Bohally Intermediate

School Context

Bohally Intermediate provides education for students in Years 7 and 8. The school roll is 483 and is becoming increasingly ethnically diverse.

The Marlborough Technology Centre, which is on site, is managed by the school. It provides extensive technology educational options for Year 7 and 8 students from across the Marlborough region.

Since the 2014 ERO review, a new principal and senior leadership team have been appointed. Most other staff are experienced and long serving. Leaders and teachers have participated in Ministry of Education supported professional learning and development initiatives, including Accelerated Learning in Mathematics (ALIM) and Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L). The board is made up of new and experienced trustees and has recently introduced a shared chair role to support succession planning.

The school’s overarching vision is for all students to maximise their potential. The school’s vision and values actively promote knowledge and understanding of ako, resilience and respect. The valued outcomes for students are based on:

• communication
• thinking critically
• demonstrating citizenship
• showing character
• being creative
• being collaborative.

Current strategic goals and targets focus on achieving educational success, improving student engagement and ensuring meaningful connections with the school’s wider community and networks.

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

• progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics for all students
• how well students with additional learning needs are progressing
• developments towards meeting the school’s student achievement targets and goals
• student learning and engagement across all areas of the New Zealand Curriculum.

The board and senior leaders have responded positively to the identified areas for development in the 2014 ERO report. There has been significant improvement in the analysis of information reported to the board. The school’s strategic plan has been refined and the targets are now specific. There have been extensive developments in the school’s curriculum documentation.

The school is a member of the Piritahi 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 making very good progress towards achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for its students.

2017 achievement information shows that:

• most students achieve curriculum expectations in reading, writing and mathematics
• there is some disparity for boys in writing that leaders are aware of and are responding appropriately to
• Māori students achieve curriculum expectations, and the majority make significant progress during their time at the school.

Leaders and teachers have a strong focus on ensuring increased student engagement and attendance. This supports high levels of achievement which are maintained. School information shows that most students achieve at or above national expectations in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 8.

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

The school is very successful in responding to those students whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

The school’s learning information shows that most target students make very good progress. Many students make accelerated progress to reach curriculum expectations by the end of Year 8. There are high levels of support for students who require additional help with their learning. Teachers have thorough processes for identifying, monitoring and tracking the learning and progress of these students. They have an ongoing, relentless focus on raising achievement levels.

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?

The school’s processes and practices are extremely effective in enabling the achievement of equity and excellence. The highly inclusive focus on individual students’ identity promotes a strong sense of belonging. Leaders and teachers know students very well and are responsive to their individual needs and strengths. Students’ individual cultures and languages are genuinely valued, encouraged and supported.

School values are clearly visible and well known. They are enacted within practices across the school and are closely aligned to the school’s identified key priorities.

Students are provided with a broad and varied curriculum that is well-considered and innovative. Meaningful contexts and opportunities for students to learn beyond core learning areas support their engagement. Students are well supported to know about their learning, progress and next steps. They have choice in their learning and regularly contribute to decision making about learning programmes. Good use is made of community expertise and resourcing to support learning and teaching programmes.

Strong emphasis is placed on promoting teachers’ professional learning and sharing of quality practices that support their teaching. Teachers are explicit about the specific teaching strategies they use to help students whose learning needs accelerating. Well-designed individualised plans and programmes support learning. Teachers regularly reflect on and evaluate how effectively these approaches are supporting students’ learning, progress and engagement.

Leaders and teachers work collaboratively to ensure effective practices that support positive outcomes for student learning and wellbeing. They are highly reflective about what makes the most difference to students’ learning and progress. School leaders build collective capacity to support sustained improvement. They have well-considered professional learning opportunities that are closely linked to the school’s robust appraisal process. A culture of high expectations for teaching and learning across the school supports the strong focus on continuous improvement and sustainability of good practice.

School leaders use many aspects of internal evaluation very well. The useful framework and many related processes and practices are leading to some positive outcomes for students.

The experienced board brings a range of expertise and knowledge to the governance role. Trustees are well informed about student learning, achievement and school operations. They are highly responsive to identified needs and use a wide range of information to inform their decision making to promote equitable outcomes and opportunities for all students.

The school has very strong networks with other schools which enable the sharing of knowledge and expertise, and support effective transitions into and beyond the school. Leaders and teachers build learning partnerships with parents and whānau and effectively communicate about the learning and progress of their children.

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

To further enhance equity and excellence, leaders and teachers should sustain and build on existing good practices by embedding:

• recent curriculum developments
• internal evaluation practices to continue to focus ongoing positive outcomes for learning and teaching.

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.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

• the rich and meaningful learning contexts that support student learning and engagement
• high expectations for teaching and learning
• collaborative approaches and sharing of best practices within and beyond the school.

Next steps

For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are embedding curriculum developments and extending internal evaluation practices.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

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

Alan Wynyard

Director Review & Improvement Services

For Chief Review Officer

Te Waipounamu - Southern Region

20 September 2018

About the school