Merrin School Ngā Whetū Kohara

Education institution number:
3434
School type:
Full Primary
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
439
Telephone:
Address:

41 Merrin Street, Avonhead, Christchurch

View on map

Merrin School - 29/05/2019

School Context

Merrin School is a primary school for students in Years 1 to 8. At the time of this ERO review there were 470 students, 10% of whom identify as Māori. The school continues to experience significant roll growth. Students come from a wide range of diverse cultures. The school has over 100 English language learners and 12 international students.

The school’s vision is for all tamariki to shine by purposefully providing a learning environment that nurtures and empowers every child. This vision is underpinned by the school’s beliefs and values of: whanaungatanga|relationships; manaakitanga|respect; kaitiakitanga|guardianship; rangatiratanga|leadership; and, ako|limitless learning. These form the basis of the school’s localised curriculum and are the valued outcomes for learners.

The board’s strategic goals are for all children to effectively access the curriculum through careful development of learning environments and approaches that fully engage and involve the learner so they can achieve to the best of their ability.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:

  • progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics, including in relation to school targets

  • aspects of student wellbeing, including achievement of school values.

Since the 2015 ERO review, there have been staff and board changes, including at leadership level. The school has taken part in significant professional learning to support the development and implementation of its localised curriculum. Staff have engaged in a Ministry of Education literacy programme. Coaching and mentoring has also been a feature of professional learning. Mathematics professional learning is a school-wide focus for 2019.

The school seeks to be a leader within the community.

Evaluation Findings

1 Equity and excellence – achievement of valued outcomes for students

1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?

The school is moving positively towards supporting students to achieve its valued outcomes. In 2018, the school made very good progress with achieving equitable outcomes for all its students. Most students have achieved at or above curriculum expectations in reading and mathematics for the last three years, and in writing in 2018.

School information over the last three years shows:

  • proportions of Māori students achieving curriculum expectations have increased in reading, writing and mathematics, although some disparity continues

  • the number of Pacific students at or above curriculum expectations has significantly improved

  • similar achievement levels for boys and girls in mathematics

  • that the school has closed the achievement gaps in reading and writing and there is now parity for boys.

In 2018 most students, including English language learners, indicated that they have a strong sense of belonging to their school and learn in a caring, respectful environment.

1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?

Leaders’ specific and targeted strategies to accelerate progress have been increasingly effective in reducing in-school disparity for most groups of learners. This positive trend has continued over time.

Overall in 2018, the majority of students identified as needing to make accelerated progress did so in reading and writing. Just under half of targeted students accelerated their progress in mathematics.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence – processes and practices

2.1 What school processes and practices are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

Leaders and teachers provide a localised curriculum that is highly responsive to students’ needs, abilities, interests and cultures. This well-considered curriculum is built on the school’s core beliefs and values. Students’ learning needs are quickly identified and effectively addressed through quality curriculum design. Teachers’ reflections and professional conversations support effective teaching practices that provide students with multiple opportunities to learn.

Students are fully engaged in their learning within caring, collaborative and inclusive learning environments. There is a high level of student agency, with emphasis placed on students’ development of learning-to-learn capabilities. Students consistently contribute to the content of their learning, co-constructing individual and group learning (ako) plans. They develop, review and report on their goals in real time. Students’ progress is closely monitored by teams of teachers who work collaboratively and take collective responsibility for students’ progress, achievement and wellbeing.

Senior leaders take a strategic and coherent approach to appointing staff and building the professional capability and collective capacity of all teachers. Staff responsibilities are based on their experience and skill alignment with the school’s values and vision for curriculum and expected teaching practice. Team leaders receive extensive professional learning and development, enabling them to effectively coach and mentor their teams as part of the appraisal system. Collaborative teaching practices are supported by the school’s cohesive organisational structures and procedures.

School leaders and trustees have an unrelenting focus on achieving equity, student agency, wellbeing and whanaungatanga for all students. They are highly committed to achieving the school’s vision and goals, and embedding the values. A well-defined strategic direction and annual planning align with all school systems and processes. Effective change management ensures students, parents and teachers are fully engaged with the school’s evolving curriculum. The consistent and cohesive practices of teachers, with support from senior leaders, are key contributors to the effectiveness of teaching and learning.

The school has a strong culture of reflection and improvement that is consistently focused on enhancing teacher practice and outcomes for students. Leaders demonstrate sound evaluative practice. Evaluations are well informed by a range of perspectives, including student voice, research and understandings about best practice.

Leaders purposefully gather and use a range of information to identify what needs improving and the differences being made to learning. Changes are revisited to ensure new and improved practices are achieving intended outcomes. As a result of robust critical reflection and evaluation, students’ learning and wellbeing is greatly improved.

