Taupiri School

Taupiri School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 5 months of the Education Review Office and Taupiri 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 

Taupiri School, situated at the base of Taupiri Maunga, is a full primary school, catering for children in Years 1 to 8. The school vision is to work alongside whaanau, the community and mana whenua to build responsible and resilient young people, who can establish and maintain positive relationships and create a better future for all.

Taupiri School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • all students will be exposed to a wide local curriculum that reflects the desires and needs of the community

  • to develop reciprocal learning relationships between school, child and whaanau

  • to develop and deepen connections with the local marae

  • to develop a greater link to the community, school and wider.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate Taupiri School’s local curriculum review, redesign and implementation to ensure equitable outcomes for all learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • to review the school’s curriculum alongside the national curriculum refresh

  • to strengthen partnerships with whaanau, community and mana whenua post covid

  • to increase collective capacity to conduct and use internal evaluation processes.

The school expects to see a strong local curriculum that reflects the needs and aspirations of the school community and mana whenua, using internal evaluation to achieve equity and excellence.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate its local curriculum review, redesign, and implementation:

  • Leadership collaboratively sustains a culture of relational trust, contributing to organisational capacity building for continuous improvement.

  • A school learning climate that is consistently positive and culturally responsive, which promotes student engagement.

  • A professional development action plan that is in place to support the embedding of local curriculum, which aligns with the strategic direction of the school.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • redesigning the local curriculum to promote strong and consistent implementation across all learning spaces

  • the voice of students, whaanau, community and mana whenua to inform strategic planning and local curriculum redesign

  • using internal evaluation processes to achieve equitable outcomes for all learners.

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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

7 March 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

Taupiri School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of December 2022, the Taupiri School Board of Trustees 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 Taupiri School Board of Trustees.

The next Board of Trustees 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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

7 March 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

Taupiri School - 19/02/2018

School Context

Taupiri School is a full primary school located in Taupiri catering for students in Year 1 to 8. The school’s growing roll of 67 includes 38 students who identify as Māori.

The school’s vision statement is ‘Toi te kupu, toi te mana, toi te whenua – our stories, our mana, our place’. Core values are; responsibility, relationships, and resilience. The school’s annual achievement targets are to raise student achievement in reading and for all students below or well below their expected curriculum standards to make accelerated progress.

Since the 2014 ERO report an acting principal was appointed at the start of term 1, 2016 and permanently appointed in Term1, 2017. There have been significant staff changes and new trustees elected.

Taupiri School is part of the Huntly and Ngāruawahia Communities of Learning|Kāhui Ako.

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

  • Reading, writing and mathematics.

Evaluation Findings

Equity and excellence – valued outcomes for students

1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?

The school is unable to demonstrate how well it is achieving equitable and excellence for all its students. ERO and the new principal are not confident in the dependability of achievement information that has been reported to the board over the last three years. The school’s achievement information at the end of 2016 showed that most students achieved at or above curriculum expectations in reading, and mathematics and the majority were at or above in writing. This data also indicates there was no disparity between Māori and other students at the school and boys overall were achieving better than girls.

1.2 How effectively does this school respond to those Māori and other students whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

The school responds effectively to some Māori and other students whose learning and achievement need acceleration. The school’s 2017 mid-year data shows that in reading the majority of Māori and other students achieving below expected levels made accelerated progress. This information also shows that only a few students made accelerated progress in writing and mathematics.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence

2.1 What school processes and practices are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?

Leadership is knowledgeable and well informed. The principal has high expectations for teaching and learning. She has developed, in consultation with teachers, clear and comprehensive guidelines for curriculum delivery in reading and mathematics.  The principal has recently established useful assessment systems and processes to effectively monitor the progress of all students below and well below national expectations.

The school is providing a broad curriculum. It has an appropriate focus on reading, writing and mathematics. Students have opportunities to learn through a variety of effective teaching strategies. Classroom teachers know their target students well and plan appropriate programmes to accelerate learning. Sign language is taught in the senior class. There are many opportunities for students to experience success in sporting events and competitions. The curriculum is enhanced by camps, trips within the local and wider community including marae visits that extend student’s knowledge and skills.     

Parents, whānau and the community are respected and valued partners in learning. The school identifies and draws on community resources to enhance student learning opportunities. Positive links with the local community board has enhanced the learning environment. Student learning is supported by improved communication between the school, parents and community that strengthens students’ sense of belonging.

Students with additional learning needs have inclusive and equitable opportunities to learn. Trustees provides additional teacher aide support for identified students. Teachers access external expertise to assist them to identify and support students with additional learning, physical and emotional needs. Students participate and learn in caring, collaborative, inclusive learning environments. 

The recommendations identified in the 2014 ERO report related to consultation with the Māori community are being addressed.

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

Use of assessment information requires further development. Priority should be given to:

  • setting specific charter targets focused on the number of students whose learning require acceleration
  • improving moderation processes to improve the dependability of overall teacher judgements
  • regularly reporting to the board on the progress of students whose learning needs accelerating
  • implementing robust internal evaluation to better identify what is working well for students learning and where improvements are needed.

As identified in the 2014 ERO report there remains a need to implement a more culturally responsive curriculum. Leaders and teachers need to strengthen the use of te reo Māori in classroom programmes. They should continue to build partnerships with Māori whānau and iwi to incorporate their knowledge and expertise within the local curriculum.

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.

In order to improve current practice leaders and trustees should strengthen internal evaluation systems to support ongoing school improvement.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

  • leadership that is knowledgeable and committed to the ongoing improvement of student outcomes
  • a school curriculum that reflects the school’s vision and is highly inclusive of students with additional learning needs
  • partnerships with parents, whānau and the community that support student learning.

Next steps

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

  • strengthening the use of assessment information to better support the school to provide a more targeted approach to accelerating achievement of at-risk students
  • implementing a more culturally responsive curriculum to reflect the rich Māori heritage of the school’s community.
  • internal evaluation processes and practices.
    [ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop for trustees and senior leaders]

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

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

Lynda Pura-Watson
Deputy Chief Review Officer

Te Tai Miringa - Waikato / Bay of Plenty Region

19 February 2018 

About the school 

Location

Taupiri, Waikato

Ministry of Education profile number

1987

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

67

Gender composition

Girls       34
Boys      33

Ethnic composition

Māori                   38
Pākehā                 25
Other                     4

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

November 2017

Date of this report

19 February 2018

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review May 2014
Education Review April 2013