Kaiapoi North School

Kaiapoi North School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 24 months of the Education Review Office and Kaiapoi North 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 

Kaiapoi North School, also known as Te Kura o Ruataniwha Kaiapoi North, is a full primary school catering for Years 1-8 children. Children come from a diverse range of backgrounds. The school’s mission is that students and staff strive for personal excellence in all that they do, and the values and beliefs are lived.

Kaiapoi North School strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are for:

  • all children to gain personal success in literacy and numeracy, make personal progress each year and meet school and New Zealand Curriculum appropriate for each individual

  • all children to gain personal success in all areas and encourage the uniqueness and strengths of each child both individually and collectively

  • teachers to provide high quality learning programmes for all children based on current proven research.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of the literacy programme and the impact this is having on children’s progress and achievement.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation isthe long-term investment in intensive professional development to raise levels of progress and achievement for all students in literacy.

The school expects to see through an in-depth evaluation of progress towards strategic goals, confident children explaining clearly their learning and next steps in reading and writing.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate the effectiveness of the literacy programme and the impact this is having on children’s progress.

  • Strong curriculum leadership with clear coherent teaching practices and learning programmes that enable all students to gain personal success.

  • Staff who are skilled, dedicated lifelong learners who use proven research to provide quality learning programmes for all learners.

  • Effective evaluation that identifies the strengths and areas for further exploration to better inform ongoing improvements for ensuring all students are succeeding.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • supporting all learners with their wellbeing to support equitable and excellent access to learning

  • exploring the learning from the ongoing evaluation of literacy and consider how this can inform improvements in teaching and learning of the mathematics curriculum.

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

14 June 2023 

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

Kaiapoi North School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2025

As of May 2023, the Kaiapoi North School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Further Information

For further information please contact Kaiapoi North 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

14 June 2023 

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

Kaiapoi North School

Provision for International Students Report

Background                                                  

The Education Review Office reviews schools that are signatories to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Findings

The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code.

No international students were enrolled at the time of the ERO review.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

14 June 2023 

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

Kaiapoi North School - 18/10/2017

Summary

This school has a roll of 543 children. This includes 78 Māori children and a smaller number of Pacific children.

Since the 2014 ERO review the school roll has grown significantly. The school was part of the Accelerated Learning in Literacy (ALL) programme. It is now working with seven local schools in Kātote Kāhui Ako | Community of Learners (CoL) to address similar challenges and interests. The school has made good progress against some of the 2014 ERO recommendations. Some areas require ongoing work. These include strengthening the charter and targets to raise achievement and reduce in-school achievement disparities.

Over the last three years there has been little change in achievement levels in writing and mathematics against the National Standards (NS) and a slight drop in reading levels. School-wide achievement in the three areas is close to 70% of children at or above the expected standard.

How well is the school achieving equitable outcomes for all children?

Teachers are using effective strategies to respond to those Māori and other children who need to accelerate their achievement in literacy and mathematics.

The school has a caring and supportive culture and many effective practices that support children in their learning. The school is well managed and governed. Some school processes, especially at the strategic level, need strengthening in order to reduce in-school disparities in achievement. The school has a strong culture of inclusiveness and supporting the wellbeing needs of children.

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

Equity and excellence

How effectively does this school respond to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

Teachers are using effective strategies to respond to Māori and other children who need to accelerate their achievement in literacy and mathematics. However, some school processes could be strengthened.

Close to 70% of children achieve at or above NS in reading, writing and mathematics. The achievement of boys, Māori and Pacific in reading and writing is lower in relation to NS. These patterns have continued over time.

This school’s valued learning outcomes are that children demonstrate the school values, develop ‘successful learner’ dispositions, have good self-management skills, and are digitally confident. ERO saw evidence that these valued outcomes are promoted and enacted through the school. The next step is for leaders to evaluate how new approaches to teaching and learning in the school, impact on children’s learning, progress and achievement.

The school has sound moderation practices that help teachers make reliable assessment judgements.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

The school has a caring and supportive culture and many effective practices that support children to have equitable access to learning and do their best.

What school processes are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?

Children learn in a positive and supportive environment where their successes are celebrated. Strong pastoral support is provided to enable children to be ready to learn. Children with additional needs are well supported and included.

Teachers know the children very well as individuals and as learners. Children who need extra help to succeed are quickly identified, given well-considered support and their progress is carefully monitored. All children receive constructive feedback about how to improve their learning. Leaders and teachers inform and involve parents as partners in their children’s learning

As children move through the school they increasingly reflect on their goals and learning, and assess their own work. They have increasing agency about where, when and how they learn, in flexible learning spaces. Digital technology is used well as a tool for teaching and learning and for children to share their learning with their parents.

