Ashburton Netherby School

Ashburton Netherby School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 16 months of the Education Review Office and Ashburton Netherby 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 

Ashburton Netherby school is situated in Ashburton and provides education for students in years 1 to 6. Their vision is ‘quality teaching, quality learning’, their mission is ‘aim high, do your best, be resilient, have fun’. Proud to be a Kai for Kids, Duffy books and positive behaviour for learning, multicultural school.

Ashburton Netherby School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • Create and implement a learning centred curriculum that is responsive to children’s learning needs whilst having a focus on the future.

  • Foster relationships with our ākonga, community, whānau for the purpose of input, support, sense of belonging and local curriculum direction

  • Build teacher capability and capacity while developing a curriculum which supports identified children’s learning needs, teachers own learning needs and the schools aspiring pedagogical practice.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school supports improved outcomes for learners in reading.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • Current strategic goals include a focus on improving outcomes for learners in reading

  • A number of initiatives to impact positively on reading outcomes have been started, now it is time to evaluate their impact.

The school expects to see a strengthening and building of teacher capacity and capability in the science of reading through research and sharing ideas. It aims to increase the parity between boys and girls reading outcomes and accelerate reading outcomes for students who are not achieving at an expected level. 

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate how effectively the school supports improved outcomes for learners in reading.

  • A collaborative leadership team with a strategic approach to improving outcomes for all students.

  • Existing systems and processes which support effective evaluation.

  • Teachers and leaders are open to an evidence-based approach to improving teaching and learning.

  • A continuous strengthening of educationally powerful relationships with whānau and community.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • improving equitable and excellent outcomes in reading

  • continuing to build teacher capacity and capability in the science of reading.

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

1 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

Ashburton Netherby School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2021 to 2024

As of September 2021, the Ashburton Netherby 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 Ashburton Netherby 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

1 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

Ashburton Netherby School - 27/09/2017

Summary

Ashburton Netherby School has a roll of 144 children. Children come from diverse cultural backgrounds with 34% identifying as Pacific Island, 31% as Māori and 25% as New Zealand European. The school has a significant proportion of learners for whom English is not their first language and a high number receiving support to learn English.

The principal and senior leaders have been appointed since the school’s last education review (2013).

The school has made good use of Ministry of Education support over the last three years to:

  • build teachers’ capability to teach reading and writing
  • develop culturally responsive practices for working with Pacific children and their families
  • build learning-centred partnerships with Māori whānau.

The school has also joined the Hakatere Kāhui Ako|Community of Learning (CoL) along with 12 other local schools. The goal of the schools in the CoL is to enable all their students to reach their potential and have the ability to make life choices without barriers.

The principal is an active member of the steering group for the CoL and the school has two senior teachers that have been appointed as within-school curriculum leaders.

The school has made very good progress in addressing the areas identified for improvement in its last review.

The school’s achievement information for the last three years shows a moderate, but increasing proportion of children achieving at the National Standards in reading and mathematics over time. The school has been less successful in lifting the proportion of all children achieving in writing, despite sustained efforts. This remains a key priority in the school’s plans for raising achievement.

The school continues to support children to develop positive behaviours for learning. All children have equitable opportunities to participate in the breadth of the New Zealand curriculum.

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

This school has a wide range of well-considered approaches to meeting the needs of children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. School leaders and teachers know that they need to continue to address disparity in achievement for Pacific children in reading, Māori children in mathematics and writing, and boys’ achievement in literacy.

The school has a number of good quality processes that promote and support the achievement of equity and excellence. Key strengths are that school leadership is well focused on raising achievement through effective teaching practice and learning partnerships with parents.

The school has robust internal evaluation processes for identifying areas needing further development to achieve equity and excellence.

At the time of this review this school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all learners. However, disparity in achievement for Māori and/or other learners remains.

Leaders and teachers:

  • know the learners whose progress and achievement need to be accelerated
  • need to continue to develop and implement approaches that effectively meet the needs of each learner.

The school agrees to:

  • monitor targeted planning, improved teaching, and learners’ progress.

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?

This school has a wide range of well-considered approaches to meeting the needs of children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. School information shows that these approaches are effective in supporting most children to make expected rates of progress and some to make accelerated progress toward meeting National Standards expectations. Many children receive ongoing learning support to help them sustain their levels of achievement.

