Pitt Island School

Education institution number:
3476
School type:
Full Primary
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
8
Telephone:
Address:

Flower Pot-Glory Road, Pitt Island, Chatham Islands

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Pitt Island School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background

This Profile Report was written within 13 months of the Education Review Office and Pitt Island 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 

Pitt Island School is situated on Rangiauria / Rangihaute / Pitt Island catering for learners from years 1 to 8. The school has a strong community focus and uses its unique natural environment to enhance learning, which is reflected in the school’s mission statement to create awe and wonder while learning to learn.

Pitt Island School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

  • be inclusive and supportive of all learners so that they will be successful and enjoy learning
  • have a curriculum that is relevant, student-centred, culturally connected and future focused
  • foster and actively work to engage with whānau and the wider community.

A copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan can be requested from Pitt Island School’s office.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively school practices support learners to transition successfully into, within and beyond school.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is: 

  • strong whānau support for learners to transition successfully through and beyond school 
  • to ensure equitable access to learning in response to the school’s remote location
  • the increasing importance of differentiated teaching and learning to meet the needs of each child to ensure successful transitions.

The school expects to see:

  • a teaching and learning pathway that is explicit at each phase of learning, grounded in the local curriculum
  • a responsive programme that supports ākonga as they transition into, through and beyond the school 
  • increased student agency, where children are confident to discuss their learning and set meaningful learning goals
  • children who are empowered to reflect on their learning achievements and enact next steps.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how effectively school practices support learners to transition successfully into, within and beyond school:

  • strong community and Board involvement, committed to school improvement for ākonga
  • resilient and curious learners who bring this to benefit their learning
  • a school community secure in their unique identities as Pitt Islanders / tangata Rangiauria / tchakat Rangihaute.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • understanding ākonga needs, abilities and aspirations, working collaboratively with whānau to personalise their learning pathways 
  • developing progress indicators that communicate learning milestones through each phase of learning as children transition into, through and beyond the school.

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. 

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

16 February 2024 

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

Pitt Island School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of February 2023, the Pitt Island School Board 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 Pitt Island School, School Board.

The next School Board 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.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

16 February 2024 

About the School 

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school's population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home

 

Pitt Island School - 23/06/2020

School Context

Pitt Island School is the only school located on the second largest Island in the Chatham Islands group. It provides education for 10 children, all of whom are Māori and the majority are of Moriori descent.

The school’s overarching vision is to create awe and wonder while learning to learn. The school aims to have motivated learners who are adventurous, creative and caring in a local and global environment. The values are based on the statement that ‘Pitt Kids have Persistence, Integrity, Tenacity, Tolerance and are Kind, Independent, Determined and Significant’.

The school’s current goals are centred around supporting the learning environment and enjoyment of learning for all learners, and providing a student centred, culturally responsive localised curriculum. The school is committed to fostering relationships and actively working and engaging with school whānau and external community members.

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

  • achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
  • outcomes for student with additional learning needs.

The principal works collaboratively with the other local principals on professional learning and development opportunities. This provision is also used to enhance learning-centred relationships with iwi/imi and the wider Chatham Islands community.

Since the 2018 ERO visit, the board and teaching principal have made some good progress against the recommendations of the last review. The remainder of the key next steps are in various stages of development. They need to remain a focus so that the progress made in achieving positive outcomes for children can be sustained.

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?

Pitt Island School is achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for most of its students in reading and writing. The majority of students are achieving at or above school expectations in mathematics.

Overall, girls are achieving better than boys in reading and writing, and boys are achieving better than girls in mathematics.

All children are making appropriate progress.

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

The school’s information shows that from 2018 to 2019, the teaching principal is effectively accelerating learning for almost all students who need it. All students are continuing to have their learning tracked and monitored.

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?

Students learn in a positive learning environment. They are engaged in their learning and work well independently and in groups. Students learn in a collaborative and inclusive whānau-like setting and have respectful relationships with their peers and their teacher.

Students are supported by their parents who are have strong, reciprocal, learner-centred relationships with the school. Opportunities for parents and whānau to be actively involved in their children’s learning help to foster a positive environment for learning.

Pitt Island School’s curriculum is responsive to students’ learning, and draws on their knowledge, strengths, needs and interests. Learners engage in real-life contexts, issues and experiences that come from living on Pitt Island. They have a wide range of opportunities for learning. The teaching principal uses a wide range of purposeful teaching strategies and resources to extend their learning beyond their life on the island.

Te Ao Māori is valued and celebrated in the school. Tikanga practices are well established and effectively understood by all students. Purposeful te reo Māori is used to further enrich students’ learning. Leadership opportunities are provided where students can lead and develop their own learning in this area. Students at Pitt Island School are experiencing success as Māori.