Children benefit from a wide range of learning opportunities and experiences. The school ensures all children can participate in school activities. A comprehensive and future-focused review of the school’s values, vision and curriculum guidelines is almost complete. Since the 2014 ERO review, a greater valuing of Māori culture is evident.

Strong leadership supports teachers to build their professional capability. This includes relevant professional learning, and a robust, improvement-focused appraisal system. Effective use of staff strengths promotes distributed leadership. Innovation is encouraged and ongoing adaptation of teaching and learning approaches. Syndicate leaders provide strong leadership within their teams and across the school.

The school is well governed and managed. Trustees are well informed about school initiatives and developments. The school has a sound policy and procedure framework. Strategic priorities are clearly stated in the school’s long-term strategic plan.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

Some school processes and practices need strengthening in order to lift school-wide achievement and reduce achievement disparities.

What further developments are needed in school processes to achieve equity and excellence?

Aspects of charter planning need strengthening. The annual plan does not include some of the key priorities that the school is focusing on. Leaders need to strengthen reporting against targets to show the amount of progress targeted children are making.

ERO and the school agree that continued work is needed to build teachers’ understanding of culturally responsive teaching practices and meaningful integration of te reo and te ao Māori into everyday learning.

Aspects of internal evaluation need strengthening. School leaders need to ensure regular review of different curriculum areas, new initiatives and developments in the school. This will help the board to be assured about curriculum provision and the impact of new developments on teaching and learning.

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

  • 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.

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to theEducation (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 this review there was one international student attending the school.

The school has reviewed and updated its policies and procedures in line with the new Code. The school is closely monitoring and supporting the pastoral care, integration and learning for its one international student.

Going forward

How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?

The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all learners. However, disparity in achievement for Māori and other learners remains.

Leaders and teachers:

  • know the learners whose progress and achievement need to be accelerated

  • need to improve some school systems to ensure the acceleration of children’s progress and achievement and address disparity.

The school agrees to:

  • develop more targeted planning to accelerate progress for learners

  • better monitor targeted planning, improved teaching, and learners’ progress

  • discuss the school’s progress with ERO.

ERO requests that the school send an action plan outlining how they will address the areas needing improvement in the areas outlined in the Sustainable Development section of this report.

ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop to support the school to develop effective planning and monitoring processes to support equity and excellence for all children.

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

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)

18 October 2017

About the school

Location

Kaiapoi

Ministry of Education profile number

3389

School type

Full primary (Year 1-8)

School roll

543

Gender composition

Boys: 50.5 Girls 49.5

Ethnic composition

Pākehā 72%
Māori 15%
Pacific 5%
Other 8%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

August 2017

Date of this report

18 October 2017

Most recent ERO reports

May 2014

September 2010

June 2007

Kaiapoi North School - 26/05/2014

1 Context

What are the important features of this school that have an impact on student learning?

Kaiapoi North School is a full primary school for Year 1 to 8 children. The school’s vision and values provide a strong foundation for the positive interactions and relationships that are reflected between students, teachers and parents.

The school has a good range of facilities that enables leaders and teachers to provide extra activities such as extending musical skills of students, an assembly hall suitable for indoor sport and full school assemblies and cultural performances.

The 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes caused significant damage to the township and surrounding properties. Planned housing developments close to the school by the end of 2015 may have an impact on the roll with significant growth.

The board and senior managers have addressed the recommendations made in the 2010 ERO report. The use of student achievement information data, the school’s curriculum and the quality of self review has improved. There are some areas for further development that ERO and the school have identified could be further developed.

The school is actively involved in building stronger links and a greater sense of partnership with local schools and early childhood centres in ways that benefit children, staff and leaders.

2 Learning

How well does this school use achievement information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement?

Student achievement information is used very well to promote student engagement, progress and achievement at all levels of the school.

Leaders set appropriate, overall targets for raising all student achievement and for specific groups of students.

Leaders and teachers make good use of student achievement information to:

  • effectively monitor individual students’ progress and make plans to foster this
  • support students to set relevant goals and identify their next learning steps
  • establish suitable groupings, adapt learning programmes and focus their teaching to meet student needs.

Teachers and students make effective use of a range of achievement information to share learning progress with parents.

