Goodwood School

Goodwood School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 4 months of the Education Review Office and Goodwood School working in Te Ara Huarau, an improvement evaluation approach used in most English Medium State and State Integrated Schools. For more information about Te Ara Huarau see ERO’s website. www.ero.govt.nz

Context

Goodwood School is located in a rural setting, close to the Waikato town of Cambridge and provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. The school’s senior leadership team is unchanged since the last review. The school is a longstanding member of Te Kāhui Ako o Te Oko Horoi.

Goodwood School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

  • successfully implement a rich and responsive curriculum that supports and extends all students (explorers)

  • sustain and enrich a trauma informed approach with a focus on Mātauranga Māori health models to support the needs of all explorers

  • build upon strong existing partnerships with whānau, mana whenua and the wider community to support learning and wellbeing.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Goodwood School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent to which a trauma informed approach is improving student learning and wellbeing outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • this is part of the strategic direction of the school

  • community survey data shows the need to focus on mental health

  • Mātauranga Māori models used demonstrate ongoing commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

The school expects to see an increase in students able to articulate strategies for self-regulation. A range of data will be analysed to identify the impact of trauma informed approach on student learning and wellbeing. The school also expects to see an individual and collective responsibility to embed Mātauranga Māori models into teaching and learning programmes.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to improve student learning and wellbeing outcomes.

  • Ongoing commitment to culturally responsive practices to give full and systemic effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

  • A collaborative and highly effective teaching team, working in a culture of inquiry and data-based decision making.

  • Well established community partnerships, including with mana whenua and other schools.

  • An experienced and supportive leadership team that promotes student centred decision making and a focus on learning and explorer agency.

  • A welcoming and engaging learning environment where explorers feel they belong and have agency in their learning.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • unpacking Mātauranga Māori health models to plan and implement cohesive school wide practice

  • utilising the strong self-review systems within the school to evaluate the impact on learning and well-being for explorers, team and community.

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. ERO will support the school in reporting their progress to the community. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

15 June 2023 

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement.  educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Goodwood School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of April 2023, the Goodwood School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Further Information

For further information please contact Goodwood School, School Board.

The next School Board assurance that it is meeting regulatory and legislative requirements will be reported, along with the Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report, within three years.

Information on ERO’s role and process in this review can be found on the Education Review Office website.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

15 June 2023 

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Goodwood School - 23/11/2016

1 Context

Goodwood School is a large rural primary school located eight kilometres north of Cambridge providing education for children from Year 1 to 6. The school's current roll is 312, including 17 Māori children. Since the 2012 ERO review the roll has increased significantly, a new principal, deputy principal and three new team leaders in the junior, middle and senior school have been appointed. In addition there have been a number of new trustees elected to the board including a Māori representative.

The school is in its third year of a professional development contract in literacy focusing on building teachers' capability in the teaching of writing. The school is a member of the Cambridge Community of Learning that is in the early stages of its formation.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are captured in the 'Goodwood explorer' student profile. This profile, defines desired outcomes for children to be literate, numerate, an explorer, a thinker, a contributor a communicator and self managing. The values of trust/whaka-ae-tika, respect/whakaute and honesty/pono underpin the school's vision and strategic priorities.

The school’s achievement information shows that from 2013 to 2015 almost all of the Māori children are at or above the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. This information for all children shows consistently high levels of achievement, with the majority at and above the National Standard in all three areas. In 2015 the proportion of children achieving the National Standards in reading (89%), writing (82%) was above the national comparisons, and comparable in mathematics (83%).

The leaders and teachers have used a rigorous approach to identify key groups who, after one year, two years and at the end of four years at school, were achieving at lower levels than other year groups, particularly in mathematics and writing. Targeted programmes have been put in place to raise the achievement of these groups. 2016 mid-year data shows that all groups are making progress, with most children in these groups are on track to achieve the relevant National Standard by the end of the year.

The school is continuing to focus on the moderation of teachers' overall judgements in relation to National Standards. This work was put in place to improve the reliability of the OTJ's across the school.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has increased their focus on what they do to achieve equity and excellence across the school. This includes:

  • The re-establishment of the partnership between the school and Ngā hau e whā, Waimakariri Marae and the school's whānau group.
  • An extensive review of the school's curriculum that identified agreed priorities for teaching and learning, particularly in relation to New Zealand's bicultural heritage, learner centred agency and future focused global citizenship.
  • Implementing their focused planning for accelerating those Māori children and others who are at risk of not achieving and extending those who are already experiencing success.
  • Participation in professional development about teaching and learning including assessment for learning, culturally responsive and relational pedagogy and te reo and tikanga Māori.
  • The extensive provision of the innovative learning environments including digital technologies particularly in the senior school.
  • The process of teaching as inquiry that provides ongoing opportunities for reflective dialogue and collaborative planning to meet the needs of children who require additional support.

