2 Bath Street, Brighton
View on mapThis Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Big Rock Primary 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
Big Rock is a full primary situated in the seaside township of Brighton just south of Dunedin. The school provides education for Year 1-8 students.
Big Rock Primary School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to develop and implement:
a high quality localised integrated curriculum that provides for investigation, explanation and presentation
programmes across the school to build and strengthen physical and emotional resilience.
You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Big Rock Primary School’s website.
ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of the school’s physical and emotional resilience programmes and how they improve outcomes in the school’s integrated curriculum, particularly in literacy and mathematics.
The rationale for selecting this evaluation is the:
holistic achievement information identified the need to develop and build physical and emotional resilience throughout the curriculum
integrated curriculum programmes needing to foster excellence and engagement across the school.
The school expects to see:
board and staff investing in the programmes identified as making a positive difference for learners
the collection and analysing of data to measure the effectiveness of programmes on engagement and excellence across the school
children recognising and sharing with others their experiences and achievements
children being aware of and being able to utilise different learning strategies.
The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to develop physical and emotional resilience:
a collaborative staff who share responsibility and take leadership opportunities
a strong localised curriculum that is reflective of the school community
a positive learning environment with established respectful relationships, that encourages and promotes learner engagement
a board that utilises resourcing appropriately to support learning, particularly in areas identified as priorities.
Moving forward, the school will prioritise:
a culture of evaluation to identify areas of strength and for further development
the continued review and development of the school’s localised curriculum
the development of children’s resilience and independence in learning.
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.
Shelley Booysen
Director of School
25 May 2023
The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
As of September 2022, the Big Rock Primary School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
For further information please contact Big Rock Primary School, School Board.
The next School Board 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.
Shelley Booysen
Director of School
25 May 2023
The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
Big Rock Primary School is a Year 1-8 school with 107 children. This includes 13 children who identify as Māori. Since the 2016 ERO review, the roll has increased. Several new teachers have been appointed.
The school’s vision is that children will become independent, resilient, inquiring, life-long learners. Its stated values are managing self, cooperation, communication participation, and respect for self and others.
The school’s strategic goals are: that all children experience academic, cultural, physical and social success; to strengthen the use of digital technology as a teaching and learning tool; and to strengthen the integration of te reo and te ao Māori into day-to-day learning. The school aims to have all of its children at or above expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board schoolwide information about outcomes for learners in the following areas:
The school is progressively achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for most of its students.
Over the last three years, most students achieved at or above the school’s expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics. Māori learner achievement is similar or better than other groups in the school.
Most students achieve at expected levels in science, physical education and art. Students report very positive attitudes towards learning in the different curriculum areas. Almost all students report feeling safe in both the classroom and playground.
The school has been very successful in accelerating the progress of Māori and other students below expected levels in reading. However, it has not analysed or reported to the board rates of progress in writing and mathematics.
Over two thirds of students in a recent reading intervention made accelerated progress. Most of these students are now at expected levels.
Students experience a very positive and caring school culture. They learn in settled classrooms and show high levels of engagement in their learning. Older students relate well with and actively support younger children in their learning.
A key strength in the school is its holistic, broad and well-integrated curriculum. Students experience authentic, practical and engaging learning in each curriculum area. This includes good use of local people and places to enrich learning. Meaningful assessment across the curriculum informs planning, teaching and programmes. As a result, students show high levels of interest and engagement.
Teachers know their students very well as individuals and as learners. They carefully identify, track and monitor their progress, especially for those at risk of underachieving. They value students’ ideas and views, respond to their interests and adapt their teaching to meet their needs. Students with additional needs are well supported.
Leaders have intentionally built strong relational trust amongst trustees and staff and with parents and families. They value and use teachers’ strengths to enrich students’ learning. Through careful resourcing, leaders ensure that all students have equitable access to the full curriculum and experience personal success.
Trustees bring relevant skills and experience to their role and prioritise children in their resourcing decisions. They make well-informed resourcing decisions, such as funding the successful initiative to raise achievement in reading.
Aspects of strategic and annual planning need strengthening. This could have a greater focus on outcomes for children and more detail in action planning to achieve stated priorities. Present targets to lift achievement are general, rather than focused on children below expected levels.
Internal evaluation practices need extending and deepening. Presently, the board does not get sufficient information about rates of and sufficiency of progress for children below expected levels in literacy and mathematics. Some reports, such as progress against the annual plan, are descriptive rather than evaluative. Present reviews should be extended to include in-depth evaluation of particular curriculum areas or other school priorities over time.
Appraisal procedures and processes need strengthening. These should have a stronger emphasis on affirming and growing effective teaching practice.
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:
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:
On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Big Rock Primary School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Well placed.
ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance is available on ERO’s website.
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:
ERO identified non-compliance in two areas. The police vet for a new staff member had not been verified before commencing employment. Risk assurance management for education beyond the classroom (EOTC) in some instances was not consistent with the school’s procedures and best practice.
In order to address these areas, the board of trustees must:
To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region
26 September 2019
|
Location |
Brighton, Dunedin |
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
607 |
|
School type |
Full primary |
|
School roll |
107 |
|
Gender composition |
Boys 51%, Girls 49% |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori: 14% |
|
Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS) |
Yes |
|
Provision of Māori medium education |
No |
|
Review team on site |
July 2019 |
|
Date of this report |
26 September 2019 |
|
Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review: October 2016 |