Oceanview Heights School

Education institution number:
2110
School type:
Full Primary
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
105
Telephone:
Address:

241 Selwyn Street, Marchwiel, Timaru

View on map

Oceanview Heights School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report 

Background

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and Oceanview Heights 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 

Oceanview Heights School is situated in Timaru and caters for students from Years 0 to 8. The school has recently experienced significant roll growth and an enrolment zone has been put in place to help manage this.

Oceanview Heights School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • raising student achievement
  • building teacher capability
  • developing culturally responsive practices.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of new approaches to teaching and learning in mathematics, incorporating culturally responsive practices that promote equity and excellence.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to: 

  • address low and declining outcomes for learners in mathematics
  • develop teacher knowledge and capability for teaching mathematics and supporting diverse learning needs.

The school expects to see:

  • improved rates of progress and achievement in mathematics learning 
  • increased engagement in learning, particularly for diverse learners
  • consistent use of effective teaching practices for mathematics and for planning to meet the needs of diverse learners across the school.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate the effectiveness of new approaches to teaching and learning in mathematics, incorporating culturally responsive practices that promote equity and excellence:

  • leaders know, understand and support student and whānau wellbeing needs which builds a foundation of caring relationships
  • a deliberate partnership with a local cluster of schools, supported by an external facilitator, is enhancing mathematics teaching and learning
  • teachers and teacher aides are working together, informed by professional learning and development, to support learning behaviours and student wellbeing.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise: 

  • implementing and monitoring an effective, consistent schoolwide mathematics approach that supports culturally responsive practices for learner success
  • teachers regularly and collaboratively inquiring and reflecting on practice to accelerate student progress and raise achievement in mathematics
  • purposefully engaging whānau, families and the community in supporting students’ learning and engagement in mathematics
  • strengthening planning and monitoring systems for meeting the needs of diverse learners. 

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

7 February 2024 

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

This school hosts the Learning Support Hub for South Canterbury and has an on-site Resource Teachers of Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) cluster. The principal is the lead principal for the RTLB cluster. 

Oceanview Heights School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026 

As of May 2023, the Oceanview Heights 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 Oceanview Heights School board.

The next Board of Trustees 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

7 February 2024 

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

Oceanview Heights School - 29/10/2019

School Context

Oceanview Heights School is a Year 1 to 8 school with 75 students from a culturally diverse community. The roll includes 16 students who identify as Māori and 21 are of Pacific heritage. Almost 20% of the students are English language learners (ELLs). During the school year a significant number of the students arrive from or leave to other schools within and beyond Timaru.

The school’s vision is for ‘all students to reach their full potential in order to provide Aotearoa/New Zealand with responsible, contributing individuals’. Its values are: to Cooperate; Achieve; Respect and Encouragement (CARE).

The school’s strategic goals are to: promote student learning and engagement; ensure additional support for at risk learners; ensure Māori children are successful as Māori; develop student and staff understanding of te ao Māori; provide a safe and secure learning environment; and encourage parents and wider whānau to take an active role in supporting their children’s learning.

Current school achievement targets are to increase the number of students achieving at or above expected levels in writing and reading.

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

  • achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
  • attendance
  • wellbeing.

Since the August 2016 ERO review, teachers have been involved in professional development to improve teaching and learning in writing and reading. Two of the four teachers are new to the school this year. The school is part of the Timaru North Kāhui Ako|Community of Learning (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 yet to achieve equitable and excellent outcomes for many of its students. However, a significant number of these students have recently transferred from other schools or are ELLs.

At the end of 2018, close to half of all students achieved at or above expected levels in mathematics and reading. A majority of all students achieved at or above expectations in writing.

There is a significant disparity in achievement for Māori students in mathematics and reading and for Pacific students in mathematics in relation to their peers.

Wellbeing reports state that almost all students report feeling safe and positive about their school with a strong sense of belonging.

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

The school has effective systems to identify, track and monitor students who need additional support and their learning accelerated.

In 2018 the school was successful in accelerating the progress of about half of the Year 2-8 students who were below in reading and writing. Of the targeted students below in reading, many made accelerated progress.

Māori students below expected levels in reading at the beginning of 2018 over half made accelerated progress. Those Māori students who were below expected levels in writing, most made accelerated progress.

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 participate and learn in a caring, collaborative environment. The principal and teachers know them and their families very well. They provide comprehensive pastoral care, working closely with children, their whānau/families and with external agencies. Relationships between children and teachers are respectful. Children that were spoken to feel that the school’s inclusive practices are evident and that difference and diversity is valued.

Children learn through a wide range of experiences and opportunities. This is guided by clear curriculum guidelines and procedures which include expectations for effective teaching practice. Teachers use assessment practices that are effective and used well to inform teaching. Relevant professional development and deliberate teaching programmes and approaches are supporting a school-wide focus on raising achievement in reading and writing.

The school has developed well-considered policies, procedures and systems to promote a consistent approach to meeting student needs. There are effective systems to identify, track and monitor children who need additional learning support. Action planning, such as for annual goals, specific projects and initiatives has been informed by some useful internal evaluation. Coherence and alignment from strategic and annual planning through to other practices, including appraisal and teaching programmes is driving improvement.

The board is well informed about student outcomes and school developments and makes resourcing decisions to support the children’s learning. This includes the provision of an additional teacher aide in every classroom and funding a fourth teacher for literacy and mathematics. These initiatives are likely to support and add value to children’s learning and lift achievement.

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

The board, principal and teachers need to continue to address the achievement of students whose learning needs accelerating. Leaders and teachers need to set more explicit targets and ensure regular analysis and reporting of rates of progress and achievement for groups of students.

Trustees, leaders and teachers need to further develop internal evaluation practices and processes to know what is working well or not and why. This could include a better use of the school’s inquiry model to know how effective recent approaches and programmes are in lifting student achievement and improving attendance.

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 Children’s Act 2014.

4 ERO’s Overall Judgement

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

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.

5 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

  • strong pastoral care for students that helps them to be ready to learn
  • effective processes that support teachers to identify, track and monitor students who need additional support
  • clear guidelines for teaching and school systems that give clarity for teachers practice and contribute to school wide consistency.

5.1 Next steps

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

  • setting, analysing and reporting on explicit targets to show rates of progress and urgently address disparity in achievement
  • strengthening of inquiry and internal evaluation to know what is working, what is not and to inform sustained improvement.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

29 October 2019

About the school

LocationTimaru
Ministry of Education profile number2110
School typeFull Primary (Years 1 to 8)
School roll75
Gender composition

Boys 39

Girls 36

Ethnic composition

Māori 16

Pacific 21

NZ European/Pākehā 35

Other 3

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)No
Provision of Māori medium educationNo
Review team on siteSeptember 2019
Date of this report29 October 2019
Most recent ERO reports

Education Review August 2016

Education Review February 2012

Supplementary Review May 2009