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

The board and principal need to continue to develop and document the Pitt Island School curriculum to:

  • guide teacher expectations in all areas of the New Zealand Curriculum, including expectations for effective reading, writing and mathematics programmes

  • reflect, respond to and celebrate Māori, Moriori and the Pitt Island community

  • clearly outline expectations for assessment practices.

To sustain good practice and to continue building on the school’s improvement focus, the board and teachers need to use effective evaluation at all levels of the school to:

  • measure the effectiveness and impact of the school’s curriculum, teaching practices and programmes, interventions and approaches on student’s learning outcomes

  • inform decision making to know what is working, what is not and what further improvement actions are needed.

3 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 Children’s Act 2014.

4 ERO’s Overall Judgement

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

The board and principal have requested an ongoing relationship between ERO and the school to build capacity and evaluate progress. ERO supports this request.

ERO’s Framework: Overall Findings and Judgement Tool derived from School Evaluation Indicators: Effective Practice for Improvement and Learner Success is available on ERO’s website.

5 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

  • having a positive learning environment for students
  • strong and supportive relationships with parents and school community
  • parents and whānau being actively involved in their children’s learning
  • a relevant curriculum design that is based on Pitt Island and Chatham Islands life and beyond
  • an enacted curriculum that is responsive to students’ learning, strengths, needs and interests.

Next steps

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

  • continuing to address the next steps from the 2018 ERO report
  • further developing and documenting the Pitt Island School curriculum to guide teaching expectations, reflect and respond to Māori and Moriori culture, language and identity, and outline clear assessment practices
  • the use of evaluation at all levels of the school to know the impact of the curriculum and interventions on student’s learning outcomes, and to inform decision making for improvement at classroom and school-wide levels.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified non-compliance in relation to:

  • Police vetting.

In order to address this, the board of trustees must:

  • ensure that police vetting of staff is undertaken in compliance with legislation requirements and the school’s child protection policy.

Areas for improved compliance practice

To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:

  • continue to engage in professional learning through the New Zealand School Trustees Association to maximise their effectiveness and assist them in principal appointment processes.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)

Southern Region - Te Tai Tini

23 June 2020

About the school

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement.

Pitt Island School - 11/10/2018

Findings

The board and new principal have made significant progress since the 2016 ERO review. The board and teaching staff are now stable and they are developing sustainable policies and practices.

Children are benefitting from planned teaching and learning programmes based on their interests and needs. They are engaged in their learning and are developing self-management and self-assessment skills.

The community is more involved in every aspect of school life.

ERO will review the school on its regular cycle. The next Review of Pitt Island School will be in 2020.

1 Background and Context

What is the background and context for this school’s review?

Pitt Island is the second largest Island in the Chatham Islands group. The school is the only school on the Island. Although remote, collaboration with other schools is beginning to have a positive impact on developing a wider curriculum and learning programme for the children.

The February 2016 ERO review found there were several areas for improvement required to promote positive outcomes for children. Prior to the 2016 review the principal had just left on long term sick leave. Since that time there has been a change of principal and changes in members of the board of trustees.

The board of trustees responded quickly to meet the compliance requirements raised in the 2016 report.

In 2017, the board appointed an acting principal who was subsequently appointed to the permanent teaching principal position. Since that time the roll has increased to 10 children, all of whom are of Moriori or Māori descent. The board and teaching principal are working well together to ensure positive learning outcomes for children.

The trustees and newly-appointed principal have made significant progress but still need to maintain a focus on continuous improvement so positive outcomes for children can be sustained.

2 Review and Development

How effectively is the school addressing its priorities for review and development?

Since the 2016 ERO review the board and new principal are effectively addressing the areas identified for review and development.

Priorities identified for review and development

  • Student achievement
  • Planning, learning and assessment
  • Governance (section 3 of this report)
  • Compliance

Progress against these priorities is outlined below.

Student achievement

Progress

Children are well engaged in their learning. They work well independently and in groups. Learning goals are set for each child according to their learning needs and interests. They have systems for monitoring and assessing their own goals and work.

The use of integrated inquiry is related to local and authentic learning contexts. This planned and integrated learning programme supports children to learn by focusing on their interests and needs. Good use is made of the local environment to extend learning opportunities for children. This includes regular visits to marae on the Chatham Islands.

Records of learning clearly show progress for most children, particularly in reading, writing and mathematics, with some children accelerating their learning significantly. Children with additional needs are planned for well so they can accelerate their learning.

The learning environment has a wide range of learning prompts on the walls and is visually attractive. Children have displayed some good to high quality written and art work.

Use of te reo and tikanga Māori is improving over time with support from both Moriori and Māori imi/iwi. This language, identity and culture is well presented in the learning environment and is heard in conversation between the teacher and children.

