Bailey Road School

Bailey Road School - 04/03/2020

School Context

Bailey Road School provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. The roll of 476 is drawn from a culturally diverse community. Pacific students make up approximately 43 percent of the school population. Māori students, comprising 24 percent, are the second largest group.

The school’s vision is Whaia Ngā Taumata - Aim High. The valued outcomes for students are expressed through the HEART values of Honesty, Empathy, Affirmation, Respect and Trust.

The school’s four key strategic goals are student progress and achievement, effective governance, school culture and engaging with whānau, and leadership. The annual learning goals focus on literacy and mathematics.

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

  • reading, writing and mathematics for all groups of students
  • results from surveys
  • progress against the school’s annual goals.

Since the 2016 ERO review, the school has appointed three principals. The current principal is managing a period of significant change.

The school recently changed the timetable to maximise students’ learning time. The school is about to be restructured into three Year 1 to 8 whānau groups, to support collaborative relationships between teachers at all levels. Mathematics has been identified as a priority area for professional learning and development in 2020.

The school is a member of the Maungakiekie Community of Learning l Kāhui Ako (CoL).

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 making progress towards achieving equitable and excellent outcomes. Most students achieve at or above curriculum expectations in reading, and the majority achieve at or above expectations in writing and mathematics. Most students have sustained sufficient rates of progress over time.

The school’s achievement information shows the majority of Māori and Pacific students are achieving at or above curriculum expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. Disparity remains for boys.

Students with additional needs make good progress against their individual learning goals. Students who are speakers of English as an additional language achieve successfully. They participate in relevant learning programmes and are fully integrated in the school’s inclusive culture.

The school is currently reviewing its other valued outcomes for students.

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

School achievement information for 2019 shows evidence of some acceleration for students whose learning is at risk in relation to reading, writing and mathematics. The school recognises the need to monitor progress information for Māori and Pacific students. There is more work to do in accelerating the progress of those students who need to make more than one years progress in a year.

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 principal is collaboratively developing the school’s vision, values, goals and targets to gain a schoolwide shared language and pedagogy. He is strategically using professional learning and development to improve teacher content and assessment knowledge. The new school leadership team supports equity and excellence through a considered approach and careful alignment with strategic goals. Leaders have a coherent approach to organisational change and building leadership and teacher capability.

Students participate and learn in a caring, inclusive learning community. The school recognises and supports students’ language, culture and identity. Transitions for students into, within and beyond the school are well managed. Students have equitable access to digital technologies as they pursue the increasingly locally-focused curriculum.

The board has a shared vision for the school and sets a clear direction for future improvement. It has provided continuity throughout changes of school leadership. Trustees know their roles and responsibilities. They identify, seek and use their knowledge, expertise and experience to actively represent and serve the school community in their stewardship role.

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

Leaders and teachers have been working towards ensuring that achievement information is dependable, consistent and well analysed to clearly show the progress and achievement of students. It is now a priority for teachers, leaders and trustees to establish a coherent picture of those students who require acceleration through specific target setting and monitoring of progress to ensure equity and excellence for all groups.

The school should continue to develop and embed a relevant, local curriculum, in partnership with the wider school community. This continued development should enhance engagement and promote equity and acceleration for those learners most at risk of not achieving.

The leadership team is working collaboratively to lead teachers’ professional learning and promote more consistent, quality teaching practices. Reflection on and evaluation of practice should focus on what makes the biggest difference for learners.

To sustain improvement and innovation the board, principal and teachers should strengthen their understanding and use of internal evaluation. They need to develop a useful evaluation framework and embed this in policies, systems and practices across the school.

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 Bailey Road School performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Developing.

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:

  • welcoming, settled environments that promote student participation
  • a strategic commitment to developing a relevant curriculum that reflects the local context and integrates digital technologies
  • a commitment to growing teachers’ and leaders’ professional capability and collective capacity to improve outcomes for all students.

Next steps

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

  • building evaluative capability so that trustees, leaders and teachers can ascertain the effectiveness of programmes, strategies, and initiatives on learning outcomes for all students
  • developing strategies to help teachers reduce disparities and accelerate the learning of those students whose progress requires this
  • strengthening collaboration and developing learning partnerships with parents and whānau.

To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:

  • strengthen the implementation of policies and procedures.

