7 Dr Pickering Avenue, Manurewa, Auckland
View on mapLeabank School
Leabank School - 07/06/2019
School Context
Leabank School is a contributing school in Manurewa, with a roll of 424 students. A large number of children are of Māori or Pacific heritage, and there are smaller groups of students of other ethnicities.
The school’s vision is to develop children’s values, confidence and capabilities to lead successful and satisfying lives, and become lifelong learners. The school places a high priority on promoting students’ and the community’s cultural identities, and actively recognises the Treaty of Waitangi.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
- reading, writing and mathematics achievement
- achievement in other curriculum learning areas
- professional development and its impact on teaching practices and students’ achievement and attitudes to learning
- pastoral care 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 making progress towards achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students.
While there has been some variability in achievement in the past three years, overall student achievement has lifted. Just over 50 percent of students achieve at expected levels in reading and writing. There continues to be a persistent in-school disparity between girls’ and boys’ achievement in literacy.
The majority of Māori students achieve at expectations in reading and mathematics.
The overall achievement of students from Pacific cultural backgrounds is similar to that of their non-Pacific peers. 2018 achievement data indicates that the majority of Pacific students are achieving at curriculum expectations for writing and reading. This is not the case in mathematics.
1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for Māori and other students who need this?
The school continues to prioritise accelerating the learning progress of Māori and other students who need it.
Māori and other students’ achievement is being lifted, and in some cases specific groups of students have had their progress significantly accelerated. However, data indicate that accelerating Māori student achievement in writing should be a priority.
Students with additional learning needs are identified early. Good support is put in place and this, together with inclusive teaching practices, helps these students to make progress and achieve their learning goals.
School leaders note the challenges they face in lifting the school’s overall achievement figures with a highly transient student population. In addition, leaders have identified that there are increasing numbers of students with complex learning and social needs. These challenges mean that the school works with a large and changing cohort of students who require accelerated learning support.
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 school practices and processes that are most effectively enabling progress towards equity and excellence include distributed leadership based on relational trust, growing assessment practices and teacher capability.
School leaders identify and develop internal expertise, and establish consistent, clear and high expectations designed to build leadership, and support effective teaching and learning. Their distributed approach to leadership is growing emerging leaders across the school. As a result, there is increasing continuity and coherence across learning programmes.
Leaders also work well to build relational trust and effective collaboration with students, parents, whānau and the wider community. This is helping to create a supportive and collaborative school culture and a collective commitment to promoting equitable outcomes for all learners.
The school benefits from a board of trustees that is committed to seeing its mission and strategic goals realised. The board receives regular reports on achievement and other information. Good relationships between trustees and professional leaders, enable trustees to feel confident to scrutinise achievement information, and ask challenging questions of leaders.
The school promotes teacher capability and provides teachers, learning support staff, and teachers new to the profession, with well targeted professional development based on the analysis of school achievement data. Leaders and teachers trust each other and this supports collaborative practices. Teachers use evidence to inquire into how well their practices are improving outcomes for students. This enables them to discuss, evaluate and share their professional learning.
Leaders and teachers use achievement information to improve learning, report to parents and whānau, and set specific annual goals and targets for lifting student achievement. Leaders identify the need to develop teachers’ assessment capability as a priority to support the moderation of writing assessment.
2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?
Senior leaders now need to further refine and deepen their analysis of student achievement information to identify and monitor trends and patterns over time.
Leaders should clearly identify and document how transience impacts on students’ progress and achievement. This could be done by separating and comparing the achievement data of transient cohorts with that of stable cohorts. This analysis could help them identify what is inhibiting progress for each of these groups, and also what programmes and strategies are making the most positive difference in terms of accelerating students’ progress.
Leaders and teachers should also consider how to capture and assess some of the broader outcomes for students that are valued in the school community.
The board should continue to access centrally funded professional learning and development to ensure that teacher capability continues to grow in order to achieve positive outcomes for students.
The board currently has informal consultation processes with the Māori community. It now needs to consult formally with Māori whānau and community about their aspirations for their children. This information should be used to develop plans and targets for improving the progress and achievement of Māori students.
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 ERO’s Overall Judgement
On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Leabank School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Developing.
ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance 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:
- professional and distributed leadership at all levels of the school
- building teaching capability to provide high quality, culturally responsive practices
- a school culture that cares for its children, whānau and community
- a broad curriculum that is responsive to student identity, language and culture and promotes student learning, achievement and wellbeing.
Next steps
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:
- refining analysis of assessment information to better identify the school’s impact on students achieving valued outcomes
- sustaining resourcing of professional development and learning support
- improving consultation with Māori whānau, for Māori students as Māori.
Areas for improved compliance practice
The board of trustees should:
-
in consultation with the school’s Māori community, develop and make known to the school’s community, policies, plans and targets for improving the achievement of Māori students.
National Administration Guidelines 1(e).
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region
7 June 2019
About the school
Location |
Manurewa, Auckland |
Ministry of Education profile number |
1339 |
School type |
Contributing School |
School roll |
424 |
Gender composition |
Boys 55% Girls 45% |
Ethnic composition |
Māori 39% |
Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS) |
No |
Provision of Māori medium education |
No |
Review team on site |
March 2019 |
Date of this report |
7 June 2019 |
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review September 2015 |
Leabank School - 24/09/2015
Findings
Leabank Primary School provides a caring environment for families and students. Students demonstrate pride in their school. They are increasingly taking ownership of their learning and understanding ways to identify their potential and to support their progress. The board and staff are committed to strengthening collaborative partnerships with their community.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.
1 Context
What are the important features of this school that have an impact on student learning?
Leabank Primary School draws on a diverse community that is predominantly made up of Māori and Pacific families. The school’s strategic direction is about the board’s high level of commitment to the community and support for ongoing student success. Classrooms are calm and settled and this helps to promote an environment where students have a strong sense of pride and belonging.
Senior leaders know the community well. The largely long serving management team support effective implementation of school systems and the continuity of initiatives to increase student achievement and well being.
Since the 2012 ERO review, the school has participated in professional learning and development focused on improving students’ writing and e-learning skills. This has made a positive impact on progressing student achievement and growing teacher capability. The board of trustees reflects the diverse community. Ongoing board training could further support trustees to build their capacity to promote learning-focused partnerships between the school and parents.
2 Learning
How well does this school use achievement information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement?
The board, senior leaders and teachers use achievement information well to make positive changes for learners. They use this information to set school priorities and achievement targets, evaluate the effectiveness of initiatives, and inform curriculum decisions. Teachers use achievement data to plan programmes that cater for their students’ different strengths and learning needs. Achievement information is also used by senior leaders and teachers to identify suitable professional learning opportunities for teachers.
A recent focus on the use of reliable assessment tools is supporting teachers to make well evidenced judgements in relation to the National Standards. The school has put very good systems in place to measure and monitor the progress of individual students. These tools also help teachers track the progress of students. This ensures that teachers have a strong focus on target students and student achievement.
School achievement information shows that approximately 52% of students are consistently achieving at or above the National Standards in reading, 54% in writing and 50% in mathematics. School leaders and the board are committed to raising student achievement and have good strategies in place to support this.
Teaching practices introduced through the school’s professional learning and development programme are helping teachers to plan programmes for students that help them identify their next learning steps. Senior leaders agree that students have the skills and knowledge to be more actively involved in decisions about how to improve their achievement. Senior leaders are also aware that supporting all teachers to consistently implement the practices in the new Leabank curriculum and further refining their moderation skills, are priority developments for teachers.
The school has inclusive and responsive practices to support students with special learning needs. Teachers and teacher aides have a shared commitment and responsibility for student progress. Students are closely monitored and relevant agencies are involved in supporting these students. This ensures students participate fully in appropriate learning programmes and classroom activities.
Student engagement in learning is evident. Classrooms are learning environments where students are focussed and involved in meaningful and enjoyable learning. Students actively support each other’s learning. School leaders agree that a next step is to seek ways to enable students to become more actively involved in the planning and organisation of their own learning.
Improving attendance continues to be an issue that the school proactively addresses to support students to succeed at school. Senior leaders and the board, in conjunction with local agencies, continue to work to improve this situation for students. A next step for senior leaders could include external moderation to determine how effectively these interventions are impacting on improved attendance.
