Mangakahia Road , Whangarei
View on mapPakotai School
Pakotai School
School Evaluation Report
Tēnā koutou e mau manawa rahi ki te kaupapa e aro ake nei, ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa. Mā wai rā e kawe, mā tātau katoa.
We acknowledge the collective effort, responsibility and commitment by all to ensure that the child remains at the heart of the matter.
Context
Pakotai School is a small rural school in Northland and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 8. The school’s mission is to provide students with a broad educational experience. The values that underpin school life include rangatiratanga, manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga. A new principal was appointed in April 2023.
There are two parts to this report.
Part A: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings.
Part B: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.
Part A: Current State
The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.
Learner Success and Wellbeing
Improvement is urgently needed to ensure all students are engaged in learning, making sufficient progress, and are achieving well. |
- School achievement information shows that most learners are not achieving at their expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics.
- The school has no evidence to show students’ progress and achievement overtime.
- The school is taking steps to improve its provision of a physically, emotionally safe and inclusive environment for all learners.
- School data shows that rates of attendance are not yet meeting the Ministry of Education target; although small numbers of learners’ impact on the reliability of the data.
Conditions to support learner success
Leadership is beginning to establish strategic planning and identify the key school priorities for improvement. |
- The principal is consulting with the community to develop a strategic plan and school goals; a revision of school goals has begun.
- The principal and staff should prioritise more deliberate planning and teaching of daily reading, writing and mathematics so that students begin to make academic progress.
Improvements are required to curriculum design and teaching practices. |
- Leaders and teachers are beginning to develop a curriculum that reflects local contexts in a way that students can start to see themselves, their identity and culture in aspects of their learning.
- Te ao Māori and tikanga Māori, are starting to be woven through all aspects of the school’s curriculum to support learner engagement.
- Teachers are beginning to use appropriate assessment information to identify individual learning needs, plan teaching programmes and report children’s progress and achievement to parents and whānau.
Board governance and leadership require external support to bring about the improvement needed for learner success |
- The board has not yet set a clear achievement focused programme for improvement through strategic planning, teaching, and learning and accelerating outcomes for learners.
- The board is not sufficiently managing the school’s resourcing and the performance of the principal; this must be a focus to support ongoing improvement.
- Systems, processes and guidance for effective leadership and teaching are not well embedded to support sustainable change and improvement.
- The board, parents and whānau do not receive sufficient and regular reporting and monitoring of student progress and achievement to inform board decisions and keep parents up-to-date about their child’s learning.
Part B: Where to next?
The agreed next steps for the school are to:
- ensure the board and all staff understand the school improvement priorities, rationale and expectations to accelerate progress and achievement for all students
- increase the rates of regular attendance for all students
- collect, track, monitor and analyse achievement data to inform teaching and learning next steps for each child
- strengthen schoolwide systems, processes and procedures to ensure that the school meets its statutory responsibilities.
The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows:
Within three months:
- establish a system that identifies learners at risk of not achieving and then identify and set progress targets to improve regular attendance, progress and achievement
- begin collecting assessment information to inform programme planning and the teaching of reading, writing and mathematics
- work closely with facilitators to implement a structured approach to improving the daily teaching of reading, writing and mathematics knowledge and skills
Every six months:
- leaders to monitor and report progress and improvement to the board against the annual plan goals, especially in attendance, reading, writing and mathematics
- teachers use assessment information to evaluate their teaching practice, adapt and respond to individual needs and identify next steps in students’ learning
- the principal and staff establish processes for regular written reporting to parents and whānau
Annually:
- leaders to evaluate the impact of teaching and learning programmes on accelerating student achievement and recommend next steps
- evaluate how well the curriculum is responding to students individual learning needs
Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:
- improved rates of attendance
- all students meeting expected curriculum levels in in reading, writing and mathematics due to effective teaching and learning approaches that accelerate the achievement of all learners
- a curriculum that is responsive to the interests, needs and strengths of the learner
- a deliberate approach to planning for improvement that guides the school's direction based on well analysed student achievement information and good quality teaching and learning.
