Summary
Tangiteroria School is a small rural school between Dargaville and Whangarei. Nearly 20 percent of of children enrolled are Māori.
The school is well resourced and continues to make very good use of its unique local environment to enhance the curriculum and children’s learning. The principal, trustees, staff and whānau continue to contribute to an increasingly learner-focused school culture.
Since the 2014 ERO evaluation the staff and trustees have strengthened their bicultural practices and developed meaningful partnerships with the local marae. These have been well considered strategies to further support Māori student success. Importantly, the school’s increasing recognition of te reo Māori me ōna tikanga creates an environment that supports Māori children to succeed as Māori.
The school is part of Ngā Kura te ako o Whangarei (Group 4) Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako (CoL) with local schools to improve education opportunities for students in the area.
How well is the school achieving equitable outcomes for all children?
Tangiteroria School responds well to Māori and other children whose learning needs acceleration. The school has consulted with its community to review the school’s future planning and refresh the school’s vision and values.
Children’s learning and wellbeing are supported through the meaningful involvement of families and whānau. Although the falling roll is a challenge for the school, the board makes resourcing decisions to ensure that no child misses out.
School achievement information over the past three years shows that overall children achieve well. Improvement plans have been developed to support the small number of children who are not achieving equitable outcomes.
Agreed next steps are to develop a more connected curriculum and establish expectations of teachers, to build greater coherence for the Tangiteroria student’s learning pathway.
The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all children. However, disparity in achievement for Māori and other children remains.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.
Equity and excellence
How effectively does this school respond to children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?
Tangiteroria School is becoming more effective in responding to children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.
The school’s achievement information shows that over the last three years, the majority of children achieved the National Standards. It also shows that in 2016 close to 80 percent of all children were at or above the standard in reading and over 70 percent in writing and mathematics.
Teachers use achievement data to identify children who are at risk of not achieving. The school charter includes an annual target aimed appropriately at accelerating progress for children who are not achieving the National Standards in writing. It would be beneficial to extend targets to include children who need to make accelerated progress in mathematics and reading.
The data shows some disparity for Māori children in achievement across the standards. There is also some disparity for boys in reading and writing. In response to these differences, the school has developed an improvement plan to accelerate progress and reduce disparities. This plan is implemented in the teacher aide’s learning support programme.
It could be useful to strengthen this improvement plan by clearly emphasising:
- the specific learning needs and strengths of children who need to make accelerated progress
- the instructional strategies that teachers will use to meet the achievement challenges
- the measurable indicators to be used to monitor progress towards meeting targets.
Internal moderation processes have improved. Teachers have moderated children’s writing scripts with other local schools. They are engaging in opportunities to build their professional capability and collective capacity to increase the dependability of overall judgements.
School conditions supporting equity and excellence
What school processes are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?
The school’s processes are increasingly effective in helping it to achieve equity and excellence for all learners. The principal’s and board’s commitment to, and promotion of, educationally powerful relationships with families and whānau contribute to this effectiveness.
The principal provides very good professional leadership and is strategic in ensuring all children have equitable opportunities to learn. She has a strong focus on developing confident, professional teachers as learners, within a collaborative learning community.
The principal keeps trustees well informed about curriculum activities and student progress and achievement. Trustees use this information to make appropriate resourcing decisions. For example, the board has provided additional teaching hours to support new entrant learners. Trustees are systematically reviewing a set of board policies that cover all aspects of board operations to align them with the school's context. It could be useful for trustees to access external expertise to support them in this work.
A notable development since ERO’s 2014 evaluation is the school’s increased emphasis on promoting bicultural practices and valuing tikanga Māori. Children actively participate in welcoming visitors and confidently lead karakia and waiata each morning. Increasingly, teachers are using te reo Māori and sharing their pepeha with children. Trustees have introduced bicultural protocols at board meetings.
The school and community partners work collaboratively to support authentic learning experiences for children within the school and in the wider community. Parents who spoke with ERO appreciate the proactive communication that they have with their children’s teachers and with the school generally. They value the extended meeting times with teachers to discuss how they can better support their children’s learning at home.
Sustainable development for equity and excellence
What further developments are needed in school processes to achieve equity and excellence?
The principal recognises that it is now timely to develop a curriculum that is better aligned with the school’s new vision and values. She has an appropriate focus on increasing connections across the curriculum to create a coherent pathway for the Tangiteroria learner. It could be helpful to use the principles of The New Zealand Curriculum and access external expertise to support this development.
The board and principal have identified the need to further develop their collective capacity to use evaluation, inquiry and knowledge building to sustain improvement and innovation. Useful next steps for school development include:
-
developing more consistency in programme planning that is responsive to the learning needs, interests and aspirations of children
-
supporting teachers to inquire into their practice and evaluate its impact on outcomes for children
-
increasing children’s ability to reflect on their own thinking and learning processes.
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:
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.
Going forward
How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?
The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all children. However, disparity in achievement for Māori and/or other children remains.
Leaders and teachers:
- know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
- need to develop and implement approaches that effectively meet the needs of each child
- need to improve the school conditions that support the acceleration of children’s learning and achievement.
- need to build teacher capability to accelerate children’s learning and achievement.
The school agrees to:
- develop more targeted planning to accelerate learning for children
- monitor targeted planning, improved teaching, and children’s progress
- discuss the school’s progress with ERO.
ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop in response to a request by the school.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.
Steffan Brough
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
2 June 2017
About the school
|
Location
|
Tangiteroria, Northland
|
|
Ministry of Education profile number
|
1104
|
|
School type
|
Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)
|
|
School roll
|
39
|
|
Gender composition
|
Boys 22 Girls 17
|
|
Ethnic composition
|
Māori
Pākehā
Australian
Samoan
Filipino
|
7
24
4
2
2
|
|
Provision of Māori medium education
|
No
|
|
Review team on site
|
April 2017
|
|
Date of this report
|
2 June 2017
|
|
Most recent ERO report(s)
|
Education Review
Education Review
Education Review
|
May 2014
April 2011
February 2008
|