Steve Tanner

Director Review and Improvement Services

Northern Region

4 March 2020

About the school

Location

Mount Wellington, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1216

School type

Full Primary (Years 1-8)

School roll

476

Gender composition

Girls 47%

Boys 53%

Ethnic composition

Māori 24%

NZ European/Pākehā 9%

Samoan 14%

Tongan 12%

Indian 8%

Niuean 7%

Filipino 5%

other ethnic groups 21%

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)

Yes

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

December 2019

Date of this report

4 March 2020

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review August 2016

Education Review April 2013

Education Review February 2010

Bailey Road School - 08/08/2016

1 Context

Bailey Road School is a multicultural full primary where over half of the students identify as Māori or Pacific. There are also small numbers of students from Asian, Indian and African nations. The school is situated in Mount Wellington and children transition into a number of local secondary schools.

The board and leadership team provide stability and are managing succession planning well to introduce new staff and leadership into the school. The principal is experienced and has led the school for four years. He is well supported by the deputy principal, who was appointed at the beginning of 2014. The board has good governance capacity and trustees are representative of the school population and local community.

Recent property developments have included creating some collaborative learning spaces and the refurbishment of classrooms and of the school library, Whare Ahuru Mowai.

2 Equity and excellence

The school promotes educational and future success for all its children.

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are captured in the school motto Whaia ngā taumata, Aim High, and in the school values of honesty, empathy, affirmation, respect and trust.

The school's Public Achievement Information (PAI) from 2013 to 2015 shows that achievement in mathematics declined in 2014. However, overall there are higher numbers of students achieving at or above the national standard than in 2013. Raising achievement through accelerated progress is still a challenge in reading and writing, with just over half of all students achieving at or above the National Standards. While the 2015 PAI shows a decline in achievement from 2014, this is likely to be a result of recent work to strengthen the robustness of the information gathered.

School leaders have improved moderation processes, particularly in mathematics to ensure that achievement information is more accurate and valid. The outcomes of writing assessments are moderated both internally and externally to ensure consistency school-wide. The board has developed appropriate school-wide targets for 2016 based on the outcomes of the 2015 PAI information.

Over half of Māori children achieve the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. However, they are still not achieving at the same level as students overall. Māori student achievement in mathematics dropped from 2014 to 2015 but their achievement levels are better overall than they were in 2013. In reading and writing, while there were slight gains in 2014, these have not been sustained. There is still a significant number of Māori children whose progress needs to be accelerated for them to be achieving at the National Standards.

Achievement information for Pacific children from 2013 to 2015 shows that over half are achieving at or above the National Standard in reading, writing and mathematics. Despite increases between 2013 and 2014, these were not sustained in 2015. In writing and mathematics, Pacific children achieve comparably to the school overall. A significant number of Pacific children need their progress to be accelerated in order to be achieving at the National Standard.

Since ERO's 2013 review, school leaders have undertaken in-depth curriculum reviews of mathematics and literacy. School developments that have contributed to better learning opportunities and achievement outcomes for Māori, Pacific and other children include building strong relationships and learning partnerships with parents and whānau.

School leaders have prioritised creating a school environment that is welcoming and inclusive for students, parents and whānau. In addition, a range of strategies, such as parent information evenings, help to build learning partnerships between home and school.  These strategies have contributed to a significant increase in the number of parents attending student-led conferences.

Leaders have strengthened the quality and depth of teaching as inquiry in the school. Teachers are critically reflecting on their own practice and the impact that it is having on children's progress, particularly for target children.

Developments for leaders and teachers include:

  • prioritising professional learning and development for teachers, including distributive leadership opportunities based on individual's interests and strengths
  • establishing responsive and reciprocal relationships with external support agencies and early childhood centres to provide holistic student support and to ease children's transition into school
  • the establishment of Supplementary Inquiry Teams (SIT) for each curriculum area to build teacher capability throughout the school.

3 Accelerating achievement

How effectively does this school respond to Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

The school continues to focus on Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. A range of strategies and assessment tools are used to identify these children, and monitor their progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics.

The board of trustees and school leaders have a sense of urgency about accelerating the achievement of Māori children who are at risk of not achieving well. National Standards achievement information is used to set school-wide goals and targets and progress in relation to the goals and targets is regularly reviewed.

Middle leaders are supporting teachers to better identify children's learning needs, and design programmes that are tailored for each individual child in order to accelerate their progress and achievement.

