Wainui School

School Context

Wainui School, located in the rural community of Wainui, north of Auckland, has nearly 300 students, of whom 48 identify as Māori. The Years 1 to 8 school currently has no enrolment zone and has experienced steady roll growth since ERO’s last review in 2016.

The school occupies an extensive site. Some classrooms have been recently modernised, and a block of three new classrooms is planned for completion later this year. The school’s grounds and resources provide opportunities for children to be outdoors and physically active.

School leaders work collaboratively to implement the school’s vision that “Wainui students will be confident, creative, successful lifelong learners”. Valued outcomes for learners are encompassed in the Mission statement “to equip our students with the skills and attitudes to respond to life’s challenges in a connected world”.

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

• annual achievement in literacy and mathematics
• analysed patterns of achievement over time
• students with additional learning needs
• goals and targets for raising student achievement
• attendance and engagement.

ERO’s 2016 report acknowledged students’ learning success and achievement. Recommendations to school leaders that students should develop a stronger sense of agency and ownership of the learning process have been progressed.

The school is a member of the Orewa Community of Learning | 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 achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for most of its students.

The school has sustained high levels of student achievement over the past four years. The data indicates that most students achieve at or above expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. School leaders have identified a pattern of disparity for boys in writing. This is a challenge shared by schools in the kāhui ako and is a focus for cross-school collaboration.

2019 data indicates that most students achieve at national curriculum expectations in literacy and mathematics. Māori students achieve at expectation in reading and maths. Disparity in writing is evident for Māori students and boys. The school’s 2020 targets for raising student achievement are focused on writing for boys in identified year groups.

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

The school is effective in accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this.

The school identifies all students who are not reaching expected curriculum levels, some of whom are Māori. Programmes are based on a three-tier model to accelerate the learning progress of these identified priority students.

Effective systems and processes are in place to monitor the progress of priority learners. The school can demonstrate accelerated progress resulting from some specific programmes and is looking at ways to sustain these approaches.

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?

Students are supported to be enthusiastic, capable and confident learners. They enjoy positive relationships with classroom teachers and adults who support their learning. The school has high expectations of their academic achievement and for their social and emotional wellbeing. Explicit school values complement shared expectations of positive behaviour for learning.

The school’s curriculum provides broad and meaningful learning opportunities for students, while ensuring that literacy and mathematics are central to teaching and learning. Students develop inquiry-based learning skills, using relevant and local contexts. An increasing focus on local Māori history, te reo me tikanga Māori is adding connections that enhance children’s sense of place and identity.

Support for teachers has resulted in a collegial culture across the school. A growth coaching initiative is aligned to the appraisal system. This cohesive approach is enabling teachers to better inquire into the impact of their teaching and share effective practices. Expectations for teaching and learning are consistent and student agency is increasing. Teachers new to the school are well supported to understand the “Wainui Way”.

Parents, whānau and community members are very supportive of the school’s learning programmes. Many parents assist with the Bee project, and the Garden to Table programme, both of which have a strong emphasis on environmental sustainability. They also support the Learning through Play approach that has been successfully implemented in junior classes, and with annual camps for older students.

The experienced school principal is closely involved in monitoring the quality of teaching and learning. A distributed leadership approach enables senior managers to use their individual expertise to build leadership capability across the school. Whole-school professional learning is carefully selected and evaluated in relation to outcomes for learners.

The school leadership team operates in a deliberate and transparent manner. The team works collaboratively to progress action plans based on the board’s strategic goals and targets. There is coherence between school operations and the valued outcomes for learners. Internal evaluation is integral to planning and prioritising, and results in ongoing school improvement.

Leadership of the board has transitioned effectively due to well documented strategic planning, reporting and systematic decision making. Trustees are supportive of the school’s role in the kāhui ako. Agreed challenges between the local schools are supporting the intentional focus on strengthening culturally responsive practices and lifting writing achievement.

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

ERO and senior leaders agree that further school development could include:

• strengthening the alignment between valued learner outcomes and internal evaluation by evidence gathering such as student surveys, observations, team reflections, and professional inquiry
• continuing meaningful consultation with whānau Māori, as the curriculum responds to the need for developing a stronger understanding of local history and sense of place
• sustaining a shared teacher understanding of accelerated learning progress.

3 Other Matters

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 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 the ERO review.

4 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.

5 ERO’s Overall Judgement

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Wainui School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Well placed.

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.

6 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

• distributed leadership and expertise that supports an intentional focus on positive outcomes for all learners
• strong parent, whānau, community and kāhui ako partnerships that support shared goals and improvement strategies
• authentic and local curriculum learning contexts that engage students in meaningful learning programmes
• coherent and evidence-based planning that supports the identification of strategic priorities, integrated internal evaluation, and ongoing school improvement.

Next steps

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

• strengthen the focus on students gaining ownership and agency of their learning progress
• enrich the curriculum by strengthening the bicultural context through ongoing consultation with whānau Māori.

Steve Tanner

Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)

Northern Region - Te Tai Raki

4 June 2020

About the school

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement.

1 Context

Wainui Primary School caters for children in Years 1 to 8 in a semirural area. The school roll is steadily increasing as the area becomes more densely settled.

