Otahuhu Intermediate

School Context

Otahuhu Intermediate provides education for students Years 7 to 8. The roll of 327 comprises students who have mainly Māori, Tongan, Samoan and Cook Island cultural backgrounds. An increasing number of students are of Indian heritage.

The school’s overarching vision is “Excellence for all”. Its values are “Respect, Personal responsibility and Passion”.The valued outcomes for students include them developing into well-rounded citizens with the ability to achieve excellence in their life-long learning. The school’s vision and values underpin all school operations.

Trustees, leaders and teachers have identified key aims, goals and targets to improve student outcomes. They are to:

• lift student achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
• consolidate leadership and teaching capabilities using active reflection
• implement digital learning and promote collaboration and innovation
• embed inquiry learning
• strengthen learning partnership with whānau.

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

• student achievement in the areas of reading, writing and mathematics
• student achievement across all other curriculum areas
• student wellbeing
• connections with whānau.

Since the 2015 ERO report, Otahuhu Intermediate has continued to embed professional learning and development. This has focused on using assessment practices for learning and supporting students to lead their own learning. Two new trustees joined the board as stewards of the school. The ERO 2015 report noted that the next steps for improvement were to:

• enhance internal evaluation processes through the use of indicators of effective practice
• further engage the school’s community to support students learning.

Otahuhu Intermediate is an active member of Otahuhu, Kahui Ako along with four other schools.

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?

Otahuhu Intermediate is working towards achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students.

Achievement information shows some students make accelerated progress within a year in reading and writing. Students generally sustain their levels of achievement in reading and writing as they move from Year 7 to 8. However, mathematics data show that students make very little progress from midyear to the end of year.

In 2017, approximately half of students achieved at expected levels in reading and writing. Approximately forty percent achieved at expected levels in mathematics. Data indicates that girls significantly achieve better than boys in both reading and writing.

Achievement information show that Māori students achieve well in writing. They achieve at levels similar to those of other groups of students in reading. Otahuhu Intermediate is working towards achieving parity for Māori students in mathematics.

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

Otahuhu Intermediate has a planned and deliberate approach to accelerating learning for Māori and other students who need it.

Leaders identify students who are achieving just below expected curriculum levels for reading, writing and mathematics. They monitor and track targeted students adapting programmes to achieve accelerated progress. Teachers know their target students well and have established partnerships with parents and whānau to help accelerate student progress and achievement.

Students who have additional learning needs benefit from the school’s inclusive practices and programmes.

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?

A strong culture of care, respect and relationship building underpins the school’s processes and practices. The school values are highly visible and frequently referred to so that there are shared understandings of expected behaviours and desired outcomes. The key competencies of the New Zealand curriculum are well integrated into the school curriculum and programmes.

Leaders are strategic and focused on student learning and wellbeing. They are growing effective teaching and learning practices by encouraging professional engagement with external expertise and promoting collaboration and sharing of good practice between teachers.

Students respond well to the school’s responsive and broad curriculum. They are supported to lead their own learning and have good opportunities to build on key competencies such as critical thinking, self-management and relating to others. The curriculum celebrates student identity and culture. It is aligned well to help students transition to secondary school. Teachers are adaptive practitioners and modify their programmes in response to students’ identified learning needs.

Internal evaluation is systematic and contributes to changes to school practices to improve student outcomes. It is helping to change teachers’ thinking and build inquiry habits of mind.

Family and whānau have many opportunities to engage in learning partnerships with the school. Leaders are successfully building educationally powerful connections with whānau. They work closely with support from the Ministry of Education (MOE), to forge partnerships, gain parent and whānau aspirations, and share strategies and information. This is helping parents to be actively involved in their children’s learning.

The school has sound governance. Trustees are reflective of the community and bring a range of skills to their roles. They are improvement-focused, have high expectations for students’ success and make strategic resourcing decisions to support student learning. Trustees are consultative and collaborative. They have established strategies that honour the Treaty of Waitangi.

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

To further support their focus on achieving equity and excellence, leaders and teachers have identified, and ERO agree, that continuing to improve teacher curriculum and content knowledge in mathematics is a critical priority. Leaders could consider use of programmes such as, Accelerated Learning in Mathematics (ALiM) and Accelerated Literacy Learning (ALL) to further accelerate students’ progress in mathematics and literacy.

Most of the school’s students bring capabilities in speaking languages other than English. Leaders and teachers could further strengthen language learning and maintenance by providing deliberate language acquisition programmes and practices.

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:

• ensure that school policies and procedures are up to date with current legislative requirements

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

• leadership that focuses on equitable outcomes for all students
• a school culture of care and respect
• a strategic approach to building professional capability and collective capacity to promote improvement and use expertise across the curriculum
• a responsive curriculum that is increasingly building students’ capability to lead their own learning
• internal evaluation that supports ongoing development and improvement in teaching and learning.

Next steps

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

• build teachers’ curriculum content knowledge in mathematics
• implement programmes that accelerate students’ learning progress in reading, writing and mathematics
• strengthen opportunities for students to learn languages.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.

Julie Foley

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)

Te Tai Raki - Northern Region

14 August 2018

About the school