Fyfe Place, Kakanui
View on mapThis Profile Report was written within eight months of the Education Review Office and Kakanui 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
Kakanui School is situated on the North Otago coast and caters for students from Years 0 to 8. Their vision is to create learning in an environment that enhances imagination, challenge and success. The school has recently joined the Whitestone Kāhui Ako.
Kakanui School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:
develop and grow effective teacher practice around a structured literacy approach
promote student agency so that learners know their next learning steps and the purpose of their learning
build learners’ resilience and enhance their wellbeing.
You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Kakanui School’s website.
ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school’s curriculum supports learners to meet literacy progression milestones by the end of Year 3.
The rationale for selecting this evaluation is the school has recently implemented the Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA) and wishes to evaluate its impact on reading and writing outcomes for all learners in Years 1 – 3.
The school expects to see:
teachers continuing to reflect and refine their teaching practices in response to learners’ needs and their growing knowledge of BSLA
improved reading and writing outcomes for all learners, especially those who are not currently making sufficient progress to meet achievement expectations in Years 1 – 3.
The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how effectively the school’s curriculum supports learners to meet literacy progression milestones by the end of Year 3:
strong enactment of pastoral care with a resolute focus on students’ wellbeing and sense of belonging
school systems and processes support teachers to collaborate well and work towards achieving valued outcomes with a sense of collective ownership
the school makes use of the unique coastal environment to provide authentic contexts for learning.
Moving forward, the school will prioritise:
sharing information with the community to ensure the school’s new approach to literacy is well understood by whānau, to inform and strengthen their engagement with children’s learning
using high quality progress and achievement data analysis to improve outcomes for learners and to support decision making for continuous improvement
professional learning for teaching staff to grow their knowledge of BSLA and embed high quality and consistent professional practice
reviewing schoolwide curriculum documentation to reflect new approaches and to ensure teaching continues to be responsive to the needs of learners across the whole school.
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
31 August 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 April 2023, the Kakanui School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:
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For further information please contact Kakanui 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
31 August 2023
The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
Kakanui School has effectively addressed its priorities for improvement. The trustees, principal and teachers are working together to ensure positive outcomes for students. The school is implementing useful school-wide and classroom planning practices. Key school practices are successfully supporting an improvement focus likely to continue to improve and sustain student progress and achievement.
What is the background and context for this school’s review?
Kakanui School, in North Otago, caters for children in Years 1 to 8. Of the 58 enrolled students, 12% identify as Māori. The school roll continues to increase.
This report outlines Kakanui School’s progress in addressing the areas for review and development identified in ERO’s 2019 Education Report. The school focused initially on ensuring assessment information about students’ progress and achievement was reliable and used effectively.
The board has a mix of new and experienced trustees. Since 2019, there has been several changes to the teaching team.
The 2019 ERO report identified that the school needed to strengthen the following areas:
The school has made good progress in addressing the areas identified in ERO’s 2019 report. A relentless focus has been placed on ensuring all students make appropriate progress.
In 2020, the majority of students targeted to make accelerated progress did so. Most students made sufficient progress appropriate to their needs and abilities. In 2021 the school’s data shows that most students are achieving at or beyond expectations in reading, writing and mathematics.
Teaching programmes and practices have improved across the school. The school’s strategic goals for professional learning have been relevant to the needs of students and teachers. The school’s curriculum sets out clear expectations for planning and programme delivery for teaching and learning. The principal and teachers are effectively collecting and analysing more reliable learning data. In classes ERO observed purposeful and deliberate teaching, and students actively involved in their learning. Planning shows that teaching is responsive to student assessment information and their identified needs.
The principal has made good use of the support provided by the Ministry of Education and other agencies. There are effectives procedures and practices to know of the progress and achievement of all students and strategic goals. Planning from strategic goals, school achievement targets and annual plans through to classroom programmes is well aligned and useful. Targets are specific and inclusive of all students needing to make accelerated progress. The appraisal process has been effectively strengthened. School leadership is more professional and focused on improving the overall performance of the school.
The school is implementing effective processes and practices to sustain and continue to improve and review its performance.
The school has put in place useful and effective evaluative practices. At the school-wide level and for individual teachers, these practices are an integral part of planning to know what is going well and what needs to be improved. Teacher inquiries are robust and demanding of teachers to ensure their teaching programmes are effectively making a positive difference to students’ progress and outcomes. ERO noted examples of good reflective practice leading to improved learning programmes.
The principal, teachers and trustees have identified, and ERO agrees, that their key next step is to continue to embed processes and practices to ensure sound curriculum delivery across the school for all students.
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:
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:
Kakanui School has effectively addressed its priorities for improvement. The trustees, principal and teachers are working together to ensure positive outcomes for students. The school is implementing useful school-wide and classroom planning practices. Key school practices are successfully supporting an improvement focus likely to continue to improve and sustain student progress and achievement.
The school has made sufficient progress to transition into ERO’s Evaluation for Improvement process.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region - Te Tai Tini
20 December 2021