Pakuranga Intermediate

School Context

Pakuranga Intermediate in East Auckland caters for learners in Years 7 and 8. The school currently has 220 students enrolled. Māori students comprise 26 percent of the roll, and students with Pacific heritage make up 25 percent of it.

The school’s overarching vision is future focused –‘I am Tomorrow’ and aims to inspire students’ personal excellence and growth. The school’s values, ‘Pride, Respect, and Care for the environment’, are clearly articulated and displayed schoolwide.

Trustees have a wide variety of experience relevant to their work on the board. They support a collaborative senior leadership team. The board also has oversight of the onsite cluster of resource teachers of learning and behaviour. Since the 2015 ERO review there has been significant staff turnover. More recently, through 2018, staffing has remained stable.

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

• achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
• achievement in science and social sciences
• progress and accelerated progress in writing
• progress in relation to school targets in writing, reading and mathematics
• outcomes in relation to wellbeing for success.

Pakuranga Intermediate is a member of the newly formed Pakuranga West Community of Learning|Kahui Ako.

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 steadily working towards achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all of its students.

Most students achieve at or above school expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. Leaders and teachers closely monitor students’ individual progress over the year. However, achievement information indicates that some students make minimal progress towards achieving school expectations between Years 7 and 8. The principal and teachers should continue to build on strategies to accelerate students’ rates of progress over these two years.

School achievement information shows a wide disparity in achievement in writing between Māori and other students. Furthermore, it also shows consistent gender disparity in both reading and writing, and a wide gender disparity in mathematics. This has led to the school setting a target for reducing disparity in 2019. Other schoolwide targets include raising achievement in literacy and mathematics, and these targets are relevantly based on the previous year’s achievement data.

Teachers use a variety of school-based and nationally-normed assessment tools to ensure achievement information is robust. They moderate their assessment of samples of student writing across school teams to ensure there is increasing consistency in their judgements. A next step to enhance assessment would be to moderate literacy and mathematics assessment tasks with other schools. It would be beneficial for teachers to continue building their use of assessment for learning.

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

The school has implemented appropriate professional learning to strengthen teachers’ capability to accelerate the learning of Māori and other students. The school is able to show evidence that many targeted students make individual accelerated progress over time in literacy and mathematics.

Senior leaders and teachers closely track the progress of those individuals and groups of students who are identified as being at risk of not achieving school expectations in literacy and mathematics. The principal regularly reports to the board information about the progress and achievement of these target students.

The information the principal reports to the board is broken down to show how well individuals and different gender and ethnic groups of students are tracking. Recent information shows that target Māori boys make more accelerated progress in literacy and mathematics over their time at school than most other groups. Pacific students appear to make the greatest accelerated progress in literacy and numeracy. Senior leaders should continue implementing strategies that ensure students’ accelerated progress is sustainable over time.

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?

Pakuranga Intermediate has some effective processes and practices to support equity and excellence, and accelerate students’ learning.

The board, senior leaders and teachers focus on enhancing teaching practices to promote students’ progress and raise their achievement. Students benefit from learning in caring, collaborative and inclusive learning communities. Teachers establish positive relationships with students and this helps to ensure that learning is prioritised. Students have equitable access to theNew Zealand Curriculum(NZC) through support for their identified learning needs and the use of external agencies. Teachers, and increasingly students, have a shared “language of learning”.

The school’s curriculum reflects the New Zealand Curriculum principles and values, and is increasingly responsive to students’ identified learning needs and interests. Teachers and whānau have opportunities to contribute to learning contexts which consider New Zealand’s bicultural context and student interests. Students access the broader curriculum through specialist programmes, and programmes offered by teachers with specific interests and expertise. 

Teachers are taking increasing personal responsibility for providing high quality teaching. The appraisal and performance management process is supporting them to inquire into the impact that their teaching is having on outcomes for students. Senior leaders are also offering leadership opportunities to teachers to increase the school’s leadership capacity. Intensifying the pace of change could mean that these strategies more effectively support students’ learning.

Trustees and senior leaders collaboratively develop and pursue the school’s vision. They ensure the learning environment supports student and teacher learning, wellbeing and increasingly, innovation. The board and teachers have made good progress in creating better partnerships between the school and whānau of target students.

The principal applies high quality evaluation practices to inform ongoing school improvement. Trustees regularly receive information on progress towards strategic goals and targets. The board receives reports about many curriculum programmes. A schedule has been developed to review policies to ensure that legislative and other requirements are met.

Trustees actively consult with the school community. They focus closely on wellbeing and students’ progress in literacy and mathematics. The board’s decision-making is well informed. The board has some useful strategies for identifying whether or not it is fulfilling its stewardship role.

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

Relevant school developments include:

• giving students greater ownership of their own learning and progress, and more input into curriculum programmes to increase their engagement in learning
• senior leaders raising expectations that teachers will promptly use professional learning to enhance the quality of teaching
• the curriculum leader using the aims of ‘Ka Hikitia 2018-2022 Realising Māori Potential; The Māori education strategy in the curriculum’ to further develop Māori students’ success as Māori
• the board considering co-opting Māori and Pacific trustees so that the board better reflects the school’s diverse community
• the board regularly evaluating how effectively it is fulfilling its role in relation to the school’s strategic goals.

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.

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the (the Code) established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code. No international students were enrolled at the time of this ERO review.Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

• evaluation for ongoing improvement
• positive learning relationships
• leadership of the curriculum that aligns with the school’s learning vision.

Next steps

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

• embedding strategies to accelerate student learning across the wider curriculum
• greater opportunities for students to lead and monitor their own learning
• considering additional ways to promote the language and culture of all students
• implementing strategies to ensure that the accelerated progress of students is enhanced and sustained.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

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

Steve Tanner

Director Review and Improvement Services

Te Tai Raki - Northern Region

8 February 2019

About the school