Kumara School

School Context

Kumara School is a small rural school located in the township of Kumara. Children are taught in two multi-level classrooms and the current roll is 34.

The overarching vision for this school is: ‘Mining every opportunity so our students will be confident, successful, lifelong learners.’ The school values are: Respect, Inquiry, Growth, Honesty and Teamwork (RIGHT values). The expectations of valued outcomes are for students to be literate, numerate, problem solvers, critical thinkers, self-managers, effective communicators and persevering.

The school’s current goals are to:

• increase student engagement and positive behaviour

• embed school values

• increase teacher confidence with digital tools for learning

• develop the ‘learn, create, share’ pedagogy

• update learning spaces

• improve cultural responsiveness.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:

• National Standards information for reading, writing and mathematics

• a range of norm-referenced assessment information

• engagement survey information

• curriculum reports in English, mathematics and languages.

Since the 2014 ERO evaluation a new principal and two new teachers have been appointed. There have been changes to the board of trustees, including a new board chair.

The school is a member of the Māwhera Kāhui Ako|Community of Learning (CoL) and is participating in teacher professional learning opportunities afforded by this CoL. Participation in the Toki Pounamu technology project is supporting the principal and teachers to develop a digital learning environment.

Evaluation Findings

1 Equity and excellence – valued outcomes for students

1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?

Achievement information for 2015-2016 shows that the majority of children achieve at expected levels in reading and mathematics.

Less than half of students achieve at expected levels in writing. The school is not yet achieving equitable outcomes for boys in writing.

Students with additional learning needs experience an inclusive school environment.

1.2 How effectively does this school respond to those Māori and other students whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

There is limited evidence of accelerated progress for those children who need additional support with learning. Although students are targeted for learning support, this school is not yet responding in a way that results in accelerated progress.

There are systems in place to monitor the progress of individuals, but learning information is not yet analysed to show the impact of learning interventions and identify sufficiency of progress.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence

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

The board, principal and teachers are developing educationally powerful connections to support effective teaching and positive learning outcomes for students.

They are taking good advantage of the opportunities the Māwhera CoL provides, particularly in terms of professional learning opportunities and shared expertise.

The CoL work is important and relevant for this school in terms of:

• its collective focus on raising achievement in writing

• building teacher capability in effective use of learning information and assessment practices

• evaluating the impact of initiatives on learning outcomes.

The board, principal and teachers are actively seeking to engage the local community. They are responding thoughtfully to whānau survey information, parents are made to feel welcome in the school, and consideration is given to how well community events meet the needs of family and whānau.

Leadership and governance are strong.

School planning shows a clear vision and good coherence between strategic planning and annual planning. There are good quality monitoring practices in place which provide the board and principal with feedback in relation to strategic goals. The principal and board have a deliberate and strategic emphasis on creating a positive learning environment and raising expectations for learning and behaviour. The curriculum is well planned and incorporates clear expectations for teaching and learning. Resources are utilised thoughtfully so that teachers are well supported to develop their teaching capability and students have access to good quality learning experiences.

The principal and board have very strong evaluation practices in place. English and mathematics curriculum reports to the board include achievement information as well as student voice. The board’s auditing processes are of high quality.

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

The principal and teachers need to strengthen the way that learning information is gathered, analysed and used to inform decision making. This includes:

• continuing to develop formative assessment practices which will better inform targeted planning for priority learners

• developing school-wide systems and practices for regular monitoring, analysing and reporting on sufficiency of progress

• developing more relevant, specific and timely ‘teaching as inquiry’ plans to assist the evaluation of practice and programmes on learning outcomes (particularly for recent innovations)

• sharing learning expectations with students so they are more aware of their ‘learning journey’.

Progress reporting and analysis of sufficiency of progress for children on Individual Education Plans (IEPs) needs strengthening in order to clearly show outcomes.

Reporting on valued outcomes for learners, and on learning areas other than reading, writing and mathematics will contribute to a better understanding of the equity and excellence picture for all students at this school.

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:

• the development of educationally powerful connections which support and sustain teaching and learning

• leadership and governance which manage change and innovation effectively.

Next steps

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

• strengthening of formative assessment practices to provide timely information about the sufficiency of student progress

• collecting and analysing data to understand the impact of teacher practice and programmes on learning outcomes (including a stronger process for ‘teaching as inquiry’)

• strengthening student engagement and ownership of learning by clarifying expectations for learning and progress within a meaningful timeframe.

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

21 December 2017

About the school