- ERO evaluates and reports on the education and care of children and young people in early childhood services and schools.
Clarkville School is a full primary, Years 1- 8 school with a roll of 216 children. It is located in a semi-rural location near Christchurch. The students learn in multilevel classrooms.
Since the 2014 ERO review there have been changes to the leadership of the school. A new principal was appointed in 2017 and a new board chair in 2018. The board, principal and senior leaders have responded effectively to the areas identified for improvement in the ERO report. This included strengthening bicultural practices, evaluation and reporting processes.
The school has been part of several Ministry of Education and local professional learning and development (PLD) initiatives since the last review. This has included sustained PLD to strengthen literacy and mathematics teaching and learning.
The school vision is ‘choose to be more’. The school values of: ‘Boldly Me; Positive Relationships; Agents of Change; and Experts at Discovery’ have recently been developed by the school community. These values underpin school priorities and strategic direction.
The 2018 key strategic goals are stated as:
The school is part of the Katote Kāhui Ako l Community of Learning that aims to support the learning of all students within the local area.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
how well children with additional needs are learning and progressing
student engagement and wellbeing for success
whole-school improvement, or other trends and patterns.
The school is very effectively achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for most children in literacy, mathematics and the New Zealand Curriculum key competencies.
The school’s data shows that there is a consistently positive progression in children’s reading and writing achievement over the course of their time at the school. There are high levels of achievement in mathematics. Māori students achieve at similar or better levels than their peers. There is no significant difference in achievement levels between girls and boys.
Student surveys indicate children feel well supported in their learning and wellbeing.
The school is highly effective in its response to those Māori and most other students whose learning and achievement need acceleration.
In 2017 most Māori students needing to make accelerated progress in writing did so. The majority of other targeted students made accelerated progress in writing and mathematics.
Students make significant progress in their achievement as they move through the school, with almost all students achieving at or above expected levels by the time they reach the senior school.
Students with additional needs participate in learning opportunities that provide appropriate support and challenge. They are very well supported through a culture of strong pastoral care that includes parents, whānau and internal and external expertise.
Clarkville School continues to be a high performing school. Students learn in a highly collaborative, inclusive and caring learning environment. Leaders build relational trust and effective collaboration at every level of the school to enable equity, excellence and acceleration of student learning.
Strong professional leadership is effectively building collective capacity for inquiry, evaluation and innovation. Leaders have developed effective systems, processes and practices that encourage collective responsibility for student learning and a relentless focus on continuous improvement.
The board provides strong governance for the school. Trustees work effectively with leaders and teachers to develop the school’s well-considered vision, values, strategic direction and equity and excellence goals and targets. These are clearly aligned to high quality professional learning, school priorities and appraisal processes. Prioritising student progress, achievement and wellbeing is the board’s core concern.
There is a school-wide commitment to valuing Aotearoa/New Zealand’s bicultural heritage. Leaders and teachers are strategic and intentional about building culturally responsive practices and promoting te ao Māori in learning. Māori students experience success as Māori and achieve well. Core Māori concepts of tuakana-teina and ako are strongly evident.
Teachers provide a broad, future-focused curriculum that offers students rich and authentic learning experiences within and beyond the school. Teachers know students well as learners and individuals. Students’ views and ideas are highly valued and used to inform curriculum and school developments. Specific approaches to teaching and learning, and the explicit development of student leadership, promote effective student agency and confident, life-long learners.
Sound, inclusive assessment practices ensure students have a very good understanding of their learning and progress. Innovative use of digital technologies provides effective communication and reporting to parents and whānau as partners in students’ learning.
The board, school leaders and ERO have identified that the key next steps are to continue to:
embed and refine recent initiatives and developments to sustain the high level of school performance
fully implement the strategic action plan for Māori and formalise a strategic action plan for Pacific heritage students
strengthen the depth and robustness of internal evaluation processes in identified areas, such as the effectiveness of programmes at Year 1 and 2.
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.
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
strong reflective, professional governance and leadership that continues to build collective capacity for inquiry, evaluation and innovation
a broad, future-focused curriculum that offers students rich, authentic learning experiences within and beyond the school
specific approaches to teaching and learning, and the explicit development of student leadership, promote effective student agency and confident life-long learners.
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:
embedding and evaluating recent initiatives and developments
further strengthening culturally responsive practices
continuing to extend the depth and robustness of internal evaluation processes.
ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in four-to-five years.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review & Improvement Services
Te Waipounamu - Southern Region
24 January 2019
|
Location |
Kaiapoi, North Canterbury |
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
3321 |
|
School type |
Full Primary |
|
School roll |
216 |
|
Gender composition |
Girls 50% ; Boys 50% |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 15% Pākehā 80% Pacific 2% Asian 3% |
|
Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS) |
No |
|
Provision of Māori medium education |
No |
|
Review team on site |
October 2018 |
|
Date of this report |
24 January 2019 |
|
Most recent ERO reports |
Education Review October 2014 Education Review September 2009 |