The teaching principal is developing systems to monitor all children’s weekly progress, with clear feedback for next steps in learning.

Parents and the local community are well informed about children’s progress and achievement and are fully involved in the life of the school.

The board is receiving increasingly better information on achievement, and board of trustee members are beginning to develop ways of understanding and evaluating the achievement data.

Key next steps

The teaching principal has identified, and ERO agrees, that next steps to continue to improve learning outcomes for children are to:

  • develop a localised, cohesive curriculum document, including clear expectations for learning and teaching, which could be done in collaboration with other Island schools
  • continue to work with the other schools with assessment and moderation
  • continue to build quality learning and teaching practices through appraisal and professional learning and development (PLD).

Planning, learning and assessment

Progress

Progress in this area is documented in the previous section of the report. The 2016 ERO review, found there was little or no planning and assessment. The new principal has:

  • implemented planning systems for numeracy and literacy learning and integrated inquiry
  • developed an assessment and moderation plan in collaboration with other schools
  • improved reports to the board on achievement
  • developed individual and group learning plans for the children.

The comprehensive professional development programme with the principal and teachers from Roydvale School is having a positive impact on the quality of teaching and learning for the children. This PLD supports the principal with leadership of the school, but also offers a wide range of initiatives that have the potential to continue to improve planning, learning and teaching across the school.

Key next steps to strengthen planning, learning, and assessments are to:
  • further refine individual learning plans for each child
  • continue moderation with other schools
  • continue to work collaboratively with the principal and teachers at Roydvale School to address priorities for improvement in this area.  

3 Sustainable performance and self review

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

The October 2017 ERO progress visit found the board had made good progress with all compliance issues from the 2016 review, and at the time of this review, are now in a stronger position to continue to improve and review board performance.

Findings

The board now has a charter and annual plan with clear targets for student achievement. They are beginning to put in place systems and processes to ensure sustainability. Trustees have made significant progress in understanding their roles and responsibilities, and have continuity planning in place. They are receiving better reports on achievement and learning programmes, and are asking appropriate questions around levels of achievement.

The school now has positive community support. The principal has initiated many events that welcome the community into the school, for school based or social reasons, including a playgroup for pre-schoolers once a week.

Trustees have updated EOTC policies and procedures to cover the many activities outside the classroom and with other schools.

The board has a good range of skills to support the school moving forward. Some trustees have benefitted from training in their roles from New Zealand School Trustees Association.

Key next steps

The principal has identified that school policies and procedures need to be personalised to the school. The board is in the process of updating all policies and procedures so they better reflect current changes in the school.

It would be timely for the board to refine and review the charter and annual plans to better reflect the positive changes made to learning and teaching programmes. This should include:

  • a review of the school values and vision to ensure alignment with current practices
  • linking these to the localised curriculum and teaching programme
  • developing appropriate internal evaluation processes
  • collaborating with other schools, where commonalities exist, with the teaching and learning programme and board processes.

Trustees also need to find ways to support the principal with finance, staffing and administration of the school.

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.

Compliance

The board has now addressed most of the compliance issues raised in the February 2017 ERO report.

The Principal and ERO identified one area of non-compliance as they move from using School Docs to using their own system for policies and procedures:

1.1 The board must maintain an on-going programme of self review in relation to the policies, plans and programmes, including evaluation of information on student achievement information (NAG 2:b)

4 Recommendations

Recommendations, including any to other agencies for ongoing or additional support.

ERO recommends that the Ministry of Education continue to support Pitt Island School by:

  • continuing to plan and fund PLD with Roydvale School
  • looking at ways to support Pitt Island School children and teachers to collaborate with other children and teachers from the Chatham Island Schools

ERO recommends that the School Trustees Association continue to support trustees from Pitt Island School, and look at ways to support all the boards collectively in the Chathams region on an ongoing basis.

ERO will continue to monitor plans and progress the school is making, and offer an evaluation workshop to support the board.

Conclusion

The board and new principal have made significant progress since the 2016 ERO review. The board and teaching staff are now stable and they are developing sustainable policies and practices.

Children are benefitting from planned teaching and learning programmes based on their interests and needs. They are engaged in their learning and are developing self-management and self-assessment skills.

The community is more involved in every aspect of school life.

ERO will review the school on its regular cycle. The next Review of Pitt Island School will be in 2020. 

Alan Wynyard
Director Review & Improvement Services

Te Waipounamu - Southern Region

11 October 2018

About the School 

Location

Pitt Island

Ministry of Education profile number

3476

School type

Full Primary

School roll

10

Gender composition

Boys 6 : Girls 4

Ethnic composition

Moriori or Māori

10

Review team on site

August 2018

Date of this report

11 October 2018

Most recent ERO reports

Education Review
Education Review
Education Review

February 2017
July 2013
May 2010