Te Kura o Pakipaki

School Context

Te Kura o Pakipaki is a bilingual school providing students with the opportunity to achieve in both te reo Māori and English. Located in Hastings, it has students in Years 1 to 8. All 60 children enrolled are Māori. Since the December 2015 ERO report, the school has experienced roll growth.

The vision is to promote life-long learning through a child-centred and whānau-driven curriculum. Learning through Ko te Marautanga o Kura o Pakipaki supports the school’s mission for learners to become confident young leaders.

The values of: PAKI - persevere to succeed, achieve excellence, kotahitanga/whanaungatanga, and I am my tipuna, I am my marae, I am Pakipaki - underpin school operation.

School targets, to accelerate achievement for children at risk of poor educational outcomes in literacy and numeracy, are set annually.

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

• progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics

• progress and achievement in relation to the school achievement targets.

Longstanding and recently-elected members make up the board of trustees. They have close whakapapa connections with the school and community. In 2018, two new staff were appointed to fixed-term teaching positions.

Teachers are involved in a range of professional learning and development through external and internal initiatives to build teacher capability to promote positive learner outcomes. The current focus is literacy and mathematics.

The school is a member of the Te Waka o Maramatanga Kāhui Ako.

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 has yet to attain equity and excellence for all its students.

Data from 2017 indicated that most children successfully met curriculum expectations in mathematics. The majority of learners achieved well in reading and writing.

Over time, rates of achievement in reading, writing and mathematics have been declining for both girls and boys.

Ongoing in-school disparity for boys in reading, writing and mathematics is well known by leaders, teachers and trustees. Raising student achievement is a priority for all staff.

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

The school needs to strengthen its response to students whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

Trustees, leaders and teachers are aware that many children need to make greater progress to meet their year-level expectations and are working with urgency to seek solutions.

Reported information from 2017 and 2018, indicates that a small number of target students who were below expectation have made accelerated progress.

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 leadership team is improvement focused and proactive in developing supportive learning environments. Leaders provide valuable professional learning opportunities to increase teacher capability to promote equitable and excellent outcomes for all students. There is a purposeful emphasis on establishing shared understanding of effective literacy and numeracy teaching strategies, and promotion of student self-management skills for learning.

Positive outcomes for Māori learners are nurtured through extensive partnerships with whānau, local marae, and external agencies. Comprehensive consultation through wananga occurred with five local marae to establish the school’s Ko te Marautanga o te Kura o Pakipaki document. The school draws on kaumātua and whānau expertise, and a wide range of community resources to enhance the learning programme.

Students access an extensive range of authentic and meaningful place-based learning opportunities that support them to gain the knowledge, skills and values required to fully embrace and stand proud in Te Pakipakitanga o Hinetemoa. Well-considered initiatives extend the provision of rich learning experiences where the language, identity and culture of Māori learners and their whānau are strongly affirmed. The school values are integral to this provision.

An appropriate range of systems, processes and strategies is used to identify and respond to individual students at risk of not achieving at expected curriculum levels. Learners with additional needs progress their learning through classroom programmes. External expertise appropriately supports this provision when needed. Students’ transitions into, through and beyond school are responsive to their individual strengths and needs.

Positive, respectful relationships are evident across the school. The enactment of tuākana tēina supports this. Māori learners are encouraged to confidently participate in all aspects of school life, and learning environments are managed in ways that foster engagement. A comprehensive range of culturally responsive opportunities is available for students to develop their leadership capabilities.

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

Further co-ordinating and aligning school practices and processes to focus more deliberately on equity of outcomes for all students is a next step. Better analysis of achievement data and improved reporting of progress and acceleration for all groups at risk of not achieving is needed. This should better inform targeted resourcing and teaching for those learners who require acceleration.

As the curriculum continues to be reviewed, clear guidance for effective teaching practice and expectations of student outcomes is needed across all learning areas. This should include the rationale and educational thinking behind new initiatives and provide expectations for assessment across the school.

Developing a shared understanding of inquiry and internal evaluation, across all levels of the school is a next step. This should support staff to clearly determine the effectiveness of teaching practices, learning interventions and school operation on improving student outcomes, and inform ongoing strategic direction and decision making.

To have a solid basis for ongoing improvement and sustain the good practice evident, the board needs to function well in all areas of stewardship and be confident in managing resources for students’ learning. The addition of new board members creates the opportunity for all trustees to access learning about stewardship and build their capacity to more effectively carry out their roles and responsibilities. This should improve their capability to scrutinise the effectiveness of the school in achieving valued 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.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

• partnerships with whānau, local marae and community that enrich the school’s curriculum provision

• collaboration among leaders and teachers that responds to the needs of diverse learners

• a culturally responsive and caring environment that promotes students’ learning, wellbeing, and culture, language and identity

• learning opportunities in the school and wider community that are responsive to the needs of each student.

Next steps

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

• better monitoring and reporting of progress and acceleration of all groups at risk of not achieving educational success [ERO will monitor and discuss progress with the school]

• documenting the school’s expectations for all curriculum areas, new initiatives and assessment to ensure shared understanding and further support teaching and learning

• building schoolwide inquiry and internal evaluation to better determine the effectiveness of programmes and actions on student outcomes [ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop for trustees and senior leaders]

• improving stewardship capability to further strengthen ongoing strategic direction and decision-making.

ERO recommends that the school continues to seek assistance from the Ministry of Education in order to bring about improvements in the capacity of the board to confidently manage its resources, so that support for student learning is well sustained. 

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

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

Alan Wynyard

Director Review & Improvement Services Central

Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region

26 November 2018

About the school