Raumati South School

Raumati South School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Raumati South 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 

Raumati South School is located on the Kapiti Coast and provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. The school sees the natural environment as an extension of the classroom which supports their vision of “using our heart, head and hands to grow courageous learners”.

Raumati South School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • establish, grow and maintain our understanding of Te Ao Māori
  • our staff are highly functioning professionals.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate and review how effectively student achievement data is being used to inform teaching and learning programmes; and how well the localised curriculum strengthens learner agency, identity, language and culture to support equitable outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to: 

  • strengthen the use of achievement information in the planning of curriculum delivery and meeting the needs of all learners 
  • ensure learners experience culturally relevant learning activities that support individual success, including their agency, progress and achievement.

The school expects to see:

  • teachers continuing to improve in data literacy and assessment practice
  • learners developing a strong sense of their own identity, culture, and learning needs, leading to enhanced agency and engagement
  • learners who can articulate their next learning steps.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal of using data more effectively to plan teaching and learning programmes and strengthen learner agency, identity, language and culture to support equitable outcomes:

  • committed staff who have a mindset for continuous improvement
  • a regular assessment schedule that can be refined and strengthened
  • moderation practices that promote strong, robust assessment conversations 
  • an established local curriculum that is rich and engaging
  • a school climate that promotes respectful relationships through positive, culturally responsive practice.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • reviewing assessment practices and use of achievement information to better inform teaching practice and improve outcomes for all learners
  • the refinement and implementation of a revised, culturally responsive curriculum that identifies meaningful learning opportunities and improves student agency and equitable outcomes
  • building a shared understanding of learner agency so that teachers cohesively foster active participation in 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. 

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

5 December 2023 

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

Raumati South School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of August 2023, the Raumati South 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 Raumati South 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

5 December 2023 

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

Raumati South School - 13/03/2020

School Context

Raumati South School, located on the Kāpiti Coast, caters for students in Years 1 to 8. The roll of 430 students includes 14% Māori.

The school’s vision is for the students to be ‘resilient and connected lifelong learners who will embrace their future’. This is expressed in the motto ‘Mā te huruhuru, ka rere te manu - with the feathers of knowledge the bird will fly’. The values that underpin teaching and learning are: Respect, Empathy, Attitude and Life Long Learning (REAL).

Strategic goals prioritise providing students with effective teaching practice, a well-connected community, a caring learning environment, and future-focused learning accessible to all.

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

  • achievement in reading, writing and mathematics aligned to the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC)
  • progress and achievement in relation to school targets
  • attendance and engagement.

There have been several changes in staffing since the December 2016 ERO review, including the principal who joined the school in 2018.

Teachers and leaders have participated in the Ministry of Education Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) programme.

The school is a member of the Kāpiti South Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning.

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 effective in achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for many students.

Reported data for the end of 2019 shows that most students are achieving at or above curriculum expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. Results have been consistent over time.

Māori students are achieving at similar levels to that of other groups. Girls achieve slightly higher in writing, and boys’ achievement is higher in mathematics.

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

The school is developing its response to those students who are at risk of underachievement and need increased rates of learning. Leaders identified a group of students in 2019 who needed increased support to improve their learning outcomes in mathematics. Effective acceleration of progress was achieved for the majority of these students.

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?

The school’s positive and supportive environment successfully promotes learning. Children have a range of opportunities to access and participate in the NZC. Well-resourced classrooms are settled and orderly. Students show good engagement in their learning. At the onsite stage of the review, respectful and considerate relationships between students and their teachers were clearly evident across the school.

Students with high, complex or additional needs are well catered for. Planning is collaboratively developed and responsive to individual and whānau requirements. Sound monitoring of learning and progress helps inform next steps for development. External resources and expertise are well used to enhance learning.

Leaders and teachers have strengthened the quality of learning information they gather. Appropriate assessment tools measure student achievement and establish a baseline for comparison. Sound systems are used to track and monitor progress over time. Leaders effectively analyse the data to identify students who are below expectations and respond to their needs. Teachers are increasingly collecting and collating useful pastoral data about learner engagement and wellbeing.

The new leadership team, in collaboration with trustees, has strengthened key systems and processes that have the potential to drive improvement. A digital tool has been introduced to support teachers to more efficiently examine and evaluate learning information. Increased community consultation and collaboration have effectively contributed to the review and development of the school’s vision, strategic direction and valued outcomes.

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

A localised school curriculum needs to be fully designed, developed and implemented. It should include:

  • how the vision, principles, values and key competencies of the NZC are articulated in the school’s local and unique context
  • the history and culture of the area
  • clear expectations for teaching and learning that promote consistency and excellence
  • effective practices that accelerate the learning of students at risk of underachievement
  • guidance for the promotion of wellbeing, engagement and challenge
  • responsiveness to students’ cultures, languages and identities
  • a bicultural curriculum informed by whānau, hapu and iwi voice
  • how the desired outcomes for leavers are incrementally developed through the school.

Leaders and teachers need to further develop their capacity and capability in evaluation for improvement: This should include:

  • strengthening assessment practices to ensure achievement information is reliable and dependable, through increased moderation that improves accuracy and consistency
  • enhancing sense-making to show impact, value and worth of initiatives and practices on improving outcomes
  • ensuring that the introduction of new initiatives and approaches are clearly planned, expected outcomes and success criteria are identified, and the impact is tracked and evaluated
  • continuing to strengthen teacher inquiry and align to outcomes for children.

A useful performance management framework has been developed to support teachers to improve their practice. The recently-introduced appraisal process needs to be fully implemented to strengthen growth in teacher practice.

It is important that there continues to be a well-considered approach to manage the pace and nature of change.

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 Raumati South School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Developing.

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:

  • a positive environment that promotes learning and achievement
  • responding to students with high, complex and additional needs
  • systems to monitor and track learning information
  • systems and processes that improve school operations.

Next steps

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

  • developing a localised curriculum that improves outcomes and enriches learning for all students
  • establishing a shared understanding of effective teaching that promotes greater consistency and strengthens practice
  • building a shared understanding of internal evaluation for improvement
  • fully embedding the appraisal process that supports teachers to grow their practice.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini

Southern Region

13 March 2020

About the school

LocationRaumati South
Ministry of Education profile number2975
School typeFull Primary (Year 1 to 8)
School roll430
Gender compositionMale 53%, Female 47%
Ethnic composition

Māori 14%

NZ European/Pākehā75%

Pacific 3%

Other Ethnicities 8%

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)Yes
Provision of Māori medium educationNo
Review team on siteNovember 2019
Date of this report13 March 2020
Most recent ERO report(s)Education Review December 2016
Education Review February 2014