Ohakune School - 28/06/2017

Summary

Ohakune School is a rural Years 1 to 8 school located in Ohakune. The current roll is 175, with 40% identifying as Māori.

There have been staffing changes since the May 2014 ERO report. A new principal was appointed at the beginning of 2017, the position of deputy principal was reinstated and an appointment made in Term 4 2016.

The school has participated in the Ministry of Education (MoE) Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) programme. This is effectively promoted through the values of PRIDE: participation; respect; integrity; determination; and environment. In 2016, the school participated in the MoE Accelerating Learning Literacy (ALL) intervention. In 2017, staff are participating in Accelerating Learning in Mathematics (ALiM).

The school is a member of the Ruapehu Community of Learning.

Continuity of trustees on the board has provided stability for the school during a time of change.

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

Accelerating achievement of Māori learners in reading, writing and mathematics remains a key priority.

The school reports that at the end of 2016, approximately 70% of students achieved at or above in relation to the National Standard in reading, writing and mathematics. However, disparity continues for Māori learners.

A strong focus on pastoral care and wellbeing of students supports their sense of belonging and engagement in learning.Students are confident, able to talk about their learning, and enjoy being at school.

The new principal’s leadership is focused on enhancing the positive learning environment, and collaborative and respectful relationships with parents, whānau and the wider school community. The board of trustees has sound systems and processes to manage the school well.

Some key practices require further development to increase effectiveness in promoting equity and excellence and sustaining good practice. This includes strengthening assessment practices, and developing an authentic and relevant curriculum. Developing internal evaluation to enable trustees, leaders and teachers to evaluate what works and what needs to change to impact on progress and achievement, is a next step.

The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all children. However, disparity in achievement for Māori children remains.

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 reports that at the end of 2016, approximately 70% of students achieved at or above in relation to the National Standard in reading, writing and mathematics. Half of Māori students achieved at or above in relation to the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Since the previous ERO report, achievement for all groups has remained static. Disparity continues to be evident for Māori learners in reading, writing and mathematics and for boys in reading and writing.

As a result of the ALL intervention in 2016, 18 of the 28 target students made accelerated progress. However this was not sustained for some learners.

Moderation in writing has occurred. Staff have undertaken professional development on the use of the Progress and Consistency Tool (PaCT) and are implementing this in 2017. The use of this tool should strengthen teachers’ confidence in their overall judgements about student progress and achievement.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

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

Some systems and process to support the achievement of equity and excellence need further development.

A strong focus on pastoral care and wellbeing of students supports their sense of belonging and engagement in learning. Warm respectful relationships are evident. Students are confident, able to talk about their learning and enjoy being at school. They appreciate the range of curriculum and leadership opportunities available to them.

Parents, whānau and the community are welcomed and involved in school activities as respected and valued partners in learning. They are well informed about their child’s progress and achievement and are regularly informed about school operation and events.

The school is strengthening relationships with the kindergarten and other early learning providers in the area and developing processes to support students’ successful transition to school.

The new principal’s leadership is focused on creating a positive learning environment, and collaborative and respectful relationships with parents, whānau and the wider school community.

The board of trustees has sound systems and processes to enable the school to be well managed. They have a clear understanding of, and commitment to, their governance role. They regularly consult with the community to seek their views and aspirations.

An appropriate appraisal process has been established for the principal and teaching staff to support their professional growth and development.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

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

Some key practices require further development to increase effectiveness in promoting equity and excellence and sustaining good practice.

Trustees, leaders and teachers should:

strengthen their understanding and use of achievement information to enable them to effectively plan to meet the needs of individual students, particularly those whose learning and achievement need acceleration
further develop tracking and monitoring systems and processes to show the progress of target students
develop internal evaluation to move from checking what is being done, to evaluating the effectiveness of practice and the impact on studentprogress and achievement.

The principal has identified the need to review the curriculum to better reflect the local context and to be more responsive to student’s culture, language and identify. ERO’s evaluation affirms this.

To increase the effectiveness of trustees, leaders and teachers to promote equity and excellence,curriculum development should include:

making cultural responsiveness explicit in teaching practice
meaningful and relevant contexts for learning, responsive to students’ needs and interests
expectations for effective teaching of reading, writing and mathematics based on best practice
reviewing assessment practices and the range of assessment tools used to ensure they are fit for purpose
processes to support teachers’ judgements aboutstudent achievement and moderation.

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.

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 Māori children remains.

Leaders and teachers:

know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
need to develop and implement approaches that effectively meet the needs of each child
need to improve the school conditions that support the acceleration of children’s learning and achievement
need 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 an internal evaluation workshop to support the school to develop effective planning and monitoring processes to support equity and excellence for children.