Findings
Salford School is effectively addressing its priorities for improvement. The board, leaders and staff are working together to ensure positive outcomes for children. Improved school guidelines and systems are contributing to this. The school is establishing a foundation of values, leadership and relationships that are likely to sustain and improve student learning.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.
1 Background and Context
What is the background and context for this school’s review?
This review describes and evaluates the school’s progress to be self-managing and its capacity to sustain and improve its performance. At the time of the last ERO review in 2014, a relief principal was in place, and a commissioner was carrying out the role of the board. In 2016 a permanent principal was appointed and a board of trustees was elected by the school community.
The statutory intervention in the school has effectively addressed the governance and self-review areas identified in ERO’s 2012 report. It ensured that outcomes for children remained the focus of all developments.
The board has sought and responded to appropriate support to guide its development of systems and understanding of governance. The principal and senior leaders are establishing coherent school-wide systems for teaching and learning.
This ERO review has found that the board, principal, senior leaders and teachers have made significant progress in developing and supporting sound leadership and governance practices.
2 Review and Development
How effectively is the school addressing its priorities for review and development?
Priorities identified for review and development
At the time of the last ERO review in 2014, the school was being led by a relief principal and governed by a commissioner. The areas that ERO investigated for the 2014 review focused on professional leadership and governance.
Progress
Professional leadership
In the 13 months the current principal has been in the position, considerable progress has been made. The senior leadership team has a deliberate focus on raising the achievement levels of learners at risk of underachievement.
Senior leaders are effectively establishing school-wide systems for consistency of expectations and practices. These cover the areas of learning and achievement, behaviour, teaching and assessment, and appraisal.
Senior leaders are using very effective processes to inform school directions and goals. These processes include:
- using an effective review framework
- being responsive to review findings.
School leaders are establishing a useful school curriculum.
There is strong alignment through planning of school targets to appraisal goals, professional learning and development and learning support interventions.
Leaders, staff and the whole school are working collaboratively in their various roles.
Governance
Trustees have achieved a great deal in the year they have been a board. They demonstrate a strong focus on improving learners’ outcomes.
The trustees:
- understand their governance roles and responsibilities
- know about and are implementing a useful governance framework
- have redeveloped the school charter to be more useful and relevant to the school’s current context.
A school priority is to deliberately build community engagement, including partnerships with parents, to enhance children’s learning. ERO observed positive progress with this.
Key next steps
To support the focus on raising levels of achievement, school leaders need to establish effective systems to monitor, analyse and report the sufficiency of children’s progress. This information, along with other data, can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and learning programmes.
Trustees, leaders and teachers should continue to build the reflection of biculturalism in their school practices and documentation, for example the school charter.
The board needs to continue to regularly survey all staff, so that it is assured about wellbeing and job satisfaction.
3 Sustainable performance and self review
How well placed is the school to sustain and continue to improve and review its performance?
The school is well placed to sustain and continue to improve and review its performance. This judgement is based on the findings outlined in Section 2.
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.
Conclusion
Salford School is effectively addressing its priorities for improvement. The board, leaders and staff are working together to ensure positive outcomes for children. Improved school guidelines and systems are contributing to this. The school is establishing a foundation of values, leadership and relationships that are likely to sustain and improve student learning.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)
8 August 2017
About the School
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Location
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Invercargill
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Ministry of Education profile number
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4014
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School type
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Contributing (Years 1 to 6)
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School roll
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251
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Number of international students
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2
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Gender composition
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Boys: 56% Girls: 44%
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Ethnic composition
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Māori
Pākehā
Pacific
Asian
Other
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16%
80%
2%
4%
6%
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Special Features
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Satellite Class (Ruru School)
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Review team on site
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May 2017
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Date of this report
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8 August 2017
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review
Education Review
Education Review
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November 2014
August 2012
June 2009
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