They use a good range of resources, including the increasing use of a range of technologies to support their teaching and students’ learning.
Teachers regularly reflect on, and discuss together, their class programmes and student outcomes. Such reflection is successfully supporting ongoing improvements to the quality of education for students.
Students learn in a positive, inclusive, learning-focused environment. Leaders and teachers foster this environment through their active promotion of school values, the quality of relationships between them and students, and among students. A strong focus on celebrating success contributes to students being well motivated to learn.
How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?
The school promotes education success for Māori very well. Teachers actively affirm students' cultural identity. Māori students have opportunities to share and learn about things Māori. Leaders and teachers seek and respond well to the ideas of the parents of Māori students.
Māori students, along with all other students, have regular opportunities to learn about te reo and tikanga Māori. Recent changes to the nature of marae visits have increased their value to students.
4. Sustainable Performance
How well placed is the school to sustain and improve its performance?
The school is very well placed to sustain and improve performance.
The board is well led. A strong sense of partnership exists between the board, school leaders and staff. School priorities are clear and there is a strong focus on promoting ongoing improvement. Ongoing training helps the board to perform its responsibilities well. The board is very responsive to requests for resources that are directly linked to raising student achievement.
School leaders work in ways that foster a positive school culture. The principal makes effective use of staff strengths to benefit students and other staff.
The principal and deputy principal have high expectations and actively support students and staff to meet these. Leadership practices foster team work, collaboration and critical reflection on outcomes for students. Well targeted professional development along with recent changes to appraisal practices, are successfully supporting school improvement.
A strong sense of partnership exists between teachers and parents. This sense of partnership has been enhanced through improved communication practices. Interactions between parents and teachers are becoming increasingly focused on how best to support students' learning at home and school.
Area for review and development
The board, school leaders and teachers should build on the best of existing practices to enhance the quality of their evaluation and self review. Future developments should include:
- extending guidelines for undertaking regular, robust self reviews
- complementing the strong focus on evaluating student outcomes with further analysis of factors that may be helping or hindering student progress.
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:
- board administration
- curriculum
- management of health, safety and welfare
- personnel management
- financial management
- asset management.
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:
- emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
- physical safety of students
- teacher registration
- processes for appointing staff
- stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
- attendance.
Conclusion
The school’s curriculum is successfully engaging students and promoting their achievement. Students learn in a positive, inclusive, learning-focused environment. Effective leadership and governance practices mean the school is in a very good position to sustain and improve its performance. A positive school culture and a strong sense of community exist.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in four-to-five years.
Chris Rowe
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)
13 August 2015
About the School
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Location
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Southland
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Ministry of Education profile number
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3990
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School type
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Contributing (Years 1 to 6)
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School roll
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61
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Gender composition
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Girls 30;
Boys 31
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Ethnic composition
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NZ European/Pākehā
Maori
Asian
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41
15
5
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Review team on site
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June 2015
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Date of this report
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13 August 2015
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Most recent ERO reports
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Education Review
Education Review
Education Review
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May 2012
August 2008
June 2005
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