Summary
Richmond View School is an integrated, inter-denominational school that shares its site with the Blenheim Elim Church. At the time of the review the school provides education for children in Years 1 to 8.
The school roll of 132 has continued to increase over time and includes children from diverse cultures and communities, with 10% of children of Māori descent. There is a growing number of children (13) who are English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). The staff has remained mostly the same since the time of the last review and all have strong connections to the church.
School achievement information shows that children have continued to achieve well over time since 2014. The school responds effectively to children with lower achievement and can show progress in their engagement and learning.
The school has responded positively to addressing the next steps identified in the 2014 ERO report.
How well is the school achieving equitable outcomes for all children?
The school responds effectively to Māori and other children whose learning needs accelerating.
The school has many effective processes and practices that promote achievement of equity and excellence. School leaders have made good use of internal evaluation practices to identify the school’s key priorities for further development. Active participation in the local community of learning is focused on raising achievement, particularly in writing and boys’ engagement.
School leaders and teachers are developing a range of effective ways of engaging children whose progress needs acceleration in meaningful learning. A culture of collaboration between teaching staff and with parents and whānau contributes to positive and respectful relationships.
Children are achieving well. The school demonstrates strong progress toward achieving equity and educational outcomes, supported by effective and sustainable processes.
Further developments include strengthening analysis and use of school wide achievement data.
Equity and excellence
How effectively does this school respond to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?
The school responds effectively to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need accelerating.
School leaders and teachers have developed a useful framework for identifying, monitoring and supporting all children’s learning needs. Teachers share ownership for children’s learning and use a range of innovative ways to engage children so that learning is meaningful for them.
School achievement information shows that most children are achieving at or above the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Almost all Māori children are achieving at or above the National Standards.
Those children whose progress and achievement needs accelerating and extending are included in the well-considered school targets.
Teachers use a wide range of ways to assess and identify those children who would benefit from targeted-teaching programmes. Individual progress is closely monitored. There are many examples of children making accelerated progress, as a result of their increased engagement in learning.
School leaders and teachers work collaboratively and have continued to extend processes to support them to make more accurate judgements about children’s achievement levels. School leaders have identified the need to evaluate the ways they assess and report to include all areas of the curriculum. They are considering extending moderation of assessment judgements across and beyond the school.
School conditions supporting equity and excellence
What school processes are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?
The school has many effective processes and practices that enable achievement of equity and excellence.
The school’s Christian values are strongly embedded to ensure all children are valued and supported in their learning. School leaders, teaching staff and the board have a strong commitment to the shared vision and values. The board and staff are very reflective, improvement focused and have high expectations for positive outcomes for all children’s learning, achievement and wellbeing.
School leadership provides very clear strategic direction to reduce disparity and improve outcomes for all children. Good use is made of individual teacher strengths, with regular and appropriate professional learning opportunities. Teachers receive meaningful and useful feedback through the school’s comprehensive appraisal process to grow their teaching practice. School leaders have built educationally-focused relationships with other educational and community institutions to increase learning opportunities for children and teachers.
The school’s curriculum is becoming increasingly responsive and child centred, based on meaningful learning contexts for individuals and groups of children. Older children are provided with many authentic leadership opportunities. Their views and opinions are valued and used in decision making. This contributes to the high levels of engagement in learning programmes.
Children and teachers benefit from the expertise of a Māori language tutor. This provides Māori children with a positive role model and increasing opportunities to hear and use the Māori language. School leaders have developed a useful long-term plan for providing ways to support Māori children’s success as Māori.
School leaders and teachers are strongly focused on building positive and meaningful partnerships with the children and their families. They make effective use of these relationships to promote children’s sense of belonging, wellbeing and to provide meaningful learning experiences that promote improved achievement.
The school has developed useful internal evaluation practices that identify improvements for children’s learning and achievement. The school’s strategic and annual plans identify key priorities and provide clear direction for further development. The annual goals are highly responsive to identified needs. The board is regularly informed about children’s progress and achievement and school operations through the principal’s comprehensive reporting process. Trustees use this information well to make decisions that will support all children to experience success in their learning.
Sustainable development for equity and excellence
What further developments are needed in school processes to achieve equity and excellence?
School leaders have made good use of internal evaluation practices to identify the school’s key priorities for further development. The school is yet to:
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fully evaluate the curriculum to meet the school’s vision for teaching and learning
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integrate and embed te ao Māori across all aspects of school practices and documentation
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extend assessment and reporting in all learning areas beyond literacy and mathematics
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increase the consistency and depth of teachers’ use and analysis of achievement information.
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:
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:
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emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
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physical safety of students
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teacher registration and certification
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processes for appointing staff
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stand down, suspension, expulsion and exclusion of students
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attendance
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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?
Children are achieving well. The school demonstrates strong progress toward achieving equity in educational outcomes, supported by effective, sustainable processes and practices.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)
27 April 2017
About the school
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Location
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Blenheim
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Ministry of Education profile number
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421
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School type
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State Integrated
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School roll
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132
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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 10%
Pākehā 53%
Pacific 4%
Asian 15%
Other 18%
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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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February 2017
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Date of this report
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27 April 2017
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Most recent ERO reports
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June 2014
April 2011
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