3 Accelerating achievement

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

The school responds to those children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. There are well-embedded and highly effective systems to promptly identify, respond to, track and accelerate the needs of the small number of children at risk of not achieving expected levels.

Leaders and teachers are strongly focused on and committed to raising achievement. They carefully target children who are achieving below the expected level, respond with a wide range of interventions and monitor their progress closely. A key feature of the identification process is the careful consideration of each child's unique situation and circumstances that they bring with them and to the school. Detailed information is also gathered through robust diagnostic testing about each child's learning needs. Leaders and teachers make effective use of this information to develop personalised and responsive programmes designed to accelerate learning and achievement of at risk learners.

Trustees are well informed about school-wide achievement. They use this information to set relevant and purposeful targets. Trustees make informed decisions about resourcing that is aligned to each child's needs, particularly those that are underachieving and those that need extension.

Aligned with the school-wide targets, teachers are working collaboratively to accelerate the progress of children who are working below expected levels, especially those children who are the school-wide focus. The well-embedded teaching as inquiry model is providing a strategic and valuable forum for teachers to share effective practice and build their own capability to respond and meet the needs of all children. High levels of teacher capability and collaborative practice amongst teaching staff are contributing to accelerating the progress of identified at risk learners.

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?

Effective processes and practices support the board, leaders and teachers to focus on the school's drive for equity and excellence.

Professional, collaborative leadership is focused on building teacher capability. There is a strategic approach to change management processes within the school. The strong focus on the provision of equity and excellence for Māori and all children in the school is being lead in a well-managed way. Included in the professional learning and development is specific work on culturally responsive and relational pedagogy. This focus has contributed to the strengthening of the presence, visibility and commitment to Aotearoa/New Zealand's bicultural heritage and the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Goodwood's school curriculum is broad, rich and responsive to children's interests and needs. Current curriculum priorities include:

  • the provision of a rich and integrated literacy and mathematics programme
  • integrating language, culture and identity of Māori children into the learning programme
  • facilitating a student-centred approach to learning
  • the effective use of digital technologies
  • the effective use of flexible learning environments.

During the ERO review the children appeared highly engaged. Children were observed experiencing success in purposeful and meaningful contexts for learning.

Data about student engagement and wellbeing is also gathered and shows very high levels of student and whānau satisfaction with and sense of belonging to the school. This information is reported to the board and community. The board employs a number of teacher aides who work closely with teachers in classrooms to support learning and teaching. This specialist assistance enables these students to access and engage with the learning programmes and make accelerated progress.

Educationally powerful connections are strong and well developed. Leaders and teachers use many different ways to deliberately work with parents of all children, particularly those who require additional support with their learning and engagement. Effective and open communication is supporting parents to help their child's learning at home. A feature of these connections has been the revitalisation of relationships with Māori, whānau and iwi. This inclusive and supportive approach is contributing to high levels of parent involvement and participation in the school community.

A comprehensive approach to internal evaluation is well established. The board is committed to a process of continual improvement and supporting equitable outcomes for all children. Trustees are effectively resourcing programmes and initiatives throughout the school. These programmes are focused on equity and excellence for all. The board is committed to ensuring that all children have open access to the full range of learning opportunities provided by the school.

Leaders and teachers make a strong commitment to professional learning and development. Teaching as inquiry processes are well embedded and central to teacher appraisal. This approach is providing a valuable forum for teacher's to share best practice and build on each other's knowledge and capability. Teachers collaborate effectively across the school providing children with a safe and inclusive culture where high levels of relational trust are evident.

5 Going forward

How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?

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.

Strengths are:

  • leadership, which is strongly focused on reducing disparity and ensuring equitable outcomes for all learners
  • trustees, who make informed evidenced-based strategic resourcing decisions to ensure equitable outcomes for learners
  • focused intentional teaching to accelerate the progress, achievement and acceleration of those students at risk of not achieving
  • the strong place of Māori as tangata whenua
  • effective systems for internal evaluation.

The school is very well placed to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all students. Through the school's comprehensive internal evaluation processes, leaders should continue to:

  • Strengthen the culture of ongoing improvement in programme design and pedagogy focused on children's agency and ownership of learning.
  • Focus on further developing partnerships with Māori whānau, and the development of the Te Ao Māori vision for what they want learners to attain by the time they leave Goodwood School in Year 6.

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in four-to-five 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 trustees maintain through its effective internal evaluation process, their focus on acceleration, and the achievement and progress of children at risk of not achieving. They have clearly defined their next steps, which include:

  • Strengthening the culture of improvement in programme design and pedagogy focused on children's agency and ownership of learning.
  • Focusing more on partnerships with Māori whānau, and the development of the Te Ao Māori vision for what they want learners to attain by the time they leave Goodwood School in Year 6. 

