Mangawhai Beach School

School Context

Mangawhai Beach School caters for students in Years 1 to 8. Māori students comprise 21 percent of the 525 students currently enrolled, and three percent have Pacific heritage.

The school’s mission statement is “Our children - Our future”. The key values of creativity, resilience, excellence and whakaute (respect), underpin a vision of developing engaged and diverse learners connected to the school’s community and values.

The board’s strategic goals include:

• building effective leadership and teaching capability
• enhancing school culture and climate
• increasing stakeholder engagement
• improving performance across the school.

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

• achievement in reading, writing and mathematics in relation to the levels of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC)
• progress and achievement in relation to school targets for priority learners in reading, writing and mathematics
• progress towards the school’s strategic goals.

Since the 2015 ERO review, a new deputy principal has been appointed. The senior leadership team has increased. Schoolwide professional development has focused on building bicultural understanding and promoting Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L).

The school is part of the Twin Coasts Community of Learning | Kāhui Ako (CoL). It is committed to working with the CoL to lift writing achievement and improve staff and student wellbeing.

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 very effective in achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for its learners.

Schoolwide achievement data show consistently high achievement levels in reading, writing and mathematics for all groups of students. Most students achieve at or above the expected New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) levels.

Data from 2018 indicate that most Māori students achieve at or above expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. The school’s small number of Pacific learners also achieve well.

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

Leaders and teachers are very effective at responding to students whose learning and achievement needs acceleration.

School data show that strategies for accelerating learning have a positive impact for all learners, including Māori and Pacific. Māori student achievement has improved over time. Students with additional learning needs achieve well and make accelerated progress. The schoolwide focus on mathematics has contributed to gains in achievement for all students.

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?

School staff are highly committed to improving the extent to which te ao Māori is woven throughout the curriculum and reflected in the school environment. This focus has a positive effect on the engagement, development and wellbeing of learners.

Māori students benefit from the deliberate focus on increasing bicultural practices throughout the school. Trustees, staff and whānau provide opportunities for Māori learners to succeed as Māori, and for all students to learn about the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand. There are increasingly strong connections with whānau and local iwi. This is supported by the board’s strategic employment of a whānau Māori representative to support tikanga Māori.

Strong learning-centred relationships have created a highly engaged school community. Effective reciprocal communication supports and strengthens these relationships. Parents and whānau have very good opportunities to contribute to their children’s learning, the curriculum and school direction. Student engagement is increased through these partnerships.

Students benefit from a rich and broad curriculum that is highly responsive to their individual strengths and interests. They learn and participate in caring, collaborative and inclusive learning communities that support them to excel academically. Pastoral care and learning support services are focused on student supporting engagement and reducing barriers to learning.

Students participate in authentic, relevant learning experiences. There is an increasing focus on promoting students’ critical thinking and social responsibility. This is evident in students’ projects within the wider community. These projects enrich engagement and increase opportunities for students to develop leadership, communication and collaboration skills.

School leadership is highly effective, strategic and focused on improvement. Leaders promote and lead a collaborative and respectful learning culture with very clear and equitable expectations for all. Leaders enact the school’s vision, values and priorities to support students’ learning progress and promote their wellbeing. They build and maintain strong professional and relational trust across the school community. These well-considered leadership approaches provide a cohesive foundation for continued school development and direction.

Leaders have a coherent approach to building staff professional capability and collective capacity. An ongoing professional development programme enables middle leaders to further develop their skills in senior management. Schoolwide professional learning has focused on building shared understandings of and coordinated approaches to lifting student achievement.

Teachers and leaders have good systems to track and monitor the progress and achievements of individual students who need additional support. These systems are supported by highly effective communication strategies for sharing knowledge around improvement.

The board provides sound governance. Trustees are collaborative and bring a range of skills to their role. They are improvement focused and have high expectations for students’ success. Trustees make strategic and considered decisions for ongoing improvement to support student learning.

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

Leaders, teachers and trustees plan to further deepen internal evaluation and inquiry-based research, particularly in relation to stewardship and curriculum initiatives, to sustain ongoing improvements. More in-depth evaluation could usefully focus on gauging the consistency of schoolwide practices, and using evidence and including the parent community’s contributions and perspectives to a greater extent. Deeper evaluation practice could also support the development of further opportunities for students to lead their own learning, increase their creativity, and think critically.

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 Mangawhai Beach School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Strong.

ERO’s Framework: Overall Findings and Judgement Tool derived from School Evaluation Indicators: Effective Practice for Improvement and Learner Success 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:

• leadership that actively supports equity and excellence for all learners
• a culture of high expectations, positive relationships and shared values
• educationally powerful connections with parents and whānau that foster increased student engagement in learning.

Next steps

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

• continuing to build schoolwide capability for inquiry and in-depth internal evaluation that focuses on improving achievement outcomes for students.

Steve Tanner

Director Review and Improvement Services Northern

Northern Region

17 January 2020

About the school