3 Curriculum
How effectively does this school’s curriculum promote and support student learning?
The school’s curriculum promotes and supports student learning effectively.
Students benefit from a broad and interesting curriculum. Senior leaders and teachers have worked with external professional support to implement the school curriculum. There is an appropriate balance between literacy and mathematics, and students have good access to opportunities in other learning areas, including sport, education outside the classroom (EOTC) and the arts. Students are taught computer literacy skills to enhance learning.
The curriculum includes some aspects that reflect the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Senior leaders are considering how these learning experiences can be more cohesive and progressive across the year levels. Senior leaders are aware that ongoing curriculum development should be strengthened by having diverse student, parent and community voices informing Leabank’s local curriculum.
The school has developed a Pacific achievement plan with the intention of enhancing Pacific student success. Collaborative input from Pacific families and students could be used to strengthen this plan and deepen school partnerships with Pacific families.
Teachers are well supported to deliver the school curriculum. Teachers share their approaches and ideas, and access ongoing professional development to continue to learn. Teachers have a growing understanding of the benefits of shifting their focus to students knowing about themselves as learners, and learning how to learn. There are already some very good examples of teachers giving students more opportunities to make decisions about their learning.
A significant percentage of students speak first languages other than English. There is a school-wide expectation that students’ first language capabilities are key to learning English and accessing the curriculum. Teachers and teaching assistants have accessed some professional development to specifically support their provision for English speakers of other languages. Further professional development should improve the use of English Language Learning Progressions (ELLPs) to inform programmes.
School leaders and teachers have worked effectively with some early childhood services and the local college to support smooth transitions for students. This is having a positive impact on students starting school and those students transitioning on to their next school.
ERO and school leaders agree that development priorities include further developing teachers’ understanding of teaching as inquiry and effectively implementing the Leabank curriculum to raise student outcomes.
How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?
Forty percent of all students at Leabank School are Māori. Senior leaders and the board understand the urgency attached to supporting the wellbeing and achievement of Māori students. The school has devised a Māori achievement plan to positively influence success for Māori students. Senior leaders have identified that collaborative engagement of Māori whānau could be further improved. This will involve deepening school partnerships with Māori whānau. Consulting with individual families about their aspirations for their children and seeking whānau input to Leabank’s Māori achievement plan would be a useful starting point.
4 Sustainable Performance
How well placed is the school to sustain and improve its performance?
The school is well placed to sustain and improve its performance.
The board of trustees are committed to student success and are supportive of school leaders. Ongoing board training will support trustees to be more active in their governance roles and appropriately have input into and scrutinise school decisions.
Senior leaders have a good understanding of school operations and are continuing to build leadership capability and capacity across the school. The recent internal appointment of an assistant principal to the leadership team should help ensure multiple voices inform the school vision.
Team leaders and teachers are well supported in their roles and reflect a clear understanding of the school’s professional culture. Teacher appraisal processes have improved and leaders are continuing to strengthen the rigour of these. There are high, clear and equitable expectations for student learning, achievement and well being. Further professional development should contribute to strengthening the school-wide emphasis on accelerating achievement for students who are at risk of poor outcomes.
The school has some self-review processes in place. This should be formalised to further strengthen and improve the rigour of school evaluation across the school. Trustees and senior leaders could implement staff and student surveys on wellbeing and inclusiveness as part of increasing the range of perspectives to inform school self review.
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:
-
board administration
-
curriculum
-
management of health, safety and welfare
-
personnel management
-
financial management
-
asset management.
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:
-
emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
-
physical safety of students
-
teacher registration
-
processes for appointing staff
-
stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
-
attendance.
Conclusion
Leabank Primary School provides a caring environment for families and students. Students demonstrate pride in their school. They are increasingly taking ownership of their learning and understanding ways to identify their potential and to support their progress. The board and staff are committed to strengthening collaborative partnerships with their community.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
About the School
Location |
Manurewa, Auckland |
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
1339 |
|
School type |
Contributing (Years 1 to 6) |
|
School roll |
396 |
|
Gender composition |
Boys 51% |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori |
40% |
Review team on site |
August 2015 |
|
Date of this report |
24 September 2015 |
|
Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
December 2012 |