Lynda Pura-Watson

Deputy Chief Review Officer

23 November 2016

About the school

Location

Near Cambridge

Ministry of Education profile number

1727

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

312

Gender composition

Girls 52% Boys 48%

Ethnic composition

Pākehā

Māori

Other European

Other

83%

5%

7%

5%

Review team on site

August 2016

Date of this report

23 November 2016

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

July 2012

September 2009

May 2006

Goodwood School - 27/07/2012

1 Context

What are the important features of this school that have an impact on student learning?

Goodwood School is located in a predominantly rural area eight kilometres north of Cambridge. It caters for students in Years 1 to 6. The school has a roll of 290, of whom 20 identify as Māori. The long-serving principal and deputy principal continue to provide high-quality professional leadership for the school.

Since the previous ERO review there have been significant changes to the teaching staff. Teachers have undertaken professional learning and development in literacy and mathematics. There has been a school-wide focus on implementing practices that support teachers to inquire into the effectiveness of their teaching. The school has successfully implemented a number of strategies to address the areas for improvement identified in the previous ERO report.

The school’s vision statement makes a commitment to 'empowering students to become connected and caring life-long explorers'. The values of trust, respect and honesty are well-embedded in all aspects of the school, and contribute to a calm and settled environment for learning.

Students and teachers benefit from learning and teaching in well-presented, maintained and resourced classrooms and facilities. The board and community have recently funded improvements to the school’s entrance areas to promote student safety. An active parent teacher association continues to provide ongoing support for the school.

Parents enjoy many opportunities to participate in class and school programmes, including frequent camps and visits into the local and wider community.

The school has a positive ERO reporting history.

2 Learning

How well are students learning – engaging, progressing and achieving?

The school’s end of 2011 student achievement information indicates that the vast majority of students, including Māori, achieved at or above the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Information from 2010 to 2011 shows that most students made expected progress during that period. There are many opportunities for students to experience success in a wide range of sporting and cultural activities and competitions.

School leaders are continuing to implement processes to support teachers to make reliable judgements in relation to the National Standards. Useful guidelines have been developed to assist teachers to identify each student’s level of achievement and next learning steps in reading, writing and numeracy.

The board is knowledgeable about student achievement, and uses this information to set charter targets and to inform decision-making and self review.

Teachers use student achievement information to develop and implement appropriate learning programmes and to reflect on the effectiveness of their teaching. Many students spoken to by ERO were able to talk knowledgeably about their achievement and learning goals. Students with identified learning needs are well supported within class and in specialist withdrawal programmes.

Parents receive comprehensive reports about their children’s achievement and progress including information in relation to the National Standards. These reports provide parents with clear information about the next learning steps for their children in reading, writing and numeracy.

ERO observed high levels of student engagement in meaningful learning activities and experiences.

3 Curriculum

How effectively does this school’s curriculum promote and support student learning?

The school’s broad-based curriculum very effectively supports student achievement and progress. Priority is placed on literacy and numeracy learning. The “Goodwood Explorer” model successfully embeds the school’s vision through promoting the competencies of self management, communicating, contributing and thinking. A particular feature of the curriculum is the school’s continued commitment to and active participation in environmental sustainability programmes.

Clear expectations and guidelines for quality teaching practice and programme implementation, particularly for literacy and numeracy, have been developed and are being consistently implemented throughout the school. To further develop the school’s curriculum, leaders and teachers, in consultation with parents, should identify clear learning pathways in the other subject areas.

There are many opportunities for students to develop their leadership skills and expertise. School leaders place priority on actively involving students in ongoing school development and review. Younger students benefit from the support and guidance of their older peers, through the school’s fostering of these relationships.

How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?

The school’s Māori Student Achievement Plan provides clear direction for the board, school leaders and teachers to promote success for Māori, as Māori. This plan is well supported by the school’s whānau group. Links have been established with a local marae, and Year 3 and 4 students undertake an annual visit to this marae to further their understanding of tikanga Māori. Progressions have been developed to guide te reo Māori learning programmes within the school. School leaders acknowledge the need for ongoing professional learning for teachers to develop their confidence to implement these progressions and to use te reo Māori within the class.

4 Sustainable Performance

How well placed is the school to sustain and improve its performance?

The school is very well placed to sustain and improve on its performance because:

  • the board provides highly effective governance and is supportive of school leaders and teachers
  • school leaders are focused on school improvement and make best use of their combined expertise
  • teachers work collegially, share their skills and knowledge, and are reflective about their practice
  • positive relationships with parents and the wider community are well established
  • effective self-review processes are well embedded.

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
  • stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
  • attendance.

When is ERO likely to review the school again?

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in four-to-five years.

Makere Smith

National Manager Review Services

Northern Region (Acting)

27 July 2012

About the School

Location

Near Cambridge

Ministry of Education profile number

1727

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

Decile

9

School roll

290

Gender composition

Girls 53%

Boys 47%

Ethnic composition

NZ European/Pākehā

NZ Māori

Other European

Other

87%

7%

4%

2%

Review team on site

June 2012

Date of this report

27 July 2012

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

September 2009

May 2006

June 2003