To support the school’s improvement planning ERO will:
- monitor progress towards these improvement priorities each term
- work with the school to regularly report progress against the improvement priorities.
ERO recommendation
- the school board engage with New Zealand School Boards Association to undertake training to support them in their stewardship role
- the Ministry of Education support the school to progress against the key improvement priorities identified in this report.
To support the school's improvement planning ERO will:
- monitor progress towards these improvement priorities termly
- work with the school to regularly report progress against the improvement priorities.
ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.
Me mahi tahi tonu tātau, kia whai oranga a tātau tamariki
Let’s continue to work together for the greater good of all children
Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools
15 August 2024
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
Pakotai School
Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2024 to 2027
As of June 2024, the Pakotai School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:
Board Administration
No
Curriculum
Yes
Management of Health, Safety and Welfare
Yes
Personnel Management
No
Finance
Yes
Assets
No
Actions for Compliance
ERO identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process. The board:
- must prepare a school strategic plan and annual implementation plan and ensure that these documents are available to the public on an internet site
[s139, s143, s146 and s639, Education and Training Act 2020] - has a duty to regularly report on progress and achievement of students to parents
[Regulation 21 of education amendments regulation 2022] - must review and implement school procedures for evacuation
[Regulation 29 of the fire safety, evacuation procedures and evacuation schemes regulations 2018] - must ensure that they do not employ a person to any teaching position that is not registered
[s 93(1) Education and training Act 2020]
ERO has since received evidence to show that these areas of non-compliance have been addressed.
ERO has also identified the following areas of non-compliance. The board:
- provide an average of five hours of mathematics, reading and writing teaching and learning per week [Section 90 of the Education and Training Act 2020 (2023 Amendment)]
- ensure appointment processes and practices are robust, are well-documented and followed; these records must be kept including a risk analysis for each employee as outlined in the school's policy and procedures. The board must ensure that appropriate induction procedures are in place and implemented for new staff and police vets are obtained for all non-teaching staff
[s 104, s599 and s600 Education and Training Act 2020] - ensure that robust risk management procedures are well documented and in place for all school trips and education outside the classroom events
[Health and Safety at Work legislation – EOTC Guidelines] - should ensure that a complaints process is accessible to parents and whānau
[s 101 Education and Training Act 2020) - ensure that students in year 7 and 8 are provided with an appropriate career education and guidance curriculum.
[s 103 Education and Training Act] - make sure the swimming pool meets the requirement set out by the Ministry of Education (MoE)
[Build, replace or remove a school pool: Fences and signage (MOE)].
The board have not yet addressed these areas of non-compliance.
Further Information
For further information please contact Pakotai School Board.
The next School Board 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.
Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools
15 August 2024
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
Pakotai School - 28/03/2018
School Context
Pakotai School, in a rural area west of Whangarei, is a full primary school catering for students from Years 1 to 8. The roll of approximately 11 children are all Māori and from the local area. The school is a central part of the community with intergenerational links with local whānau.
The school’s mission is to provide children with a diverse education that ensures their learning success now and into the future. It also aims to assist children to become well-balanced adults who contribute positively to New Zealand society. The board has identified four school values; whanaungatanga, aroha, manaakitanga and mana, to underpin school activities.
A new principal was employed in 2015. He is currently supported by a release teacher whose focus is on increasing students’ knowledge of te reo and tikanga Māori.
The principal regularly reports to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
- progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
- valued outcomes in other curriculum areas
- whole school development.
The school is a member of Ngā Kura mo te ako o Whangarei Group 4 Kāhui Ako|Community of Learning (CoL).
Evaluation Findings
1 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 making progress towards achieving excellent outcomes for all its students.
