Levin North School

Levin North School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 21 months of the Education Review Office and Levin 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 

Levin North School is located in the Horowhenua District and provides education for students in Years 0-6. The school is committed to providing an environment where holistic education is celebrated and where learners have the freedom to be authentically themselves.

Levin North School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • putting great education opportunities and successful outcomes in reach of every learner

  • holistic learning for life that is future focused.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent to which a range of teacher capacity building initiatives are supporting them to successfully personalise learning, put learners in the driving seat and improve learner outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • close alignment with the school’s strategic plan and with an ongoing improvement journey

  • the opportunity to understand which capacity building initiatives are successfully supporting shifts towards personalised learning

  • the need to understand the impact of personalised learning on learner outcomes.

The school expects to see:

  • teachers engaging in professional learning opportunities that develop their capacity to facilitate a personalised curriculum

  • strengthened teacher understanding of curriculum and assessment in all foundation learning areas resulting from collaborative engagement with the learning progressions

  • students driving a personalised curriculum that meets their needs, reflects their aptitudes and interests and leads to more equitable and excellent outcomes for all.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to personalise learning for improved student outcomes:

  • distributed, school-wide leadership that pursues the vision for personalised learning and ensures teaching capability is constantly improving

  • coherent organisational conditions that promote evaluation, inquiry and knowledge building

  • processes and practices for consultation that ensure a range of voices inform decision making.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise the following to achieve its goal of personalising learning for equitable and excellent outcomes:

  • building teacher capability in the effective use of technology to promote student agency and engagement, and curriculum responsiveness

  • strengthening teacher understanding of curriculum and assessment in all foundation learning areas to tailor learning to the individual student

  • the continued refinement of the dispositional curriculum (key competencies) and its integration into teaching and learning.

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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

18 October 2022 

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

Levin North School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of July 2022 the Levin North School Board of Trustees 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 Levin North School Board of Trustees.

The next Board of Trustees 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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

18 October 2022 

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

Levin North School - 17/08/2017

Summary

Levin North School caters for learners in Years 1 to 6. Of the 278 children, 36% are Māori and 5% are of Pacific heritage. The culture of the school is welcoming and inclusive. Shared values encourage a positive climate for learning.

The school purposefully responded to the areas for improvement identified in the July 2014 ERO report. The curriculum better reflects the school vision and local priorities of parents, staff, learners and the board. Improved processes are supporting teacher appraisal and inquiry practice. The use of assessment data to identify and respond to learner needs shows ongoing development. Leaders and teachers have made positive improvements in responding to Māori children’s culture, language and identity.

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

The school continues to strengthen practices to consistently achieve equitable achievement outcomes for all learners. Analysed assessment information shows most children who enter school at five years of age, require accelerated progress to achieve in relation to the National Standards. Overtime, most achieve well by the end of Year 6.

In 2016, approximately two-thirds of children, including Māori learners, achieved well in relation to the National Standards in reading and mathematics. Achievement in writing is lower, with significant disparity evident for boys. Achievement for the small number of Pacific children is suitably tracked, monitored and reported.

The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all children. Addressing the achievement disparity for boys and building a consistent trajectory of progress for those requiring accelerated progress, is a key next step.

The school agrees to:

  • develop more targeted planning to accelerate learning for children
  • monitor targeted planning, improved teaching, and children’s progress
  • discuss the school’s progress with ERO.

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?

The school continues to strengthen systems and practices to deliver a consistent and comprehensive response for all children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Leaders scrutinise school wide data, establishing trends and patterns in achievement to support their reporting practices. Collaborative discussion between staff is suitably focused on the progress of individual learners and next teaching and learning steps. Additional support, including the provision of teacher aides, assists children with identified or complex learning needs.

Parents and whānau involvement is valued and encouraged in a supportive environment. A Ministry of Education initiative, the Reading Together programme achieves positive outcomes for learning at home and school. In 2017, writing workshops are growing shared understanding for families of the priorities in this area. An assessment initiative, based on the principles of the Mutukaroa project, is being introduced to support parent knowledge of assessment in a child’s first year at school. Parents receive useful information, through written reports and interviews during the year, about the achievement and progress of their child.

