Dannevirke South School

Dannevirke South School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within two years of the Education Review Office and Dannevirke South 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

Context

Dannevirke South School is a full primary school, catering for learners in Years 1 to 8. The school’s values are honesty, respect, confidence, caring, excellence and courtesy.

Dannevirke South School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners for 2022-24 are to:

  • celebrate Māori culture through growing the development of te reo Māori, provision of cultural opportunities and gaining an understanding of local history
  • raise student achievement, especially that of priority learners, and understand the impact of teaching on student progress
  • develop a curriculum that meets the needs of all students
  • ensure smooth transitions into and through school and on to high school
  • build a strong school culture that supports wellbeing through the nurturing of a sense of belonging and pride.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Dannevirke South School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively increased student agency and further building of a positive culture impacts positively on student engagement and achievement, especially in writing.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

  • raise student attendance and improve engagement in learning
  • raise student achievement, especially in writing
  • identify and implement schoolwide effective teaching and assessment practices.

The school expects to see improved student attendance, engagement and agency that result in increased achievement, especially in writing. It also expects to see improved assessment practices across the school that provide teachers with more accurate and useful data to inform and improve teacher practice.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to improve student outcomes, especially in writing, student engagement and teacher effectiveness.

  • The growth of a learning culture that values effective teacher practice and reflective practice.
  • Leadership that is evaluative and works to make better use of data to inform teaching.
  • Deepened relationships (student, staff, board of trustees, iwi and community) that support a holistic view of children and the place of learning in their lives.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • raising student agency to improve attendance and engagement in learning
  • implement consistent assessment practices and identify effective teacher practices in writing
  • work with local iwi to integrate Māori culture throughout the school within the curriculum and environment.

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 Schools

12 March 2024

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/homes

Dannevirke South School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2021 to 2024

As of December 2021, the Dannevirke South School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

No

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

No

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Actions for Compliance

The board has identified the following area of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

  • Provision of second language instruction in Years 7 and 8 is insufficient.
    [The New Zealand Curriculum]
  • Provision of Careers instruction in Years 7 and 8 [NAG 1 (f)].
  • Consultation on the Health Curriculum has not taken place in the past 2 years.
    [Section 91 Education and Training Act 2020]
  • A statement about being a good employer is needed in the school’s Annual Report. 
    [Section 597 (1) Education and Training Act 2020]

The board has since addressed the areas of non-compliance identified.

Further Information

For further information please contact Dannevirke South 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 Schools

12 March 2024

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Dannevirke South School - 07/11/2019

School Context

Dannevirke South School has students in Years 1 to 8. There are currently 284 students attending the school and 109 identify as Māori. The roll has remained steady over the past three years.

The school acknowledges Ngāti Kahungunu and Rangitaane as mana whenua. The majority of trustees are new to their roles since the recent elections.

The school’s vision and aspirational aims are ‘to inspire passion, growth and success’. The valued outcomes are for students ‘to be respectful, honest, courteous, caring, have confidence and strive for excellence’. Strategic goals and priorities are focused on provision of quality teaching and curriculum to promote literacy and numeracy learning and Māori language, culture and identity.

Annual achievement targets emphasise acceleration of progress of those students identified as at risk of underachievement.

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 in relation to The New Zealand Curriculum.

The school is a member of the Dannevirke Kāhui Ako.

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?

The school is yet to achieve equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students.

School reported data for the end of 2018 indicates that most students achieved at or above The New Zealand Curriculum expectations in reading with the majority achieving at or above in mathematics and a smaller majority in writing. Writing is an area of concern with growing disparity between boys and girls and Māori and their peers.

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

The school continues to develop its effectiveness in responding to those Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Midyear data shows acceleration for a small number of these learners.

Systems have been established for collecting, analysing and interpreting data to assist in evaluating outcomes for students. The school has identified forming robust overall teacher judgements is an area for professional development for all staff.

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 leadership has effectively established a supportive and collaborative environment conducive to promoting student learning and wellbeing. Leaders and teachers are focused on ensuring schoolwide practices and processes promote student voice. Shared practices support teachers to plan for the interests of individuals and assists in building a shared understanding of the curriculum at each team level.

Children engage in learning in settled, inclusive environments. They are increasingly supported to become self managing and have more control of their learning. Risk taking and problem solving are encouraged. Engaging learning contexts are used to respond to students' interests. Student leadership is promoted, their opinions and ideas are deliberately gathered, and their contributions are valued.

The learning of students with additional and complex needs is thoroughly planned and managed. The goals of these students are well known by staff and their learning and wellbeing effectively promoted.

A planned approach supports the implementation of initiatives and innovations. These are responsive to student interests, voice, and learning and wellbeing needs. A recently implemented programme promotes consistency of strategies and practice across the school to effectively promote positive behaviour for learning for students.

Teachers and leaders are collaborative and collegial. They continue to strengthen how they use achievement information to improve student learning, achievement and progress. Teachers plan collaboratively, share good practice and collectively track and monitor student achievement and progress. Staff engage in regular reflection and consideration of ways to improve outcomes for students, undertake combined inquiry and develop useful connections across the learning community.

Leaders and teachers know students and their families well. Staff promote community involvement in school life. Whānau and parents are involved in a range of school activities and have a wide range of formal and informal opportunities to discuss their children’s learning and wellbeing with teachers. Leaders and teachers seek and respond to whānau feedback.

The principal has built connections with mana whenua who are increasingly involved in promoting te reo me ngā tikanga Māori across the school. The deliberate building of connections across the education community through the Kāhui Ako promotes a coherence of approaches and priorities focused on positive outcomes for learners. Reciprocal relationships and sharing of information across early learning services and schools effectively support children and families to successfully transition to, through and from the school.

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

Newly developed systems and processes for tracking and monitoring progress are being implemented. School leaders have identified that further development in understanding and use of assessment measures for identifying progress and acceleration is an ongoing priority.

Leaders should continue to strengthen inquiry and internal evaluation, through a focus on targets that more explicitly identify students at risk of underachievement. This should support staff and trustees to know what is working well, who for and what needs to change to improve outcomes for all children.

Ongoing curriculum review and development should enable the school to better reflect its values, context and vision for learning in its enacted curriculum and know how the curriculum responds to students’ culture and identity.

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 Children’s Act 2014.

4 ERO’s Overall Judgement

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Dannevirke South School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Developing.

ERO’s Framework: Overall Findings and Judgement Tool derived from School Evaluation Indicators: Effective Practice for Improvement and Learner Success is available on ERO’s website.

5 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

  • collaborative relationships between leaders and teachers that support and enhance students’ learning
  • effective teaching practices and learning environments that are well developed and managed to support increased student collaboration, participation and engagement
  • coherent approach that systematically responds to students’ needs and promotes their wellbeing.

Next steps

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

  • schoolwide targets that more explicitly identify students at risk of underachievement
  • greater schoolwide consistency and coherence in making overall teacher judgements
  • a curriculum that better reflects and responds to students’ identity, language and the local context.

Phillip Cowie

Director Review and Improvement Services Central

Central Region

7 November 2019

About the school

LocationDannevirke
Ministry of Education profile number2553
School typeFull Primary (Years 1 to 8)
School roll284
Gender compositionMale 54% Female 46%
Ethnic compositionMāori 39%
NZ European/Pākehā 52%
Other ethnic groups 9%
Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)Yes
Provision of Māori medium educationNo
Review team on siteSeptember 2019
Date of this report7 November 2019
Most recent ERO report(s)Education Review March 2016 
Education Review April 2013 
Education Review December 2009