Leaders value and consistently promote educationally powerful connections and relationships with parents and whānau. Leaders and teachers use a number of effective communication strategies and resources that contribute to meaningful engagement between home and school. Thoughtful approaches are inclusive of Māori whānau and the school community’s culturally diverse population. These connections and relationships are promoting positive learner-centred outcomes.

2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

The next steps are for the board and school leaders to increase the clarity of reporting schoolwide student progress and achievement information. Reporting needs to show sufficiency of progress, as well as overall achievement, for all students and specific groups of students across the school. It is also timely for the board to revise the school’s strategic targets in order to better reflect the board’s intention to achieve equity and excellence for all students.

3 Other Matters

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the Education (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 the Code.

At the time of the review there were 12 international students attending the school.

Self-review processes are well developed to ensure that the school meets its obligations under the Code.

International students are provided with high quality support for their education and care by the team responsible for them. The school effectively includes international students in classroom teaching and learning programmes. Their language learning is fostered through deliberate everyday interactions with peers, teachers and teacher aides. School achievement data indicates that they achieve well. They are well integrated into the life of the school and the community.

4 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
  • finance
  • 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.

5 ERO’s Overall Judgement

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Merrin School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Strong.

ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance is available on ERO’s website.

6 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

  • the high quality of its responsive, localised curriculum and effective collaborative teaching practices which provide students with multiple opportunities to learn
  • the active engagement of parents and whānau in curriculum development and meaningful home school relationships that benefit the learner
  • leadership which actively promotes a culture of evaluation, inquiry and knowledge building that centres on students’ learning and wellbeing.

Next steps

For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:

  • ensuring greater clarity of reported schoolwide achievement and sufficiency of progress information for all students and specific groups
  • reframing the board’s annual student achievement targets so they more clearly reflect those who need to accelerate their progress.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

29 May 2019

About the school

Location

Christchurch

Ministry of Education profile number

3434

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

471

Gender composition

Boys 55%, Girls 45%

Ethnic composition

Māori 10%

NZ European/Pākehā 37%

Asian 34%

Pacific 4%

Other ethnic groups 15%

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)

Yes

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

April 2019

Date of this report

29 May 2019

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review November 2015
Education Review August 2012

Merrin School - 02/11/2015

Findings

Students take part in a rich, well balanced and varied range of learning experiences. Well-considered innovations are enhancing the quality of their education. The school provides students with a supportive, inclusive learning-focused environment. Strong professional leadership and a supportive board mean the school is becoming very well placed to sustain and improve its performance.

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

1 Context

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

This school provides education for students in Year 1 to 8 who learn in a variety of classroom settings. The school has experienced significant roll growth over the last three years. A number of staff are new to the school in 2015.

The range of students’ backgrounds, strengths and interests continue to increase. Students come from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. This diversity enriches students’ learning.

Close links with other local schools enhance learning opportunities and support school improvement. Significant collaboration with several local early childhood centres is leading to more children successfully transitioning to school.

The school often hosts visits from other professionals to learn about some of the school’s successful innovations.

The board, leaders and staff have successfully retained and built on almost all the strengths noted in the school’s 2012 ERO report. This is particularly evident in the quality of teaching programmes and leadership.

The school has made good progress towards addressing the recommendations made at that time. Improvements are particularly noticeable in teaching and evaluation practices.

2 Learning

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

The school makes very effective use of achievement information to improve student engagement, progress and achievement.

Teachers and leaders gather a suitable range of achievement information through well established assessment practices. This information is readily available to teachers and leaders. Assessment practices help teachers make well considered judgements about student achievement and progress.

The effective use of achievement information is particularly evident in the way:

  • information is shared among teachers, students and parents, used to collaboratively develop student learning goals and to monitor achievement
  • teachers use it to regularly evaluate and modify their programmes, practices and groupings
  • leaders and teachers use this information to establish well considered improvement targets, develop plans to help students achieve these, and closely monitor student progress
  • leaders and teachers analyse and report achievement information to the board in a wide variety of areas.

A feature of the school is the wide range of well-managed, responsive and regularly monitored individual assistance provided for students needing additional learning or personal support.

3 Curriculum

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

The school’s curriculum promotes and supports student learning well and in many instances, very well. Evidence of this success is most apparent in:

  • student achievement in mathematics, where over 80% of students achieve above the National Standard
  • student progress in literacy in 2014 and the progress most targeted students are making in literacy and mathematics in 2015
  • student achievement in aspects of science, health and physical education, technology and the arts along with the leadership skills being developed by many older students
  • individual and team successes in external academic tests and competitions.

The school provides students with a rich, well balanced and varied range of learning experiences. Students have good opportunities to achieve success across the curriculum.

