Tahunanui School

Tahunanui School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Tahunanui 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

Tahunanui School is situated in Nelson and provides education for students in years 1 to 6. Their vision is with an ‘I can, I will’ attitude, Tahunanui school empowers children to become resilient, connected and successful citizens.

Tahunanui School’s strategic priority for improving outcomes for learners is:

  • to enhance educational outcomes for all students, by strengthening engagement with whānau and adapting teaching to children’s cultural, social, physical and learning needs, strengths and circumstances.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school delivers a relevant and engaging curriculum that is culturally responsive and meets the diverse needs of the students. 

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is: 

  • through continually reviewing its local curriculum the school has identified a need to continue to develop teacher practice in line with current best practice and pedagogical thinking
  • culturally responsive practices that have been developed in the past 3 years would be further enhanced by continuing to build further capability in te ao Māori
  • as the community has become more diverse, the school has identified a need to ensure a consistent approach to differentiating classroom programmes.

The school expects to see:

  • learning programmes that reflect student’s strengths, needs and identity in order to strengthen student and whānau engagement and equitable and excellent outcomes for students
  • strengthening the delivery of the classroom programme through collaboration, integration and maximising opportunities to ensure consistent practice
  • the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi continuing to be embedded through the development of a progressive approach to teaching te reo Māori and further strengthening of teachers and learners understanding and use of te reo Māori.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate how effectively the school delivers a relevant and engaging curriculum that is culturally responsive and meets the diverse needs of the students.

  • A strong and focused leadership team who work collaboratively to guide continuous improvement in the school. 
  • Educationally powerful relationships have been developed with iwi, its Kāhui Ako, and the local community to support further improvements in culturally responsive practices.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • the professional development of staff in order to implement a progressive schoolwide programme of te reo Māori instruction
  • staff collaborating to ensure consistent  practice for integration and differentiation of teaching and learning
  • strengthening schoolwide understanding and use of internal evaluation to inform continuous improvement in the school.

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

12 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

Tahunanui School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of July 2021, the Tahunanui 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 Tahunanui School Board.

The next School Board 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

12 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

Tahunanui School

Findings

Tahunanui School has made sufficient progress in relation to the key next steps identified in ERO’s February 2020 report. The school will transition into ERO’s Evaluation for Improvement approach.

1 Background and Context

What is the background and context for this school’s review?

Tahunanui School, located in Nelson, is a contributing primary school catering for students in Years 1 to 6. The roll of 280 learners includes about 25% who identify as Māori. The school is an active member of Te Kāhui Ako o Omaio ki Tahunanui. The school has participated in the Ministry of Education (MOE) funded Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) programme since 2016.

Leadership has remained stable since the February 2020 ERO review, and there have been several changes in staff.

The school’s vision for students is “With an I can, I will attitude, our school empowers children to become resilient, connected and successful citizens.” The underpinning values are:

  • Kia tū te mana – Show Respect
  • Kia tū te Kaha – Aspire to be
  • Kia tū tahi tātou – Involved
  • Ngā ākona mō ake tonu – Life-long Learners (SAIL).

The board of trustees has set strategic priorities focused on improving culture (tūrangawaewae), connection (whakawhanaungatanga), curriculum (kaupapa), and growth and wellbeing (rangatiratanga).

2 Review and Development

How effectively is the school addressing its priorities for review and development?

Priorities identified for review and development

The February 2020 ERO report identified that improvements were required in raising achievement, developing a localised school curriculum, teacher practices, use of data to show achievement, evidence-based evaluation, and learning-centred relationships.

Progress

Schoolwide progress and achievement information shows that most students are achieving at or above curriculum level expectations. There have been positive shifts in the progress of priority students in reading, writing, and especially mathematics. Disparities in Māori student achievement in core learning areas have been significantly reduced over the past two years. Leaders and teachers know their students well and take shared ownership of student progress goals across the school. More robust systems and practices are providing useful evidence of student learning to inform professional conversations.

The local, integrated curriculum framework that supports learners’ needs and interests is being progressively embedded and monitored by middle and senior leaders. Culturally responsive and relational teaching and learning programmes have been prioritised and agreed, supported by increasingly reciprocal relationships with local iwi. Students are supported to take responsibility and make decisions about their own learning and behaviour.

A coherent approach to student engagement, schoolwide, is building professional capability. Leaders and teachers continue to engage in open-to-learning conversations as they investigate and reflect on aspects of their practice to develop evidence-based solutions for professional improvement. Relationship-based teaching and learning approaches are improving student engagement. Targeted resourcing is increasing access to the curriculum and promoting student progress, particularly for those at risk of underachievement.

Appropriate tools and methods have been developed to gather, store and make sense of a range of valid data to promote student learning outcomes. Assessment activities are increasingly authentic.  They provide meaningful evidence of achievement and progress and inform next steps for teaching and learning. Collaborative teacher meetings use evidence of student learning for collective inquiry into teaching programmes and strategies for accelerating progress and achievement.

Leaders and teachers participate in, and lead, knowledge building within the school and the wider education community. The board increasingly scrutinises the effectiveness of the school in achieving valued student outcomes. Leaders and trustees have prioritised strategic resourcing of programmes directed at improving schoolwide achievement.

Trustees and leaders have continued to strengthen community consultation practices and learning-centred relationships with families/whānau. Improved student outcomes have benefitted from these collaborations.

Key next steps

Trustees, leaders and teachers should continue to:

  • further develop culturally responsive practices and a progressive te reo Māori curriculum to meet the needs of Maōri and other students
  • align assessment practices, targets for priority students, and progress indicators to confirm the impact of school interventions towards equitable and excellent outcomes for all students
  • promote conditions that value the use of internal evaluation to better know the impact of building and sustaining improvement and innovation.

3 Sustainable performance and self review

How well placed is the school to sustain and continue to improve and review its performance?

The school is well placed to sustain and continue to improve and review its performance.

Improved schoolwide progress and achievement information over the last two years, and reductions in the disparity of achievement for some groups of students, are the result of improved systems and practices to meet the learning progress and other needs of students. Strengthened teacher planning and delivery of the local curriculum focuses on relationship-based learning to engage students. Targeted professional learning has supported teachers and leaders to improve their capability to make sense of information about student progress and to inform planning and next steps.  Families/whānau continue to be consulted and communicated with regularly to ensure that their aspirations for their children are prioritised.

Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review, the board of trustees 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:

  • board administration
  • curriculum
  • management of health, safety and welfare
  • personnel management
  • financial management
  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
  • physical safety of students
  • teacher registration
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
  • attendance
  • school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Children’s Act 2014.

Conclusion

Tahunanui School has made sufficient progress in relation to the key next steps identified in ERO’s February 2020 report. The school will transition into ERO’s Evaluation for Improvement approach.

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

14 December 2021

About the school

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement.