Tangimoana School

School Context

Tangimoana School is approximately 40 kilometres from Palmerston North. The school caters for twenty students in Years 1 to 8, including three Māori learners.

The whakataukī expresses ‘He Kahawai Kei Āku Ringa, using the tools at hand to create success’. The school vision is expressed as ‘teaching children to fish to feed them for a lifetime’ and their virtues are encompassed through the acronym of ‘BEACH: Brave, Engaged, Aroha, Creative and Hauora’. These overarching statements have been developed in partnership with the community to contextually reflect the school’s location and unique environment.

The 2019 targets are based on individual students requiring their achievement accelerated in reading, writing and mathematics.

The strategic goals of the school include:

• student access to The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) to develop their skills in literacy and numeracy leading to increased progress and achievement

• Māori students are engaged in their learning and achieving as Māori

• students with special learning needs are identified and supported in their learning

• creating a supportive culture, responsive to the needs of students and staff to ensure a positive, safe and respectful learning environment.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about student outcomes, progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics.

Changes have occurred to staffing and governance representation since the May 2016 ERO report. A new principal was appointed in 2017. The principal release teacher, appointed at the beginning of 2019, also undertakes the roles of office administrator and teacher aide. Most trustees are new to the governance role.

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 seeking to extend the use of assessment tools to support a clearer picture of how well they promote equitable and excellent outcomes for all students.

At the end of 2018 the school reported the majority of students achieved expectations in relation to specific assessments in reading, writing and mathematics.

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

The school purposefully supports those students whose learning and achievement need acceleration.In 2018, approximately a third of students targeted in reading, writing and mathematics accelerated their achievement.

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?

Teachers demonstrate a purposeful response to students requiring their learning and achievement accelerated. An appropriate range of assessment tools are used to identify individual achievement and inform next learning steps. Student progress is suitably track and monitored. External agencies are accessed for learners identified with complex learning needs. Specialist literacy programmes in 2018 produced positive outcomes for most students. Teachers know students well, using an appropriate range of information to meet the needs of individuals. Relationships between teachers, students and their peers are positive and affirming.

The school has reviewed the vision and desired virtues, aligned to student outcomes. Strategic planning emphasises priorities that guide current and future planned curriculum developments. Trustees’ allocation of resources, including the provision of a teacher aide, is matched to achievement priorities.

The enacted curriculum fosters meaningful student engagement at school. Priority is given to teaching and learning in literacy and mathematics. Appropriate access to digital technologies extends student learning opportunities. Planned contexts use and explore the local area and environment. Te reo Māori, and the deliberate inclusion of culturally responsive contexts, foster te ao Māori across the curriculum.

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

Staff should further develop agreed expectations for teaching and learning and document the valued outcomes of the localised curriculum. Clearly stating these expectations should strengthen sustainable practice, provide a basis for ongoing teacher inquiry and inform a foundation to guide evaluation.

Assessment practice for moderation and for students to know about their learning requires further development. Teachers should continue to build their capability in multilevel teaching, empowering students to self-direct their learning and undertaking moderation aligned to curriculum expectations.

The school is committed to further developing purposeful learning partnerships with parents, whānau, iwi and students. Continuing to explore strategies that promote all stakeholders to meaningfully contribute to student outcomes that further strengthen equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners is a next step.

Trustees require further development of their governance capability. Strengthening the collective understanding of legislative responsibilities and regularly reviewing their performance against effective stewardship expectations is needed to better determine areas for ongoing improvement.

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

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:

• systematic processes and shared teacher expectations that are responsive to students requiring their learning and achievement accelerated
• curriculum activities and a wide range of relevant experiences that promote good levels of participation and motivation
• a positive school environment that encourages and affirms student engagement in learning.

Next steps

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

• growing governance capability and practice that build trustees’ understanding of their role and responsibilities
• continuing to build assessment practice that support teaching in a multi-level classroom, promotes self-directed student learning and informs moderation of assessments
• shared expectations for curriculum delivery that promote consistency and sustainable practice
• exploring strategies that build meaningful learning partnerships with parents, whānau, iwi and students.

Areas for improved compliance practice

To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:

• develop relevant charter goals to guide their focus on annual improvement aligned to the National Administration Guidelines - Section 61(2) of the Education Act 1989
• ensure processes and regular hazard identification occurs and is reported to trustees.

Phillip Cowie

Director Review and Improvement Services

Central Region

1 July 2019

About the school