The school has well-established systems for identifying and providing additional learning opportunities to:

  • support priority learners
  • extend learning for gifted and talented students
  • build on and enrich students’ strengths and interests in a number of areas.

These opportunities are strengthened by the way teacher aides, staff strengths and external services work together to provide ongoing support for students.

Areas for review and development

School leaders have identified, and ERO agrees, that ongoing work needs to be done on:

  • extending ways that teachers moderate students’ assessment
  • making sure reports about special needs programmes focus more on evaluating their impact on students’ progress
  • further tracking and reporting the progress groups of students make over time.

3 Curriculum

How effectively does this school’s curriculum promote and support student learning?

The school’s curriculum continues to actively promote and support student learning.

The school’s rich and balanced curriculum provides students with increasingly varied opportunities to extend their learning and experience success. For instance:

  • teaching programmes increasingly reflect students' interests and strengths
  • learners benefit from a strong focus on building skills of independence and self management, particularly at Years 7 and 8
  • specialist teachers, tutors and resources, including information and communication technologies are well used to motivate students to enrich their learning
  • meaningful opportunities that Year 8 students get to extend their leadership skills.

Leaders continue to promote school-wide use of effective teaching practices. This is most evident in:

  • the high expectations leaders and teachers have of their students
  • the impact of professional development on the quality of teaching in written language
  • the degree to which teachers adapt learning programmes in response to identified students’ learning needs
  • the way teachers promote practices that foster student achievement, especially in modern learning spaces
  • the systematic way teachers are reflecting on their programmes and practices to improve learning outcomes for students.

Students learn in positive, supportive learning-focused environments. The active promotion of the school’s values fosters positive relationships and an inclusive culture. A particular strength of the school is the good quality and range of pastoral care and its responsiveness to the needs of students and families.

Areas for review and development

The next steps for leaders and teachers include:

  • exploring further ways of using the good quality information they have about students’ backgrounds, interests and achievement to inform programme planning and enhance curriculum guidelines
  • formalising guidelines for conducting robust curriculum self reviews
  • extending action plans for school-wide achievement targets to include further detail about teaching practices that will be used to help student progress.

How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?

The school is making good progress promoting success for Māori, as Māori through:

  • the enthusiastic support for, and participation in, kapa haka and the use of leadership expertise from the local high school
  • the establishment of a whānau advisory group to advise and support the efforts to promote success as Māori and increased links to the local iwi
  • the school’s continuing Akoranga programme that provides additional opportunities for students to learn about te ao Māori
  • cultural celebrations and public performances at important community events.

Area for review and development

School leaders recognise that their next steps to further develop their planning for promoting success for Māori, as Māori, are extending the integration of te reo Māori across the curriculum. The planning should include opportunities for Māori students’ views to contribute to this planning.

4 Sustainable Performance

How well placed is the school to sustain and improve its performance?

The school is very well placed to sustain and improve its performance.

The principal has developed a strong leadership team through making effective use of staff strengths and delegating responsibilities across a range of staff. Leaders are improvement focused and work in ways that promote teamwork and collaboration.

Leaders are successfully promoting ongoing improvements to the quality of teaching and learning. They manage change in ways that support the success of innovations. Positive change is assisted through well-targeted professional development and support. Appraisal and accountability practices provide useful feedback about the impact of this development and support.

The strong partnership between the board and the principal is fostered through the principal’s comprehensive reports to the board. These reports, along with ongoing discussions, help the board to make well-considered decisions. Trustees actively support initiatives aimed at raising student achievement and promoting student wellbeing.

Areas for review and development

ERO identified, and the board agrees, that:

  • the annual plans could be extended to better reflect board priorities across all aspects of its responsibilities
  • gathering a wider range of information, including students’ views, would help to better inform self reviews.

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the code. The school has no international students currently, but has appropriate policies and procedures in place should this situation change.

Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review, the board of trustees 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:

  • board administration
  • curriculum
  • management of health, safety and welfare
  • personnel management
  • financial management
  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
  • physical safety of students
  • teacher registration
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
  • attendance.

When is ERO likely to review the school again?

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

Graham Randell

National Manager Review Services

Southern Region

26 May 2014

About the School

Location

Kaiapoi

Ministry of Education profile number

3389

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

411

Number of international students

0

Gender composition

Girls 211

Boys 200

Ethnic composition

NZ European/Pākehā

Māori

Samoan

Other Pacific

Asian

British/Irish

Australian

83%

10%

1%

1%

1%

3%

1%

Review team on site

March 2014

Date of this report

26 May 2014

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

September 2010

June 2007

March 2004