Most students achieved or exceeded achievement expectations in mathematics during 2016. Half of the students achieved or exceeded expectations in literacy.
The principal carefully monitors each student’s individual progress. He acknowledges that it is a priority to find ways to moderate the assessment of students’ achievement. This moderation would help to assure the board that the information that is reported to them is reliable.
1.2 How effectively does this school respond to those students whose learning and achievement need acceleration?
The principal responds well to students whose achievement need acceleration.
The principal has in-depth knowledge of the individual progress and achievement of all children. He uses this information to identify children who need additional support to make accelerated progress. There is good planning to support these children, and some make accelerated progress.
The principal closely monitors the attendance patterns of students. This is because the school data show that good attendance contributes greatly to students sustaining accelerated progress.
2 School conditions for equity and excellence
2.1 What school processes and practices are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?
The school’s effective systems for curriculum management and strong school leadership are helping to enable the achievement of equity and excellence.
Students have equitable opportunities to learn through differentiated programmes designed to meet their individual learning needs. They benefit from a warm and nurturing school environment, and participate and learn in ways that are collaborative and inclusive. Students relate well to their teachers, and are supportive of each other. Tuakana/teina practices are a feature of the school and support children’s ongoing learning.
Success as Māori is a focus and strongly encouraged. School practices value students’ whānau and heritage, and reflect and incorporate te ao Māori. There is a clear emphasis on the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Students’ engagement with the curriculum is strongly promoted. Children have opportunities to learn, achieve and progress in the breadth and depth of the NZ Curriculum. They are given valuable experiences within and beyond the classroom, and in the local area. These experiences include many hands-on, creative activities that develop their problem-solving skills. Parents and whānau are encouraged to participate in the curriculum to enrich students’ interests. The board provides resources that extend students’ access to digital learning. Students use digital devices well to support their learning.
The principal has a clear vision of a successful ‘Pakotai learner’ and implements appropriate strategies to achieve this. He has a close network of professionals that support him with his leadership role. He is proactive in seeking expertise for the benefit of students’ learning. He regularly canvases parent, whānau and students’ views, and includes these in school decision-making. There is a strong home-school partnership to support student success.
2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence?
The school is developing appropriate and relevant strategic goals for ongoing school development. These could include further development to:
- ensure school goals are specific and measurable, and that the board is kept updated on progress towards meeting these goals
- provide opportunities for students to make decisions about their learning
- strengthen the school’s internal evaluation process to better identify where the school is performing well for its students and where improvements are needed.
The principal is highly committed to the dual roles of being both a leader and a teacher. However, in order to undertake both roles successfully, the board needs to ensure that the principal has regular access to the release time to which he is entitled.
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.
Areas for improved compliance practice
To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:
- enact formal processes when responding to a complaint and use appropriate systems to ensure they meet the requirements of the Privacy Act
- review the school’s performance management and appointment policies and adapt them to meet the current Education Council and State Sector Act requirements.
4 Going forward
Key strengths of the school
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
- the school’s inclusive practices, which are supporting students to feel secure and have a strong sense of belonging
- home/school partnerships that are focused on supporting students’ learning and raising their achievement
- a well-managed and documented curriculum that is rich and responsive, and promotes student learning.
Next steps
For sustained improvement and future learner success, development priorities are to:
- increase students’ agency and participation in decision-making so that they increasingly lead their own learning
- improve internal evaluation processes and practices.
ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing
ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.
ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop for trustees and senior leaders.
Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region
28 March 2018
About the school
Location | Whangarei | |
Ministry of Education profile number | 1075 | |
School type | Full primary (Year 1-8) | |
School roll | 11 | |
Gender composition | Girls 6 Boys 5 | |
Ethnic composition | Māori | 11 |
Provision of Māori medium education | No | |
Review team on site | December 2017 | |
Date of this report | 28 March 2018 | |
Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review Education Review Education Review | December 2014 October 2011 November 2008 |