Riversdale School

School Context

Riversdale School is a rural Year 1-8 school near Gore with a roll of 100 children.

The school states its vision is inspiring excellence, kairangi fakalaumālie and its mission is today’s learners tomorrow’s leaders, Akonga o teie mahana, te feia faatere o te apopo. The school’s valued outcomes are for all children to work well together, to aim high and to have good self-esteem. The school’s aims and goals focus on all children being engaged and experiencing success, and for 80-85% of children to reach the school’s expectations for achievement in literacy and mathematics.

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

• progress and achievement in relation to school expectations and targets in reading, writing and mathematics. 

The school has an experienced principal and a stable board. There have been some changes in staff since the 2014 ERO review. The school roll has declined in the previous three years, partly due to changes in the dairy industry. A number of children also move schools during the year due to changing conditions in the dairy industry.

Riversdale School is a member of the Eastern Southland Kāhui Ako |Community of Learning (CoL)

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 taking all reasonable steps to achieve equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students.

Most children achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics and the majority achieve well in writing.

There is disparity for Māori in reading, writing and mathematics and for boys in writing. The school has identified this and is actively working to address these disparities.

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

The school is responding well to those Māori and other students whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

The majority of children and most Māori children make accelerated progress in reading.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence

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

The board, principal and staff consistently maintain strong communication and respectful relationships with children, families and whānau. Communication is open and reciprocal.  It is strongly focused on children’s wellbeing, interests and supporting their achievement in all aspects of their lives.  Children new to the school and often attending for only a short time are also very well supported in their learning and wellbeing. They are valued as unique individuals, who bring special qualities to be treasured and enhanced within the school environment.

Leaders and teachers work collaboratively to ensure a rich and varied curriculum. Children’s interests are well integrated to engage them in meaningful learning. Good use is made of local expertise and the environment to enhance their learning. All children have opportunities to succeed, to be leaders and share their interests, skills and knowledge with the whole school.

Te ao Māori is valued and skilfully interwoven throughout the curriculum. Māori children have a growing pride in their identity and culture. They are encouraged to succeed as Māori.

Children are taking increasing responsibility for their learning. Teachers actively involve them in decisions about their learning goals and monitoring their progress. Children are also able to make choices about what, how and when they will learn. They are engaged and learning is purposeful.

The capable professional leadership team effectively helps all teachers to improve their performance. They use the staff appraisal process and application of professional learning to improve the quality of teaching, particularly for children at risk of not succeeding. Professional learning is valued and well used to challenge teachers’ thinking and perceptions. This is building strong professional practice based on current research to improve outcomes for all children.

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

A few of the school’s processes and practices need to be improved to increase their effectiveness in achieving equity and excellence. The board and leaders need to:

• extend internal-evaluation processes to focus more on the outcome for children’s achievement
• ensure the school targets focus on children who have yet to reach school achievement expectations.

Leaders and teachers need to strengthen aspects of the curriculum and reporting by:

• reviewing the school curriculum design to ensure it reflects current teaching practices
• extending the depth of analysis and evaluative summary in student achievement reports to the board.

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:

• providing an inclusive and supportive school culture for all children and families
• ensuring a rich and varied curriculum that engages children in meaningful learning
• making effective use of professional learning to improve learning and teaching.

Next steps

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

• strengthening the evaluative aspects of internal evaluation to focus more on what the school is doing well and having the best impact for learners.

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

1 February 2018

About the school