Beach Haven School

School Context

Beach Haven School is on Auckland’s North Shore and caters for children in Years 1 to 6. The culturally diverse roll includes 33 percent Māori children and 23 percent who have Pacific heritage. The local community has strong intergenerational connections with the school. Many children speak languages other than English.

The school’s vision is to ‘empower students, engage the community and grow staff’. The values of respect, responsibility, excellence and integrity are highly visible at every level of the school and are understood by children.

Since ERO’s last evaluation in 2015, school developments include:

• introducing new leadership structures to enhance shared responsibility for the school’s strategic direction

• teacher professional development programmes to support positive learning outcomes for children

• improving te reo and tikanga Māori programmes as a result of internal evaluation

• strategic planning to further develop digital learning opportunities for all children.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board schoolwide information about outcomes for children in the following areas:

• achievement in reading, writing and mathematics

• achievement in relation to school targets

• community and whānau engagement

• wellbeing and pastoral care

• Māori and Pacific student progress and achievement

• information about children with additional learning needs.

Evaluation Findings

1 Equity and excellence – achievement of valued outcomes for students

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

Beach Haven School is working towards achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all of its children. The 2017 achievement data indicate that the majority, including Māori children, achieve at or above expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics. Leaders and teachers are continuing to improve the dependability of the school’s achievement data.

Over the past two years there has been some progress in raising children’s achievement in writing. Progress has been made in lifting Pacific children’s achievement over this period in reading and writing. Senior leaders recognise that further work is required to sustain these improvements and to attain greater parity for Pacific children. There is disparity in achievement evident for boys in reading, and particularly in writing.

Children achieve very well in relation to other valued outcomes. They:

• experience strong relationships founded on respect, nurture and care

• collaborate with and learn from each other

• confidently articulate their ideas and opinions

• have a strong sense of their identity, language and culture

• demonstrate the Beach Haven values in everyday school life.

1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?

The school is becoming effective at accelerating learning for Māori and other children who need this.

The school is able to show good examples of children whose achievement is being accelerated. Leaders and teachers have useful plans focused on supporting children who are at risk of not achieving. These plans are designed to bring these children’s achievement into line with that of their peers and to address disparity within the school.

A Kaupapa Māori Support Teacher (KMST) supported by Māori language assistants, takes a lead role across the school to accelerate Māori children’s progress. School leaders have identified that their next step is to replicate this approach for accelerating Pacific children’s progress.

Teachers have participated in schoolwide professional development to build their professional capability and collective capacity. Deliberate teaching strategies to support and accelerate learning are evident in the classrooms.

The school has very effective partnerships with parents, whānau and the community. Good communication supports reciprocal, learning centred relationships between school and home. As a result, parents and whānau are actively involved in their children’s learning and the life of the school.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence – processes and practices

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

School leaders and the board of trustees provide sound leadership. A purposeful strategic plan outlines a clear direction for school improvement. Policies, processes and practices are aligned to the school’s vision and values. Trustees, school leaders and teachers build relational trust and develop culturally responsive relationships with the school community.

The school is a ‘learning community’ for leaders, teachers and children. Senior leaders are a professional, collaborative team and are well led by the principal. They draw on educational research to engage in professional learning to improve outcomes for children.

The curriculum continues to evolve and learning opportunities respond to children’s identified strengths and learning needs. Transitions from early learning centres, through the school and on to intermediate school are well considered. The needs of individual children are prioritised. A reception class fosters play-based learning approaches designed to prepare new entrants for learning. Children learn collaboratively and have good access to digital technologies. This is a continuing and positive feature of the curriculum.

Leaders and teachers use a ‘strengths-based’ approach to promote children’s academic achievement and wellbeing. This approach informs schoolwide resourcing and improvement initiatives. Children have access to high quality resources to support their learning.

Children with additional learning needs are very effectively supported to experience success. Their learning opportunities are designed to provide appropriate challenge and support.

Teachers’ inquiries into their own practice underpin the effective appraisal system. Teams of teachers lead significant change processes and drive school improvement. They promote effective teaching strategies to engage children in their learning.

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

Trustees, leaders and teachers should continue to embed and sustain effective processes and strategies to accelerate children’s progress and learning by:

• strengthening internal evaluation processes and practices so the school knows more about the effectiveness of programmes and initiatives

• continuing to increase opportunities for children to take more ownership of their learning

• building on existing cultural competencies within the school to improve outcomes for children.

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:

• highly collaborative leadership that builds trust with children, parents and whānau

• powerful partnerships with parents and whānau that support positive outcomes for children

• the school’s vision, values and strategic direction for equity and excellence.

Next steps

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

• systematically using internal evaluation for ongoing improvement and innovation, and to measure the impact of initiatives on improving learning outcomes

• continuing to develop teaching and learning strategies that more effectively accelerate children’s learning

• continuing to empower children to make decisions about, and plan for, their own learning.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.

Violet Tu’uga Stevenson

Director Review and Improvement Services

Te Tai Raki - Northern Region

26 October 2018

About the school