How effectively does this school respond to other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

The practices implemented for Māori children whose learning and achievement needs to be accelerated are also used for accelerating the learning and achievement of Pacific and other groups of children who are underachieving in reading, writing and maths.

From 2013 to 2015, the number of students whose progress is being accelerated has increased each year.

4 School conditions

How effectively do the school’s curriculum and other organisational processes and practices develop and enact the school’s vision, values, goals and targets for equity and excellence?

The school's curriculum and other organisational processes and practices develop and enact the school's vision, values, goals and priorities for equity and excellence.

The board of trustees has a clear vision and high expectations for student outcomes. Strategic staff appointments and resourcing support the school's vision and goals.

Trustees have a very good understanding of their stewardship roles and responsibilities, and are committed to ongoing training and professional learning. Trustees are consultative and regularly evaluate their own effectiveness as a board. A key strategic priority has been to build education partnerships with whānau and to collaborate with other local schools and early childhood centres.

School leaders are reflective, responsive and improvement focused. They have prioritised strengthening leadership and teaching practice as key areas for improvement. Leaders are establishing systems and processes to plan, coordinate and evaluate the curriculum and the quality of teaching.

Teachers are supported to use evidence to critically review their practice, particularly in relation to target learners. Leaders are very committed to building teachers' capability to evaluate, inquire and build knowledge for improvement.

Leaders analyse achievement information well to identify which children need additional support. Leaders should now consider using this information to develop more specific achievement targets as part of their strategy to accelerate these children's progress.

The school is highly responsive to parents and whānau, including Māori. Positive, learning focused partnerships between home and school are evident. The welcoming and inclusive environment, and opportunities for parents to engage with the school gives parents a strong sense of ownership.

Parent's involvement in their children's learning has significantly increased in the last few years through the mathematics and literacy workshops and student-led conferences. Parents receive good information about their children's progress and achievement in relation to National Standards, and how they can help at home.

The curriculum provides children with very good opportunities for inquiry learning, including social inquiry and to learn about, and within, their local area. Senior leaders and teachers have focused on developing a curriculum that is student-centred and responsive to students' interests, strengths and experiences. Contexts within inquiry learning that include Te Ao Māori build on the strengths, prior cultural knowledge and experiences of Māori children. Students are increasingly involved in curriculum design, they are encouraged to link learning experiences in co-curricular activities and to share their learning with the school community.

Children are highly engaged in their learning. They benefit from a broad curriculum that provides choice and prioritises literacy and numeracy. Children are increasingly involved in decisions that affect their learning. They see themselves as learners and have personal goals in reading, writing and mathematics. Learning is visible and celebrated in classrooms. There are many supports that help children to assess what they have achieved both independently and with support from their peers and teachers.

5 Going forward

How well placed is the school to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children?

Leaders and teachers:

  • know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
  • respond to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
  • regularly evaluate how teaching is working for these children
  • need to systematically act on what they know works for each child
  • need to have a plan in place to build teacher capability to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it.

The senior leadership team, including the recently appointed middle managers, have high expectations for teaching and learning. They have good evaluative capability, and are actively working to build the capability of teachers in the school to accelerate student progress and raise student achievement.

Senior leaders have set out a broad strategic plan that forms a useful improvement framework. School leaders confirm that their next step is to develop planning that shows tighter timeframes and specific acceleration goals for all of the students whose progress needs to be accelerated.

Action: The board, principal and teachers should use the findings of this evaluation, the Effective School Evaluation resource, the Internal Evaluation: Good Practice exemplars and the School Evaluation Indicators to develop a Raising Achievement Plan to further develop processes and practices that respond effectively to the strengths and needs of children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated.

As part of this review ERO will continue to monitor the school’s Raising Achievement plan and the progress the school makes.

ERO is likely to carry out the next full review in three years.

6 Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review the board of trustees 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
  • 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
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand down, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
  • attendance
  • compliance with the provisions of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

7 Recommendation

School leaders and teachers should develop planning that shows tighter timeframes and specific acceleration goals for all of the students whose progress needs to be accelerated. 

Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

8 August 2016

About the school 

Location

Mt Wellington, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1216

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

477

Gender composition

Girls       57%
Boys      43%

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pākehā
Samoan
Tongan
Indian
Niue
Filipino
Fijian
other

25%
16%
14%
10%
11%
  6%
  5%
  3%
10%

Review team on site

April 2016

Date of this report

8 August 2016

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review
Education Review
Education Review

April 2013
February 2010
May 2007