Strengthening targeted responses to learners is required to ensure equitable outcomes and to build a positive achievement trajectory for all children. To build assessment practice leaders and teachers should:

  • revise achievement targets aligned to those children requiring accelerated progress
  • increase tracking and reporting of targeted learners
  • improve teachers’ use of data to consistently accelerate progress
  • continue to strengthen teachers’ inquiry and evaluation of their practice.

Professional learning and development (PLD) in 2016 has strengthened the dependability of teacher judgements in relation to the National Standard in writing. Use of the Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT) in 2017, should further build the reliability of teacher judgements in relation to the National Standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

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

The school’s vision, mission and values clearly underpin curriculum delivery. Guidelines reflect the school’s expectations for teaching and learning. Personalised learning is a key curriculum focus to promote student-led decisions and self-management. Digital learning options are provided to promote engagement and extend the scope of their learning.

Leaders and teachers promote culturally responsive practices and curriculum experiences that reflect the language, culture and identity of Māori learners. Children acknowledge their positive inclusion at school.

Staff are reflective giving appropriate consideration to student progress and achievement when making decisions.

Leaders continue to facilitate improvements in teacher capability. Well-considered teaching strategies used in many classes encourages purposeful learning and show staff capacity to accelerate progress and achievement.

Leaders provide appropriate guidance to staff to support delivery of curriculum expectations. Participation in PLD has been undertaken to strengthen their collective capability to coach teacher practice.

The school is highly inclusive, developing a wide range of well-considered educational partnerships. Participation in a Community of Learning| Kāhui Ako provides the opportunity to share practice and support the success of learners across the region. Purposeful engagement with other educational services provides expertise and supports student transitions.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

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

Trustees continue to develop their understanding of effective governance. They are responsive to requests by the principal for resourcing aligned to their educational and achievement priorities.

Teachers continue to develop their capability to inquire and evaluate the impact of their practice. Strengthening teachers’ evaluative knowledge and capability should ensure inquiry supports improved practice and contributes to achieving the school’s identified priorities. A recent internal evaluation framework, introduced by the principal, is likely to strengthen evaluation and inquiry practice when shared across the school.

The school and ERO agree that further development to achieve equity and excellence for all students should include:

  • refining targets to address the disparity in the achievement of boys’ writing and build a consistent trajectory of achievement for those requiring accelerated progress
  • continued implementation of the PaCT to strengthen the dependability of National Standard judgements
  • further developing teacher practice to meet the specific needs of learners and actively facilitate student involvement in the learning process
  • strengthening trustees’ knowledge and understanding of effective stewardship
  • continuing to build the capability of leaders through involvement in relevant PLD
  • improving the knowledge of staff and trustees to use inquiry and evaluation effectively.

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. 

Appraisal audit

The school’s appraisal process meets the requirements for issuing and renewing teachers’ practising certificates. Ensuring teachers use this process consistently should support the monitoring and development of their practice.

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 children. However disparity in achievement for boys remains.

Leaders and teachers:

  • know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
  • need to continue to build teacher capability to accelerate children’s learning and achievement.

The school agrees to:

  • develop more targeted planning to accelerate learning for children
  • monitor targeted planning, improved teaching, and children’s progress
  • discuss the school’s progress with ERO.

ERO will provide feedback and resources to support the development of more targeted planning.

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

Alan Wynyard

Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)

17 August 2017

About the school 

Location

Levin

Ministry of Education profile number

2888

School type

Contributing Primary Years 1 to 6

School roll

278

Gender composition

Male 52%, Female 48%

Ethnic composition

Māori 36%
Pākehā 54%
Pacific 5%
Other ethnic groups 5%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

June 2017

Date of this report

17 August 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review, July 2014
Education Review, May 2011
Education Review, June 2008