Summary
Greytown School is located in southern Wairarapa. It caters for children in Years 1 to 8. At the time of this ERO review there are 366 students enrolled, including 16% who identify as Māori. Greytown has seen increased growth and diversity of its population in recent years, with a significant number of families living in the town and surrounds but working in Wellington.
Since the August 2014 ERO report, a new principal and assistant principal have been appointed. Most trustees are new to the board. The school has an enrolment zone in place. There is strong support for children’s learning and the school from the community. The school is an Enviro School. Students work alongside external organisations to promote sustainable practices and clean environments.
Greytown School is a member of the South Wairarapa Community of Learning | Kāhui Ako.
How well is the school achieving equitable outcomes for all children?
The school is strengthening systems and working positively to respond to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.
The board of trustees and school leaders have identified the need to:
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revise the vision, direction and strategic plan in consultation with the school community
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review the school curriculum, including assessment practices and the voice of the learner.
The school should continue to strengthen appraisal, inquiry and internal evaluation for ongoing improvement and sustainability of practice.
The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all learners. However, disparity in achievement for Māori and other learners remains.
The school agrees to:
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continue to develop more targeted planning to accelerate progress for learners
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monitor targeted planning, improved teaching, and learners’ progress
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discuss the school’s progress with ERO.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.
Equity and excellence
How effectively does this school respond to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?
The school is working positively to respond to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.
The school reports that most children achieve at and above National Standards expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. There is disparity of achievement for Māori children in reading, writing and mathematics and for boys in reading and writing. The school is beginning to use longitudinal data to track achievement trends across year groups.
Through the school’s participation in Accelerating Learning in Mathematics (ALiM) and Accelerating Learning in Literacy (ALL) there has been a clear focus at class and syndicate level, to lift student achievement. Teachers have strengthened systems to identify, track and monitor children’s progress and achievement.
Moderation in writing occurs at syndicate and schoolwide level. The school has identified a need to strengthen processes to support schoolwide consistency in making judgements about children’s learning. Leaders and teachers identify that moderation in reading and mathematics is a next step.
Sound systems are in place to identify and allocate resources to students requiring additional learning support. A good range of programmes and initiatives meet their identified needs. The school works positively with families and whānau and external agencies to enable children to engage in learning where they experience success.
School conditions supporting equity and excellence
What school processes are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?
The school is strengthening systems and processes to support the achievement of equity and excellence.
There is a strong focus by the board, leaders and staff to be responsive to all children. This is supported by a number of initiatives within the school including Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L), restorative practice and the SHARP (safe, honest, achieve, respect, pride) school values. The values are deliberately promoted and modelled and underpin expectations for teaching and learning across the school.
The school plans to review the curriculum to incorporate what the school community values for children, and current best practice.
Trustees have good processes and systems to undertake their responsibilities. There is a focus on developing and maintaining positive relationships across the school community. New trustees are building a shared understanding of promoting equity and excellence through stewardship.
School leaders work collaboratively to promote ongoing improvement to school conditions to support equity and excellence. The value of self review and evaluation to inform improvement is recognised.
The school continues to strengthen relationships with early learning services and secondary schools to support children’s transitions and pathways through education.
The newly implemented appraisal process guides ongoing teacher improvement through professional learning and inquiry into practice.
There is a deliberate focus on establishing a shared understanding and commitment to ensuring that the school is culturally responsive and that Māori students experience success. Teachers are building their capability and confidence in te ao Māori to embed this across the school.
Sustainable development for equity and excellence
What further developments are needed in school processes to achieve equity and excellence?
Progress has been made in developing processes and practices for achieving equity and excellence.
The board of trustees and school leaders have identified the need to:
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revise the vision, direction and strategic plan in consultation with the school community
-
review the school curriculum, assessment practices and using the voice of the learner.
The school should continue to strengthen appraisal, inquiry and internal evaluation for ongoing improvement and sustainability of practice.More effective use of achievement and other data would enable trustees, leaders and teachers to evaluate the impact of programmes and interventions on student progress and achievement.
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.
Appraisal audit
The school appraisal process meets the requirements for issuing and renewing teacher practising certificates. The process is improvement-focused and provides opportunities for teacher goal setting and reflection.
Going forward
How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?
The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all learners. However, disparity in achievement for Māori and other learners remains.
Leaders and teachers:
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know the learners whose progress and achievement need to be accelerated
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need to continue to develop and implement approaches that effectively meet the needs of each learner
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need to further build teacher capability to accelerate learners’ progress and achievement.
The school agrees to:
-
continue to develop more targeted planning to accelerate progress for learners
-
monitor targeted planning, improved teaching, and learners’ progress
-
discuss the school’s progress with ERO.
ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop to support the school to continue to develop effective planning and monitoring processes to support equity and excellence for all children.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.
Patricia Davey
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)
26 October 2017
About the school
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Location
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Greytown
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Ministry of Education profile number
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2850
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School type
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Full Primary (Year 1 - 8)
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School roll
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366
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Gender composition
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Male 60%, Female 40%
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Ethnic composition
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Māori 16%
Pākehā 79%
Other ethnic groups 5%
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Provision of Māori medium education
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No
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Review team on site
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August 2017
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Date of this report
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26 October 2017
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review August 2014
Education Review August 2011
Education Review October 2008
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