Silverdale School

School Context

Silverdale School has a 140 year history on Auckland’s Hibiscus Coast, as a full primary school catering for students up to Year 8. Currently, there is a growing roll of approximately 680 students. In 2006, the school moved to its present site in the new suburb of Millwater. The board of trustees has effectively managed significant roll growth since 2012. From 2019, the school will see further change when it becomes a contributing primary school for Years 1 to 6 only.

The school has a new leadership team. The current principal was appointed just prior to the 2015 ERO review. All other senior and team leadership positions have been appointed since 2015. The school’s mission is to “actively prepare each child to take responsibility for their own lifelong learning, values and behaviour, in partnership with the home and community”. The values of atawhai-kindness, hiranga-excellence, whakaute-respect and ngākau pono-integrity, are well known by students. The school’s ‘Learn to Journey – Journey to Learn’ vision prompts all to be learners and inquirers.

Since the 2015 review, the school has worked successfully to address ERO’s findings, and to further develop operations at all levels. It has also joined the Orewa Community of Learning|Kāhui Āko, working in partnership with other local schools and services.

The school’s long-term goals include continuing to enhance:

• a future-focused, engaging curriculum
• accelerated learning in literacy and numeracy
• authentic, learner-centred inquiry
• student wellbeing
• strong community partnerships.

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

• achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
• programmes that promote other curriculum areas
• wellbeing and attendance
• education outside of the classroom
• values-related learning programmes.

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?

Silverdale School effectively promotes equitable and excellent learning outcomes. It has sustained high levels of student achievement in reading, writing and mathematics since the 2015 ERO review. The school has achieved parity for Māori students in these learning areas.

The school continues to enhance and introduce initiatives within the broad curriculum, to further enrich outcomes for all of its students.

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

The school works well to accelerate progress in learning for those students who require additional support. The school’s analysis of achievement data identifies the individuals and groups of students that the school continues to support. Appropriate goals and targets are defined for these groups, and teaching teams work in a deliberate way to accelerate their progress. This includes a focus on boys’ writing and on supporting English language learners’ literacy achievement.

Strong systems are in place to identify all students’ strengths, interests and needs. Progress is celebrated and students enjoy a sense of achievement. Teams work collaboratively to identify effective teaching and learning practices that are likely to have a positive impact on progress. Teachers initiate innovative programmes to enhance engagement, wellbeing and achievement. The board resources these programmes strategically.

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 board provides sound governance, with a strong focus on growing a community of learners. The school’s vision, mission, values and goals are well promoted. There is coherence between strategic planning, curriculum and programmes. Students’ engagement, wellbeing and learning are central to decision making at all levels. The board is kept well informed about valued student outcomes.

The school has effective and reflective leadership. Distributed leadership is supported by defined roles and responsibilities. Working closely together, the principal, senior leaders and team leaders actively foster a culture of collaboration with defined and well understood systems for support.

Teaching teams embrace innovation and collaboration. They are well supported to increase their professional capability. Teaching teams inquire into research about best practice and this helps them to foster adaptive practice in supporting positive outcomes for students. These well considered approaches contribute to the review and development of the school’s curriculum in an ongoing and reflective way.

The school has significantly strengthened its commitment to promoting Māori success over the past three years. A strong te ao Māori component is evident in the school’s curriculum. Staff enthusiasm and expertise has enabled all of the school to make this journey with board and management support. Te reo and tikanga Māori experiences are given a high profile, honouring the school’s Treaty of Waitangi commitment.

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

To further enhance school performance, it would be worthwhile for the board and leaders to review strategic planning processes to refine goals and targets. This review could include formalising opportunities for the board to revisit and evaluate progress towards goals and targets.

The school charter could better reflect the strong bicultural commitment that is evident in the culture and practices of the school. This could be a separate statement from that relating to the other diverse ethnicities that comprise the changing school community.

School review practices are useful, and there is scope to define a more planned approach with key steps in the school’s strategic ‘Why’ model. This could guide more robust, formal evaluation of various innovations and recent initiatives in curriculum, teaching and learning, and their impact on student outcomes.

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 Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

Provision for international students

The school is signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 (the Code) established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code.

At the time of this review there were three international students attending the school.

Pastoral care of international students is well considered. Students are supported effectively to integrate with their new peers and their environment, as they settle into a New Zealand setting. The structure of support fully involves parents in conversations about their children’s learning and progress in acquiring English language, and their sense of belonging and wellbeing.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

• collaborative governance and distributed leadership
• teaching and learning programmes that respond to diverse student needs
• student-centred inquiry approaches that lead to innovation and create a responsive curriculum.

Next steps

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

• refining and aligning strategic goals and targets
• re-defining bicultural and multi-ethnic commitments in the charter
• further developing internal evaluation guidelines and practices.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.

Violet Tu’uga Stevenson

Director Review and Improvement Services

Te Tai Raki - Northern Region

26 September 2018

About the school