1 Context
Apanui School is located in Whakatane. The school provides primary education for students in Years 1 to 6. The school also provides bilingual education for children to learn through the medium of te reo Māori. The school has a roll of 396 students of whom 182 identify as being of Māori descent.
2 Equity and excellence
The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are for students to develop the values of respect, responsibility, and resilience. The school's mission statement is that students will develop skills, values and attitudes that will prepare them for life in an ever changing world and to acquire a life-long passion for learning.
The school’s achievement information shows that in reading, writing and mathematics from 2013 to 2015, the majority of students achieved at and above the National Standards. This data includes students in the bilingual classes. The data also shows that a higher number of Māori children and boys are not achieving in relation to the National Standards in writing and mathematics. The school is developing moderation systems and practices to support teachers to make better Overall Teacher Judgements (OTJs) for each child in response to National Standards.
Since the last ERO evaluation the school has:
- introduced teaching as inquiry with a focus on students who are below the National Standards
- responded to lower levels of achievement in writing through ongoing professional learning and development for teachers
- worked on improving teachers analysis of assessment information in order to improve their teaching practice
- improved the schoolwide analysis of data for groups and cohorts of students.
3 Accelerating achievement
How effectively does this school respond to Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?
The school is yet to respond effectively to some Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Leaders and teachers use school-wide achievement data to identify individuals and groups of Māori learners who are not achieving at expected levels. Māori children who require specific learning support engage in targeted withdrawal programmes to supplement classroom learning. Teaching teams have developed data walls designed to clearly identify children who are below or well below their expected level. These walls also provide a focus for teacher professional sharing and discussion about how to meet the needs of these children.
Despite these programmes and approaches, student achievement data from 2013 to 2015 shows an ongoing pattern of higher numbers of Māori children, particularly boys, who are below and well below the National Standards particularly in writing. The 2016 school target is appropriately focused on improving the achievement of Māori boys. The corresponding action plan to improve Māori children's progress and others is being monitored and reported to the board of trustees. Aligning and strengthening the focus and quality of detail in this plan is needed. In addition, the charter and strategic plan does not clearly identify how the school will reduce the disparity of achievement between Māori children and other learners.
There is an expectation that teachers will use a teaching as inquiry for small groups of children who are below the National Standards. The quality and consistency of this approach is variable. The principal acknowledges the need to develop the capability of teachers to better interpret assessment data and use this information to plan specifically and teach deliberately to accelerate Māori children who are at risk in their learning.
How effectively does this school respond to other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?
The school has responded well to most of the other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. The school reports many examples of children who have made accelerated progress and achievement in relation to the National Standards. A next step for senior leaders is to undertake a comprehensive internal evaluation and inquiry into what is working for children who require acceleration, what is not working, and what the school needs to do next to improve accelerated outcomes for all children.
4 School conditions
How effectively do the school’s curriculum and other organisational processes and practices develop and enact the school’s vision, values, goals and targets for equity and excellence?
The school is developing the curriculum to more effectively meet the goals and targets for equity and excellence, and also recognises that there is more work to do.
The school's practices support the school's curriculum, vision, values and goals for equity and excellence through the following:
- an expectation that teachers improve their practice to meet the needs of children who are below the National Standards
- the 2016 school target that is focused on reducing the disparity between Māori boys and other learners
- a wide range of learning support and intervention programmes for children who require close support and monitoring
- a positive and supportive school culture where children's successes are acknowledged, celebrated and affirmed
- professional learning and development for teachers to address low levels of achievement in writing
- trustees' strategic resourcing for cohorts of children requiring additional support
- working alongside parents as partners in their children's learning
- the strong promotion and support for the language, culture and identity of Māori children.
The school needs to attend to the following practices and processes in order to fully implement its curriculum, vision, values and goals for equity and excellence:
- a coordinated, cohesive and systematic approach to reduce the disparity of achievement of Māori learners
- a robust and ongoing internal evaluation and inquiry process to determine the effectiveness of school processes and practices for improving accelerated outcomes for children
- consistent teaching for target groups of children achieving below the National Standards
- robust moderation and assessment practices.
5 Going forward
How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?
Leaders and teachers:
- know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
- need approaches that effectively meet the needs of each child
- need to ensure the school is well placed to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it.
The school has identified some good processes and approaches to support children whose progress and achievement needs acceleration. Examples include the 2016 school target that is focused on reducing the disparity between Māori boys and other learners, professional learning and development for teachers to address low levels of achievement in writing, and trustees' strategic resourcing for cohorts of children requiring additional support.
A pivotal step for the school is to strengthen the leadership for learning to ensure the school is well placed to accelerate the learning and achievement of Māori and other children. This process should involve a coordinated, cohesive and systematic approach to reduce the disparity of achievement of Māori learners, and a robust and ongoing internal evaluation and inquiry process to determine the effectiveness of school processes and practices for improving accelerated outcomes for children.
Action: The board, principal and teachers should participate in an internal evaluation workshop. They should use this workshop, the Internal Evaluation: Good Practice exemplars and the School Evaluation Indicators to address the findings of this evaluation and develop more targeted planning that includes a significant focus on building teacher capability to accelerate learning and achievement.
As part of this review ERO will continue to monitor the school’s planning and the progress the school makes. ERO is likely to carry out the next full review in three years.
6 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 the following:
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:
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emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
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physical safety of students
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teacher registration
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processes for appointing staff
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stand down, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
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attendance
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compliance with the provisions of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014
7 Recommendation
ERO recommends that the principal and senior leaders use the findings from this report to build their capability and to develop a comprehensive and systematic approach to accelerating outcomes for all learners.
Lynda Pura-Watson
Deputy Chief Review Officer
16 November 2016
About the school
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Location
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Whakatane
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Ministry of Education profile number
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1684
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School type
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Full Primary (Years 1 to 6)
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School roll
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396
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Gender composition
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Boys 50% Girls 50%
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Ethnic composition
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Māori
Pākehā
Other
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47%
50%
3%
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Review team on site
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June 2016
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Date of this report
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16 November 2016
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review
Education Review
Education Review
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May 2013
May 2010
April 2007
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