Kelson School

1 Context

Kelson School is located on the western hills of the Hutt Valley, north of Wellington. It caters for students in Years 1 to 6. At the time of the review the roll was 177 students, with 10% identifying as Māori.

There is a welcoming, community atmosphere. Levels of parent, family and whānau support have increased and their participation in school events and activities is highly evident.

Since the March 2013 ERO report a new principal and leadership team are in place. In 2016, the school is taking part in the Ministry of Education Learning with Digital Technologies initiative.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are that learners in this community aspire to achieve excellence in learning for future challenges. This will be seen through students:

• attaining excellence in essential leaning areas
• taking responsibility for their own learning
• experiencing strong learning focused partnerships between home and school
• having a positive self-image
• having high expectations.

The school’s achievement information shows that most students achieve at or above National Standard expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. Consistently high levels of achievement have been maintained over the last three years. Good progress is evident over time with increased Māori student achievement in relation to their peers.

In 2015, the achievement levels of some Pacific students was below that of their peers in reading, writing and mathematics. Leaders have identified this as a priority goal for 2016.

Teachers use a wide range of assessment tools to inform judgements made in relation to National Standards. Syndicates consistently identify the next steps in learning for groups of students who need targeted support. To further strengthen overall teacher judgements the school should extend their assessment practice to include whole staff discussions and moderation of assessment judgements beyond the school.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has

• joined an externally facilitated mathematics professional learning and development cluster with local schools focused on strengthening effective teaching in this area
• introduced schoolwide teaching as inquiry in 2015 to assist teachers to better evaluate their practice
• introduced a student management system to enable more effective use and access to data
• established a whānau group in 2015 to strengthen learning partnerships.

The previous ERO report identified the need to build a shared understanding of what constitutes success for Māori, to better align systems and processes in the school and to evaluate the impact initiatives have on outcomes for students. These remain a priority.

3 Accelerating achievement

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

The school appropriately identifies Māori students whose learning needs acceleration. A group of teachers is exploring culturally responsive teaching strategies to more purposefully respond to the individual learning needs of Māori students. This is likely to further support their progress.

A highly valued te reo Māori programme assists all students and teachers to be active in te ao Māori culture. A recently established whānau group is creating opportunities for all students and their families to experience different aspects of Māori culture.

Most Māori students achieve at and above the National Standards expectations. To ensure sustainability of equitable outcomes for all students in this school it is timely to evaluate the impact programmes and initiatives have on Māori students' ongoing progress and achievement. This should help to build a shared understanding of effective teaching practices for Māori learners that enhance these positive outcomes.

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

The school is developing its response to the identified target children whose learning and achievement needs acceleration.

A range of interventions and classroom strategies is in place to support those students whose learning needs acceleration. Teachers are beginning to explore effective strategies to raise student achievement and engagement. Tracking and monitoring of learners is developing. These practices are aligned to the strategic goals of the school to improve student achievement.

To enable sustainability of positive outcomes the school should continue to:

• refine, extend and embed strategies to promote more culturally responsive and targeted teaching approaches
• improve the systems and processes that support a coherent response
• strengthen internal evaluation practices, so that there is clarity about what works well and for whom.

4 School conditions

How effectively do the school’s curriculum and other organisational processes and practices develop and enact the school’s vision, values, goals and priorities for equity and excellence?

Trustees bring a range of knowledge and expertise to their roles. They effectively communicate, are reflective and improvement focused. There is a shared understanding of roles and responsibilities and distribution of tasks. Information shared with them is explored and discussed in-depth. More frequent monitoring of the targeted students' progress should help trustees to know which strategies are successfully raising achievement.

School leaders continue to build their understanding of effective leadership. They have focused initially on building a collegial and collaborative team across the school. Leadership should more clearly align student learning needs and teacher professional learning goals. Incorporating these as part of appraisal would strengthen the processes and support more robust endorsements for certification.

Teachers and leaders know their students well. Parents, families, whānau and the community are welcomed and involved in school activities as respected and valued partners in learning. Continuing to maximise opportunities to enable the engagement of parents and whānau in reciprocal learning-centred partnerships should enhance positive outcomes for all learners.

Effective teaching promotes learner wellbeing, achievement and progress. Students can discuss their learning and their improvement goals. Within learning syndicates, teachers collaboratively plan and share ideas about how they will respond to students' needs. Fostering students' leadership of learning should help to contextualise the curriculum to their passions and interests.

Achievement of desired learning outcomes for students should be further strengthened through extending the current syndicate models to a cohesive schoolwide approach. This should include:

• building a local contextual, culturally responsive curriculum that is meaningful and further engages the learner
• developing the shared understanding of effective teaching strategies that supports each child's engagement, progress and achievement.

Trustees and leaders should engage with, use and learn through internal evaluation, to assist them to further evaluate how well the vision, values, goals and priorities for equity and excellence are enacted.

5 Going forward

How well placed is the school to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children?

Leaders and teachers:

• know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
• respond effectively to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
• regularly evaluate how well teaching is working for these children
• act on what they know works well for each child
• build teacher capability effectively to achieve equitable outcomes for all children
• are well placed to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children.

The key next steps for the school are to:

• strengthening the alignment of strategies and processes to better support accelerated progress of students
• continue to build understanding implementation of effective evaluation processes to identify the impact innovations and initiatives are having on enhancing positive outcomes.

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

6 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 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

• Processes for appointing staff

• Stand down, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions

• Attendance

• Compliance with the provisions of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014

• Provision for international students

• Provision for students in school hostels.

ERO identified an area of non-compliance. To meet requirements trustees must:

• ensure the professional leaders of the school appraise staff in teaching positions based on the Practising Teacher Criteria established and maintained by the Education Council for the issue and renewal of practising certificates.[Section 31, Education Act 1989]

To improve current practice the board of trustees should:

• access support from New Zealand School Trustees Association (NZSTA) to ensure policies, procedures and practices within the school meet legislative requirements, including: the process for appointing staff; the appraisal of the principal, teaching and non-teaching staff; surrender and retention of property and searches; and the stand down and suspension of students.

7 Recommendations

ERO recommends that trustees, leaders and teachers use internal evaluation to support a cohesive and evidence-based approach to sustaining equitable and excellent outcomes for students. 

Joyce Gebbie

Deputy Chief Review Officer Central

12 July 2016

About the school