School Context
Glendowie School is located close to the Tamaki estuary in East Auckland. It provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. The school roll includes six percent Māori students and one percent Pacific. Chinese students comprise 11 percent of the roll and 59 percent are Pākehā.
The school is guided by its vision ‘I care’, which prioritises the provision of high quality teaching and learning programmes. The school’s expectations are that students will become confident, compassionate lifelong learners, be encouraged to achieve their full potential, and actively participate in our country and as citizens of the world. The school’s values include the attitudes and attributes of the Primary Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate (PYP). These values are lifelong learning, excellence, community Involvement, and local and global citizenship.
The school sets high achievement targets in reading, writing and mathematics. The board’s strategic goals for improving students’ learning outcomes are to:
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encourage students to achieve personal excellence, and confidence to adapt to change and accept challenges
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ensure assessment and reporting processes use evidence based practices
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provide a curriculum that promotes the attributes of local and global citizens with a shared sense of humanity and care.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
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achievement in reading, writing and mathematics, and progress and achievement in relation to school targets
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English language, students with additional learning needs, gifted and talented and international students
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wellbeing and attendance.
The school hosts a Montessori integrated unit and a satellite class from Sommerville Special School.
The school is part of the Glendowie Kāhui Ako. The purpose of the kāhui ako is to build long-term sustainability and capability of teachers, and effective systems within and across the schools to achieve the best outcomes for students.
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?
Students are well supported to achieve excellent educational outcomes. Achievement information shows sustained high levels of student success in reading, writing and mathematics for all groups of students, including Māori and Pacific learners.
Longitudinal data from 2014 to 2017 show that almost all students are achieving to the expectations of the New Zealand Curriculum in mathematics and reading. Most students are achieving expectations in writing. This achievement has been consistent over time.
Students achieve very well in relation to the school’s broader valued outcomes. Almost all students:
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are active, competent and curious inquirers
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are collaborative problem solvers
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show empathy and respect themselves and others
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have a strong sense of social responsibility.
1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?
Glendowie School is highly effective in responding to those students whose learning progress needs acceleration.
Leaders and teachers share a collective responsibility for students’ progress and achievement. Achievement data are very well collated and analysed to identify students who would benefit from support to accelerate their learning. Interventions and programmes for individual students are monitored by school managers. Students’ progress is carefully assessed, tracked and monitored. Data show these students make accelerated progress and achieve success over their time at the school.
Teachers collaboratively refine and adapt teaching programmes to ensure students have maximum opportunity to progress and achieve. They also use inquiries and evaluation to consider new approaches, and to sustain strategies that impact positively on student progress.
The current focus on writing encourages children’s motivation and active engagement in their learning. Teachers integrate writing with inquiry learning and provide students with meaningful real-life learning opportunities, choice and collaboration. As a result, 2018 achievement data show improved writing outcomes in students’ progress and achievement.
New learners of English benefit from highly effective support that enables them to make progress in their learning. They are carefully monitored to ensure they are well integrated into their classroom programmes and learning experiences across the school. Many of these students build their confidence and learning capabilities to make accelerated progress.
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?
The school’s vision and values, and the board’s strategic intent and high expectations for every student, provide a sound platform for continuously enhancing equity and excellence. School governance practices enact the vision, and promote coherent and successful school approaches to improving outcomes for all learners.
School leadership is highly effective. Leaders ensure efficient and equitable systems are maintained. Relationships are collegial, and learning and improvement focused. Teachers have leadership opportunities across the school and the kāhui ako. Leaders are focused on promoting 21st Century learning, student agency, digital literacies, and a culture of professional inquiry. Student leadership opportunities are developing students’ sense of efficacy and agency in relation to their learning and wellbeing.
Relevant professional learning and robust appraisal processes play an integral part in supporting the school’s strategic direction. Teachers benefit from leaders’ strategic approach to building their capability to deliver the curriculum. Coherent performance management systems support teacher improvement. The school’s professional community is focused on collaboration and inquiry to support responsive and adaptive teaching practices. New teachers to the school experience comprehensive induction and mentoring.
Students experience a rich and broad curriculum that enables them to excel academically and develop the skills of lifelong learners. Student inquiries promote learning through authentic and meaningful links across the curriculum and in the child-centred and interactive environment. Collaborative teaching practices and well-resourced, flexible learning spaces promote students’ independence and awareness of themselves as learners.
Children benefit from the in-depth knowledge that their teachers have of them as learners. Student voice and feedback help teachers understand children’s learning needs at a deeper level. The school’s vision and values are well known and help students to self-manage, reflect and influence curriculum change. Students value the opportunities to be diverse thinkers, collaboratively learn new knowledge and skills and consider other points of view. They self-monitor, identify their own learning needs and reflect on their own and others’ work.
Parents and whānau are valued partners in their roles as school mentors, experts and coaches to enrich children’s learning opportunities. Community participation enhances the curriculum and supports students to develop competencies, lifelong skills and a shared sense of humanity and care for the world they live in.
Internal evaluation is used very well to improve outcomes for students. Robust quality assurance and monitoring processes are maintained to ensure school expectations are met. Evaluation and inquiry are used to promote improvement, and sustain processes that support student equity and excellence. Leaders and teachers make very good use of data, and engage in thoughtful interpretation and evidenced, informed conversations to guide practice.
2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?
School leaders and the board of trustees acknowledge the importance of te ao Māori in the school’s curriculum and teaching practices. They could evaluate how well the integration of bicultural practices and Treaty of Waitangi principles are reflected in the school’s curriculum and learner profile. An enhanced lens on biculturalism could promote deeper understanding for everyone in the school community.
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:
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 and certification
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processes for appointing staff
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stand down, suspension, expulsion and exclusion of students
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attendance
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school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.
Provision for international students
The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 (the Code) established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code. At the time of the review there were 40 international students attending the school.
ERO confirms that the school’s internal evaluation process for international students is thorough. The school has highly effective systems and practices to ensure the quality of education and pastoral care of international students. Students’ progress and achievement is well monitored, and students integrate well into the school’s education community. The board receives regular information about the progress and achievement of international students.
4 Going forward
Key strengths of the school
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
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a vision for education that prioritises high quality teaching and learning for each student to learn and achieve personal excellence
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school leadership, at all levels of the school, that actively supports equity and excellence
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systems and strategies that develop confident, professional teachers and responsive and adaptive teaching practice
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internal evaluation practices that support ongoing improvement.
Next steps
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:
ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing
ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in four-to-five years.
Violet Tu’uga Stevenson
Director Review and Improvement Services
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
20 December 2018
About the school
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Location
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Glendowie, Auckland
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Ministry of Education profile number
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1294
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School type
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Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)
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School roll
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667
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Gender composition
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Girls 51% Boys 49%
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Ethnic composition
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Māori 6%
Pākehā 59%
Chinese 11%
other Asian 8%
other European 5%
other ethnic groups 11%
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Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)
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Yes
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Review team on site
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November 2018
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Date of this report
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20 December 2018
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review March 2014
Education Review May 2009
Education review December 2005
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