School Context
Pt England School in Glen Innes is a large multi-ethnic school and an educational hub for its community. Of the 605 students currently enrolled, 32 percent are Māori and 60 percent have Pacific heritages.
The school’s mission statement is “to work in partnership with our community to build a Path to Success for the children we share”. The Treaty of Waitangi principles of participation, protection and partnership underpin the school’s vision of developing students as leaders, responsible citizens and confident, lifelong learners.
The school’s goals and targets for improvement are framed around accelerating the learning of all students in reading, writing and mathematics. Strategic priorities focus on curriculum inquiry and development, promoting the school culture and wellbeing, and maintaining effective learning partnerships with parents and the wider community.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
- achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
- accelerated learning progress in relation to literacy and numeracy targets
- engagement and wellbeing for success
- the local curriculum, including science, technology and environmental sustainability, digital capability, and participation in sports and cultural arts.
The school provides leadership in the Manaiakalani Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning (CoL). It is committed to working with the CoL to establish and maintain pathways to success for all students. The Woolf Fisher Research Centre provides the CoL and the school with ongoing feedback about how well groups of students achieve and progress.
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 making very good progress in achieving equitable outcomes for all children. The school has an unrelenting focus on raising the achievement for all learners. By the end of Year 8, most children are on track to participate in the curriculum at secondary school.
More than half the children enrolled achieve at expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics. Achievement in writing has lifted significantly over the past three years. Reading and mathematics achievement levels have remained stable.
There is parity in achievement for Māori and Pacific children. School leaders identify areas of achievement disparity for specific groups of children, including for boys in reading and writing. They employ a variety of effective initiatives to target cohort and individual learning needs.
Children with additional learning needs make very good progress in relation to their individual learning goals. Those children whose first language is not English are well supported by an integrated programme that builds on their strengths.
School leaders report regularly on students’ progress and achievement in relation to the school’s valued outcomes. Reports are comprehensive and provide a rich picture of children’s learning across the breadth of the school curriculum. Active engagement in learning is highly evident. Participation in sports and cultural activities is very high. Children see themselves as competent, confident, digitally literate learners.
1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?
The school’s key goal is to accelerate learning. Achievement data show that over the past five years, strategies for accelerating learning have been consistently successful. Significant numbers of individuals and groups of children have made accelerated progress in literacy and mathematics.
Achievement information for 2018 shows effective learning acceleration for Māori, Pacific and other children in writing, where 75 percent made accelerated progress. Half of the children made accelerated progress in mathematics, and 45 percent in reading. The school makes a positive difference for many children who attend the school for short periods.
Close examination of achievement and progress information shows that shifts are larger in learning areas where teachers’ focused inquiry is evident. Deliberate strategies to promote acceleration include:
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building motivation through teachers’ deliberate scaffolding of learning for children
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purposeful, focused group teaching that is designed to provide children with high quality learning experiences
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inclusive teaching and learning practices that connect to students’ lives and cultures
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specific, targeted strategies to address gaps in children’s learning and support their ongoing learning at home.
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?
School conditions are coherent, consistently well developed and effective in enabling accelerated learning, equity and excellence.
Respectful, trusting relationships build a strong sense of belonging across the school community. The learning culture that has been established values the contributions of all its members and affirms students’ cultural identity.
Leadership across the school is strategic and committed to the school’s vision and strategic direction. It is a shared enterprise, with leaders, teachers, students and families working together to analyse and use assessment information to promote acceleration. Leaders inspire staff to contribute to an environment of innovation and inquiry into learning theory and practice. Evidence-based decision making guides changes to school systems and processes, and supports well-aligned, coherent practices across the school.
The school’s curriculum very effectively responds to, and enacts the principles of the New Zealand Curriculum. Culturally respectful and responsive teaching practices support and promote children’s active participation in their learning across curriculum areas. Digital learning is a distinct and integral part of the curriculum and learning. Leaders and teachers promote strong links between learning and wellbeing, one valued outcome supporting the other.
Students and whānau are deeply respected for their knowledge and capabilities in planning programmes. Strong learning-centred partnerships enrich the curriculum with a focus on real world problem-solving, and children working in authentic contexts. Learning at home is actively promoted and facilitated by digital resources, building relationships with whānau as members of the learning community. Partnerships with business and iwi are also genuine and meaningful, enriching the opportunities students have to be confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners.
Evaluation is an integral and embedded component of all school operations and accountability processes, including the work of the board. The school’s collective capacity to use the findings from inquiry and evaluation sustains improvement and promotes innovation in teaching and learning. Opportunities for collaborative evaluation provide valued perspectives that contribute to the wider education community, including the Manaiakalani Kāhui Ako.
2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?
School leaders have identified that while children make accelerated progress in a learning area that is being focused on at a particular time, the rate of acceleration is often not maintained once the focus changes. Continuing to refine the acceleration focus to achieve and sustain gains across reading, writing and mathematics simultaneously, is an agreed priority.
It is timely for teachers to support children to strengthen their capability to reflect on their learning, in order to identify ways they can transfer and apply understandings and skills across learning areas. School leaders plan to revisit strategies for self and peer assessment, to help children make informed decisions about their next steps as a learner.
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 Pt England School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Strong.
ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance 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:
Next steps
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:
- sustaining learning acceleration in reading, writing and mathematics
- enhancing children’s capability to transfer understanding and skills from one learning area to another.
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region
20 June 2019
About the school
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Location
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Glen Innes, Auckland
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Ministry of Education profile number
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1441
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School type
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Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)
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School roll
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605
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Gender composition
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Girls 52% Boys 48%
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Ethnic composition
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Māori 32%
Tongan 24%
Samoan 15%
Cook Island Māori 14%
Niuean 5%
Myanmar 4%
other ethnic groups 6%
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Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)
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No
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Provision of Māori medium education
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No
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Review team on site
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May 2019
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Date of this report
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20 June 2019
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review May 2014
Education Review June 2009
Education Review May 2006
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