Lepperton School is a rural primary for students in Years 1 to 6. At the time of this ERO review, the roll was 167 students and 14% are Māori.
The school has developed a new mission statement that expresses the community’s aspirations for “empowering lifelong learners”.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas: reading; writing; and mathematics.
A major redevelopment of the school is planned for 2018, when a completely new building will incorporate open and flexible learning spaces. At the time of this review, the school was in the process of appointing a new principal. The school works closely with others in established networks.
Lepperton School achieves equitable and excellent outcomes for most children.
Most students achieve well. From 2014 to 2016, overall achievement has improved in writing and mathematics, and has been sustained in reading.
For Māori students overall, achievement and improvement is the same as for their peers in the school in writing and mathematics, and slightly lower in reading.
Girls achieve marginally higher than boys in reading and writing, but lower in mathematics.
The school is developing its response to those Māori and other learners whose progress needs acceleration.
The school’s reported achievement information indicates that it is having an impact for some Māori and other students whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Data for 2017 indicates that half of these students made accelerated progress over time. The remainder made either expected or less than expected progress.
Consultative, collaborative and strategic, improvement-focused approaches are contributing to review and development of the school’s curriculum, teaching and learning approaches, and conditions for learning.
The revised curriculum focuses strongly on the principles and key competencies of The New Zealand Curriculum. It aligns with the schools’ redesigned vision, mission, and values statements, with a priority on improving outcomes for students who are underachieving. Partnerships with parents and the community that benefit children’s learning continue to strengthen. Leaders have successfully implemented changes in practice and established an orderly and supportive environment. Teachers are supported, including through professional learning and development, to use practices that enact the new vision and revised curriculum.
Students are encouraged to make decisions, take responsibility for and lead their learning. Teachers increasingly make effective use of open learning spaces and flexible groupings. In classrooms visited by ERO, children were fully engaged in learning. Positive and supportive relationships are evident. Children enjoy the flexible, student-centred approach.
An appropriate range of standardised and formative tools is used to assess achievement. Assessment information is used to identify students at risk of underachieving and those whose progress needs acceleration. Teachers have a shared understanding of accelerated progress. They use data to inform decisions about actions to address individual learning needs. Priority learners receive additional support. Teachers’ planning provides individual students with clear next steps for learning, and goals for improvement.
In collaboration with stakeholders, trustees continue to effectively manage a period of significant change. The board is suitably informed about student achievement and progress and is becoming more evaluative about its performance.
Processes to set targets for improved student achievement and know about progress toward the targets need strengthening. Students at risk of underachievement are included in annual targets. The targets should be reframed to provide challenge and focus explicitly on expected progress for those Māori and other students whose learning and achievement require acceleration. This should provide a clearer basis for evaluation of movement toward the targets.
New systems are being developed to improve teachers’ tracking and monitoring of students' progress over time. Using data and other information to know more about achievement, where accelerated progress is happening, and who for, should support teachers to plan actions that respond more effectively to those whose learning requires improvement.
Strengthening internal evaluation of the curriculum, teaching practice and conditions for learning is needed. This should better inform teachers and leaders about what has the biggest impact on raising achievement, and their decision making about next steps for improvement and future development. Evaluating the effectiveness of the revised curriculum and new teaching and learning initiatives should inform leaders of how well the changes:
Leaders are seeking to strengthen performance management. The recently revised appraisal process will be implemented in 2018. This should assist in developing and measuring the effectiveness of teacher practice in relation to the focus on improving outcomes for students.
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:
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
For sustained improvement and future learner success, development priorities are in:
[ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop for trustees and senior leaders.]
ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.
Alan Wynyard
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)
Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region
9 February 2018
|
Location |
New Plymouth |
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
2182 |
|
School type |
Contributing Primary, Years 1 to 6 |
|
School roll |
169 |
|
Gender composition |
Female 48%, Male 52% |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 14% |
|
Provision of Māori medium education |
No |
|
Review team on site |
October 2017 |
|
Date of this report |
9 February 2018 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, February 2015 |