Picton School

Picton School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 19 months of the Education Review Office and Picton 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 

Picton School, Te Kura o Waitohi|He Kūaha Kitenga, is located near the town centre of Picton. The school provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. Their vision is ‘Growing Actively Together as we Engage with our World’.

Picton School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • develop and evaluate effective teaching and learning practices to engage diverse learners and community members

  • develop a school wide approach to promote goals and values and behaviour management

  • offer a creative, enriching, dynamic, culturally responsive learning experience

  • embedding a responsive and inclusive culture which enables all members of the school community to thrive. 

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate culturally responsive practices for learning to understand and address parity for all students.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • a range of baseline data that identifies barriers for learning, particularly for students who identify as Māori.

The school expects to see reciprocal, learning centred relationships with the community that enrich opportunities for students to become confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to strengthen culturally responsive practices:

  • use of a wide range of external support to deepen connections, knowledge and understanding

  • strategic and focused professional development

  • teachers and leaders focused on improving outcomes for all students.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • strengthening learning partnerships with students and whānau

  • embedding of a culturally responsive local curriculum.

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.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

2 August 2022 

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

Picton School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of May 2022, the Picton School Board of Trustees 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 Picton School Board of Trustees.

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.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

2 August 2022 

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

Picton School - 14/11/2017

Summary

Picton School has a roll of 130 Years 1 to 6 children. Almost half the children identify as Māori. A third of the children at Picton School enter or leave during the school year. The school has a significant number of children with additional and complex needs.

Since the 2014 ERO review, the school has made good progress against ERO’s recommendations. This includes improved internal evaluation practices, reporting to parents in relation to the National Standards and a greater valuing of Māori language and culture.

In 2016, close to two-thirds of children achieved at or above National Standards in reading and writing. Mathematics results were higher reflecting the positive impact of professional learning. Overall, reading and writing results have remained fairly consistent over the last three years. There continues to be a disparity in achievement for some boys and Māori students, especially in reading.

How well is the school achieving equitable outcomes for all children?

The school is achieving equitable outcomes for many children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Teachers collaborate to support children who require additional programmes to help them learn. A strength in the school is the strong focus on children’s physical and emotional wellbeing. The school prioritises resourcing to ensure all children have a range of meaningful opportunities to succeed in areas that match their interests and abilities.

There are some good systems for identifying areas needing development to improve the achievement of equity and excellence.

The school demonstrates progress toward achieving equity in educational outcomes, supported by effective, sustainable processes and practices.

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 has had variable success in accelerating the progress of those Māori and other children who need extra help to succeed. There is well-planned pastoral support for children to ensure that they are ready to engage with learning.

At the end of 2016, 66% of children achieved at the National Standards in reading, 68% in writing and 72% in mathematics. The percentage of children transferring between schools impacts on achievement levels, disparities and trends over time in this school.

There are some ongoing disparities for different groups of children, particularly Māori and boys.

There are good systems within the school to show the progress of individual children. Teachers use reliable assessment information to plan for children’s learning. Leaders and teachers need to continue to refine some assessment processes to more clearly provide the board with useful information about the sufficiency of progress for all groups of children.

Students with additional needs are very well supported in their learning. They are valued members of the school community.

The school’s new vision and values are based on the Māori concepts of manaakitanga (respect), motuhake (independence), takohanga (responsibility) and rangatiratanga (leadership) and are in the process of being embedded. The school values are contributing to better engagement.

The school has effective assessment and moderation practices. These support teachers to make reliable judgments about children’s achievement.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

The school has some effective practices to support equity for its students. It has an increasing focus on supporting excellence.

What school processes are effective in enabling achievement of and excellence?

Children benefit from a broad range of curriculum and learning experiences. Good use is made of local projects, places and people to enrich children’s learning. There is a strong environmental focus and increasing valuing of Māori language and culture. Children talked confidently about respect and responsibility and the link between these and the school’s environmental focus.

There is a strong commitment to ensuring children have equitable access to the curriculum, activities and experiences. Children with additional needs are very well supported and included in the school. A range of useful interventions are in place. Teachers and leaders work closely with parents, external experts and agencies to achieve this.

The school works closely with parents and the wider community to better meet children’s needs. Parents’ views are regularly sought and valued.

Trustees have a good understanding of their governance role. They show a commitment to ongoing learning about this. They put children at the centre of their resourcing decisions. With school leaders, they have developed useful strategic and annual plans to guide the direction the school is moving in.

School leaders show a strong commitment to equity and ensuring that staff, parents and trustees work constructively towards this. Staff feel valued. Their strengths are used well to build staff capability and to better support children’s learning.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

What further developments are needed in school processes to achieve equity and excellence?

There are some useful processes that now need to be strengthened, embedded and sustained in order to achieve equity and excellence for all learners. The school has a focus on improvement and has developed some good systems and practices for enhancing learning outcomes for its children.

Agreed next steps are to:

  • extend the use of internal evaluation in order to look more deeply at which teaching practices will be most effective in lifting the achievement of targeted and other children
  • unpack in children’s language the new school vision and values, and link them to ‘learning to learn’ practices
  • continue to strengthen the Māori dimension in children’s learning.

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
  • 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.

Going forward

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

Learners are achieving well. The school demonstrates strong progress toward achieving equity in educational outcomes, supported by effective, sustainable processes and practices.

Agreed next steps are outlined on in the ‘sustainable development for equity and excellence’ section above. These relate to strengthening aspects of internal evaluation and continuing to strengthen the Māori dimension in children’s learning.

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern

Te Waipounamu - Southern Region

14 November 2017

About the school

Location

Marlborough

Ministry of Education profile number

2956

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

130

Gender composition

Girls: 53%

Boys: 47%

Ethnic composition

Māori: 45%

Pākehā: 48%

Other: 7%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

September 2017

Date of this report

14 November 2017

Most recent ERO reports

Education Review: May 2011

Education Review: September 2014