Motupipi School

School Context

Motupipi School provides education for about 80 children from Years 1 to 6 in a rural area of Golden Bay, Tasman.

The school's vision is to ‘Believe in yourself, be caring, take the challenge, and succeed.’ Its values are caring, respect, responsibility, achievement, self-worth and honesty. Together, the vision and values provide clear expectations of the outcomes trustees and staff have for their children.

The current strategic goals are to:

• provide the children with a quality literacy programme
• develop an ICT plan which will enhance the achievement of the children
• provide opportunities for children to be proud of New Zealand's Māori heritage.

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
• information about programmes and activities across a broad range of curriculum areas, including sporting and cultural achievements.

The school is in an area which is perceived as remote, due to the need to travel over the Takaka Hill. Trustees and teachers manage this by ensuring students have meaningful learning experiences within and beyond the school.

Motupipi school is a part of the Mohua Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning.

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 effectively achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students.

Most students achieve well or very well in reading, writing and mathematics. Almost all girls are achieving well in all three of these areas. Māori children achieve at levels similar to other students. Although most boys achieve well in writing, there is a greater proportion of boys who are not at the expected levels. This is a current area of focus for the school.

The school has high expectations that every child will achieve success. Children have opportunities to experience challenge and success across a wide range of learning experiences.

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

The school is very effective in accelerating the progress of the majority of these students. Reports to the board during 2017 show that between half and three quarters of the students below expectations had made accelerated progress by the end of the year.

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 has effective processes and practices in its stewardship, leadership, curriculum and its relationships with the community.

Community collaborations enrich opportunities for students to become confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners. Many parents and other adults are involved in supporting students within the school. Students participate in the community, working alongside organisations such as the Department of Conservation. Parents are actively involved in their children's learning. They have frequent opportunities to share their views and understandings of their child with teachers. They receive high quality information about what their children are learning, and how they can help at home.

Students engage in challenging and purposeful learning opportunities that relate to real-life contexts, issues and experiences. Teachers are flexible and responsive in their approach, making the most of ‘teachable moment’ opportunities such a shark washed up on the beach. Students are involved in caring for the environment through gardening activities that result in many edible fruits and vegetables, and through taking responsibility for a part of a national park. They have a wide range of learning experiences that cover the breadth of the curriculum, including sporting and cultural activities at local, regional and national levels.

Trustees and leaders collaboratively develop and pursue the school’s vision, goals and targets for equity and excellence. There is regular and effective consultation and communication with the community. The school is very responsive to parents' questions and concerns. There is strong alignment between the vision and goals of the Kāhui Ako, the school's strategic plans, and teachers' individual goals.

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

Some aspects of internal evaluation could be strengthened. School leaders have identified that this is an area they need to improve. Currently curriculum reviews are descriptive rather than evaluative. The involvement of teachers this year in developing their own spirals of inquiry is likely to assist in the development of evaluative thinking.

Further developments are needed to ensure that students have sufficient opportunity to learn in ways that reflect contemporary teaching and learning practices and the uniqueness of Aotearoa/New Zealand's bicultural heritage. Both of these aspects of learning are part of the school's current strategic goals.

Teachers are beginning to build on each other’s strengths:

• in te reo and tikanga Māori
• by giving students choice about what and how they learn
• to enable broader use of digital technologies.  

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:

• partnerships with parents and community groups to enhance learning
• a broad and responsive curriculum that builds on children’s interests and experiences
• leadership and governance that is focused on high expectations for student success.

Next steps

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

• improving aspects of internal evaluation so that the strategies making the most impact can be identified
• implementing the school’s strategic goals to better use digital technologies, and strengthen te reo and tikanga Māori in the classroom.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

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

Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern

Te Waipounamu - Southern Region

14 May 2018

About the school