School achievement information for the last three years shows:

  • about two thirds of children achieve at the National Standards in reading

  • an increasing proportion of children have achieved at National Standards in mathematics with just over 60% achieving at expected levels in 2016

  • about 50% of children achieve at the National Standards in writing.

The school has had a sustained focus on lifting achievement in writing over the last two years. The result has been lifts in achievement for Pacific children and boys. These approaches have not been successful in lifting the proportion of Māori children achieving at National Standards.

School leaders and teachers know that they need to continue tofocus on effective approaches to address disparity in achievement for Pacific children in reading, Māori children in mathematics and writing and boys’ achievement in literacy.

English language learners are very well supported to access the curriculum alongside their peers and to make progress in their learning.

The school ensures all children have equitable opportunity to participate in and succeed in the breadth of the curriculum. The school’s information shows that children are well-supported to develop and demonstrate the school’s valued outcomes of: perseverance, responsibility, integrity, diligence and excellence.

The school has good quality processes for ensuring the reliability and accuracy of teachers’ judgements about achievement.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

This school has a number of good quality processes that promote and support the achievement of equity and excellence.

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

Children participate and learn in a caring, inclusive environment. Expectations for positive behaviours for learning together are explicit. They are well-supported by effective programmes and practices for teaching. Teachers enact these expectations and acknowledge children’s progress and achievement in demonstrating them.

Children experience a rich and varied curriculum that responds well to their interests, strengths and needs. Children’s culture, language and identity are valued and frequently used as a basis for their learning. Teachers plan carefully to ensure that children with high or additional learning needs participate in learning opportunities that provide appropriate support and challenge.

Teachers are actively building their individual and collective capability to accelerate children’s progress by:

  • undertaking focused inquiries into the impact of their teaching on children’s learning and progress
  • individually and collaboratively analysing children’s achievement and progress information to identify learning needs and teaching priorities
  • discussing and documenting their shared understandings of effective teaching practice.

The school leaders effectively enact the school’s vision and values and priorities for equity. They are strongly focused on raising student achievement through effective teaching practice. They are enabling this through:

  • setting high expectations for teaching and learning

  • relevant, targeted professional learning for teachers and teaching assistants

  • robust teacher appraisal

  • leading ongoing, purposeful internal evaluation into what is working to raise achievement

  • regularly collecting the views of all members of the school community and using these to develop well-considered goals and plans to improve learning outcomes.

The board is receiving clear and useful reports on the rates of progress made by children whose learning most needs to be accelerated. This is enabling the board to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at accelerating the learning progress of these children.

Trustees, leaders and teachers are purposefully building reciprocal, learning-centred relationships with children’s families. This has included meaningful engagement with the school’s Māori whānau and Pacific families. Families have many opportunities to talk with teachers about their child’s learning, be involved in learning programmes and learn about new ways to support their child’s learning at home. Families’ greater involvement at all levels of the school is having a positive impact on children’s engagement and achievement.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

The school has robust internal evaluation processes for identifying areas needing further development to achieve equity and excellence.

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

The board needs to better document the process and outcome of its scrutiny of student achievement and progress information on behalf of the school community. It also needs to show how this scrutiny leads to the identification of goals and priorities and informs decision-making. Extending the analysis of rates of progress to all children will improve assurance to the board that all children are making sufficient progress.

Leaders and teachers need to embed and sustain culturally responsive practices for building learning-centred partnerships with families.

Teachers have a range of effective practices for supporting children to know about and take more responsibility for their learning. Extending these to enable children to more actively monitor their progress over time will contribute to their greater ownership of their learning.

Leaders need to continue to promote a culture of high expectations that all children are capable of achieving educational success.

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?

The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all learners. However, disparity in achievement for Māori and/or other learners remains.

Leaders and teachers:

  • know the learners whose progress and achievement need to be accelerated
  • need to continue to develop and implement approaches that effectively meet the needs of each learner.

The school agrees to:

  • monitor targeted planning, improved teaching, and learners’ progress.

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

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)

27 September 2017

About the school

Location

Ashburton

Ministry of Education profile number

3283

School type

Contributing

School roll

144

Gender composition

Girls: 50% Boys: 50%

Ethnic composition

Māori 31%
Pākehā 25%
Pacific 34%
Other 10%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

August 2017

Date of this report

27 September 2017

Most recent ERO reports

Education review November 2013
Education review November 2010
Education Review October 2007