Wainui School is part of the newly formed Orewa Community of Learning (CoL) that involves four primary schools and one college, and which share a focus on raising boys' achievement in writing.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are expressed in the school's vision, 'Wainui learners will pursue life's challenges with confidence, creativity, energy and determination'. This vision is underpinned by the values of respect, relationships, resilience, resourcefulness and reflection.

The values are incorporated in the curriculum to help ensure that children, staff, whānau and families develop a shared understanding of them.

The school's achievement information shows that over the past three years more than 85 percent of children have achieved at or above the National Standards in reading and mathematics. Overall achievement in writing has been a little lower, with about three quarters of children achieving at or above the national standard.

External professional development in 2015 has helped to lift mathematics achievement across the school. Achievement information for writing shows a slight downward trend over the last three years. External professional development is in place to improve writing achievement across the school and for identified groups of boys who particularly require targeted support in writing. The school has varied and well considered provisions for children who are at risk of underachieving.

School information shows an increase in the number of Māori children on the roll since 2014. It also shows that many Māori children achieve well in the National Standards and that there has been an upward trend in Māori children's achievement in mathematics since 2013. However, school leaders recognise the need to implement more effective strategies for raising Māori children's achievement, as 20 to 30 percent are not yet achieving as well as expected. They also recognise the need to have greater knowledge of each child's progress over time, particularly since about half of all Māori children have been at Wainui School for less than two years.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has developed wider shared leadership and a more explicit focus on student achievement. There has been a focus on increasing student knowledge and understanding of their own learning. These developments have been influenced by the school's involvement in professional networks with other schools. The school has strategically resourced initiatives to engage learners and accelerate the progress of children who are at risk of underachieving.

3 Accelerating achievement

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

The school continues to develop its strategies for responding to Māori children whose learning and achievement needs to be accelerated. Successful collaborative teaching approaches have resulted in lifting the performance of Māori children in mathematics, with about 80 percent now achieving at or above the National Standards. Success in this learning area is now being used to improve achievement in writing. However, school strategies for accelerating learning are not yet consistently effective and there is further work to do to accelerate achievement for some Māori learners.

Good outcomes gained through teacher use of action plans for children with special needs is seen as a potential area to explore. The wider application of such plans may be of value in helping to address the disparity between Māori children's achievement overall and school-wide achievement levels.

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

The school is responding increasingly well to other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration, including children with special learning needs. Since the 2013 ERO evaluation, there has been a collaborative approach and shared responsibilities for catering for children with special learning requirements. A deliberate, personalised action plan informs how the school coordinates support for children with special learning needs. This information links with the board's strategic plan.

The school is receptive to external sources of information and has developed meaningful internal evaluation processes to promote ongoing school improvement. School leaders recognise that increased use of longitudinal achievement information that tracks children's progress and achievement on a long term basis should enhance internal evaluation and provide improved information to support learners at risk of not achieving.

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 curriculum uses meaningful contexts to foster children's engagement in learning and to promote the enactment of school goals. Relationships with whānau are respectful and high expectations for student learning are evident. Senior leaders work collaboratively with staff to review and adapt the school curriculum, and to guide programme planning and implementation.

The school has a positive culture that seeks to foster the conditions that best support children's learning. This has a positive impact on student motivation and engagement in learning. The schoolwide establishment of shared expectations and teaching approaches promotes a culture of learning. Teachers' commitment to building children's sense of identity through bicultural practice encourages wellbeing, respect for others and the valuing of diversity.

Children have a strong sense of belonging and connection to their school and the community. Class programmes appropriately emphasise literacy and mathematics. Newly introduced problem-based learning in mathematics allows for mixed ability and differentiated learning. Teachers are exploring ways to extend this good practice into other areas of the curriculum.

Leaders and staff carefully consider what is best for children with special learning needs and their families. Staff are open to the possibilities of doing things differently for learners who are at risk of underachieving. As a result, children and their families are well supported as they transition into the school, within school, and move on to their next school.

Children are able to build on their skills in leadership through rich experiences. Year 7 and 8 students are well served by the school. The school offers appropriate programmes which support learning and achievement for children going into secondary school.

The board of trustees works well as a team. Trustees have a good understanding of the board's responsibilities regarding students' wellbeing, learning and progress. They value and use information that leaders provide to guide board decision-making and provide a school environment that is conducive to learning. Trustees are an integral part of the school, committed to the future direction of the school, and focused on improvement and continued sustainability. Trustees are keen to find ways to retain their valued rural perspectives in an increasingly urban setting.

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 effectively to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
• regularly evaluate how well teaching is working for these children
• act on what they know works well for each child
• build teacher capability effectively to achieve equitable outcomes for all children
• are well placed to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children.

Wainui Primary is well placed to implement plans to accelerate learning for children. School trustees, leaders and staff work collaboratively to provide positive outcomes for students. Strong relationships with families, whānau and the wider community are evident. Good systems support school operations, and teaching and learning programmes. School leaders are initiating and implementing strategies to support the school's future strategic direction. Next steps for promoting learning include:

• increasing children's knowledge about their next steps for learning
• extending data analysis processes to include the analysis of trends patterns and overtime in order to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning and further strengthen internal evaluation.

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
• provision for international students.

7 Recommendation

ERO recommends that the school continues to increase its evaluative capacity to promote ongoing improvements in teaching and learning that increasingly lead to equity and excellence in outcomes for all children. 

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

13 July 2016

About the school