Student engagement and learning is being promoted through:

  • class programmes and activities that are increasingly responsive to students’ strengths, interests and needs
  • teachers' efforts to make learning meaningful and linked to their everyday lives
  • a strong focus on students taking greater responsibility for their own learning and developing their self-management skills
  • the way bicultural and multicultural perspectives are being increasingly integrated into classroom programmes
  • the range of recent innovations that are improving learning opportunities for students, including those focused on oral language and others aspects of literacy, mathematics and inquiry-based learning.

Professional development and support is resulting in teachers more consistently using practices that are known to foster student progress and achievement. These include:

  • teachers having high expectations, making clear the purpose of learning and students’ next learning steps
  • questioning and activities that help to challenge and extend students' thinking
  • using a varied range of resources, including digital technologies, to help to support learning and teaching
  • reflective practices that are helping teachers to evaluate their programmes and practices in greater depth.

The school provides students with a supportive, inclusive and learning-focused environment.

Respectful relationships, good routines, student-to-student support and teachers’ approaches to promoting good behaviour all contribute to this environment. Teachers value students’ contributions and acknowledge their successes. These factors, along with the significant provisions for pastoral care and support, help to nurture students’ sense of belonging and wellbeing.

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

The increasing numbers of Māori students attending the school are being supported in ways that affirm their culture and identity. School programmes and practices increasingly incorporate aspects of te reo and tikanga Māori. The school has a strong kapa haka group and powhiri are now an established part of school protocols.

In 2013 and 2014 leaders and teachers had greater success in promoting the achievement of Māori students in science, technology, the arts, health and physical education than in literacy and mathematics. In 2015, there is more evidence of Māori students making accelerated progress in literacy and mathematics.

The school’s efforts to promote success for Māori are being well supported through initiatives they are involved in with a local cluster of schools. These have included consultation with whānau, cluster plans around promoting Māori success and accessing support from a local Māori adviser.

How effectively does the school promote educational success for Pacific students?

The school successfully fosters the cultural identity of its small Pacific student roll, including through aspects of teaching programmes including the arts. Pacific students achieve at least as well as their peers.

4 Sustainable Performance

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

After a period of significant improvement, the school is becoming very well placed to sustain and improve its performance.

The principal, with the support of a cohesive and experienced leadership team, provides strong, improvement-focused professional leadership. She provides clear direction for the school and makes good use of the interests and expertise of other leaders and teachers.

Leaders have successfully:

  • promoted a number of well considered initiatives that have improved the quality of education for students
  • established good provisions for the coordination and evaluation of the school’s curriculum
  • developed a comprehensive approach to professional learning and support, including robust appraisal systems and the active sharing of best practice
  • created a culture that fosters participation, collaborative practices and critical reflection.

The board performs its governance role well, making good use of the experiences and skills of trustees. The board is well served by its principal and receives regular and informative reports across a range of areas. These reports help trustees to make well-informed decisions. The board actively supports initiatives focused on raising student achievement and up-skilling staff. It has good systems in place to meet its obligations.

A good sense of partnership between the school and its community is fostered through regular communication, the accessibility of leaders and teachers, school activities that involve parents and students, along with parent involvement in aspects of class programmes.

Areas for review and development

ERO agrees with the future priorities leaders and the board have established for the school. These include:

  • continuing to explore ways of accelerating student progress
  • embedding and building on the significant range of school initiatives introduced over the last three years
  • updating key school documents to better reflect, and help sustain, improvements made since the 2012 ERO review
  • further developing aspects of board self review.

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the Code of Practice for the Pastoral Care of International Students (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 were four international students attending the school and no exchange students.

The school effectively integrates international students and their families into the life of the school. International students are well supported in their class programmes to work with their peers and achieve success in all aspects of their learning. They are actively encouraged to share their language and culture to enrich the knowledge and understanding of other students at the school.

ERO and the board agree that reports on international students should include more information about the students' progress and achievement.

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.

Conclusion

Students take part in a rich, well balanced and varied range of learning experiences. Well-considered innovations are enhancing the quality of their education. The school provides students with a supportive, inclusive learning-focused environment. Strong professional leadership and a supportive board mean the school is becoming very well placed to sustain and improve its performance.

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

Chris Rowe

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)

2 November 2015

About the School

Location

Christchurch

Ministry of Education profile number

3434

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

439

Number of international students

4

Gender composition

Girls 48%;

Boys 52%

Ethnic composition

Pākehā 47%

Maori 9%

Pacific 3%

Asian 36%

Other ethnicities 5%

Review team on site

September 2015

Date of this report

2 November 2015

Most recent ERO reports

Education Review August 2012

Education Review June 2010

Education Review June 2009