School Context
Papakaio School is a rural, Years 1 to 8 primary school in North Otago. It has a roll of 140 students from culturally diverse backgrounds.
The school’s vision is represented in the four main parts of the ngaio tree - people, passion, purposeful and potential. Central to the vision are the learners and their hauora. This is reflected as key values of rangatiratanga, manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga.
To achieve its valued outcomes, the school’s strategic goals focus on maintaining and improving achievement levels of all students in literacy and mathematics; all students achieving age appropriate success in science and social studies, and Māori learners achieving and progressing at the same level as their non-Māori peers.
Leaders and teachers regularly reports to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
- achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
- progress against school targets
- other curriculum areas, including science and social studies
- outcomes for students who require additional support
- wellbeing.
Students learn in multilevel classrooms. The board and teaching staff have been stable for a number of years.
The school is a member of the Whitestone 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 very effective in supporting students to achieve its valued outcomes. Over time, it has maintained high achievement levels. Since 2014, the school has continued to sustain equitable outcomes for almost all students. Progress data shows that most children have made or sustained sufficient rates of progress in reading, writing and mathematics over the last three years.
End of 2018 school information shows that 81% of the students achieved at or above expected levels in reading. Almost half of these students were above the expected standard. In mathematics, 84% were at or above the standard, and in writing 81% achieved at or above the expected standard. Boys’ achievement in reading is lower and slightly lower in writing. Overall, Māori students achieve well in reading and writing.
Surveys about children’s safety and wellbeing show that, overall, children feel safe, supported and positive about their school.
1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?
The school is very effective in enabling children who are below expected levels in literacy to improve their performance.
End of 2018 school information shows that targets to lift achievement in writing for boys have been successful. Most boys made accelerated progress against the writing target and disparity is reducing.
Students with additional learning needs are very well supported, included and make good progress. Teachers work with parents and specialists to set useful individual-learning plans and regularly review students’ progress against these.
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?
There are very effective practices to enable and sustain equity and excellence across all aspects of the school. Children benefit from a broad curriculum that is responsive to their interests, strengths and capabilities. There has been a deliberate focus on the integration of a play-based approach to learning in the junior classes. This has supported the transition of new students to the school and for those moving into the next year level. Students are capable and confident, with older students having many opportunities to take responsibility and develop leadership.
Appropriate targets to accelerate achievement are in place. Reporting to the board against these targets is frequent and clearly shows rates of progress. For those students who needed to accelerate their progress, the school has responded well by using internal and external intervention supports such as teacher aides and specialist reading programmes.
Bicultural practices have been strengthened across all aspects of teaching and learning. Māori concepts, values and language are integrated in ways that are meaningful for students, especially in the senior classes. The school’s partnerships with Moeraki Runanga and whānau Māori continues to be strengthened through regular hui and ongoing strategic planning.
Strong learning partnerships have a positive impact on students and staff learning. The principal regularly seeks the aspirations and contributions from parents, whānau and the wider community. The principal and trustees have established clear and high expectations for all students and teachers to enact the values of the school and to support the school’s localised curriculum. This is visible in the teaching and learning interactions amongst students, between students and teachers, and amongst teachers.
The principal and trustees have built a culture of high relational trust to support staff and students. The principal promotes and engages in professional learning alongside teachers which has impacted positively on learner outcomes. Teachers are encouraged and supported with shared leadership responsibilities. They use knowledge, evidence and inquiry to improve and strengthen their practices. This has led to more deliberate planning and better analysis of the impact of their teaching strategies on students’ learning.
The school is governed by a highly engaged, capable and inclusive board. Trustees have a good understanding of their stewardship role and consult regularly with the school community. They receive clearly presented and well-analysed information about students’ achievement and progress. Trends and patterns and areas of concern are identified, enabling the board to set useful targets and resource wisely.
Internal evaluation, inquiry and knowledge building processes in the school are purposeful and focused on improvement. The school makes good use of relevant information across all year levels to promote school-wide improvement. The school’s appraisal system has been strengthened, with a greater focus on improving teaching and learning.
2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?
The school has identified, and ERO’s evaluation confirms, further developments that should enhance students’ learning are to continue to develop and evaluate some areas of the school’s curriculum. This should include further developing and strengthening the school’s new curriculum initiatives such as Enviro Schools and Geo Park, evaluating the effectiveness of the play-based approach in the junior school, and extending current assessment practices into other curriculum learning areas.
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 ERO’s Overall Judgement
On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Papakaio School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Strong.
ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance is available on ERO’s website.
5 Going forward
Key strengths of the school
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
- school systems, processes and practices that are strongly focused on achieving equity and excellence, and accelerating students’ progress
- a well-developed and responsive school curriculum that effectively uses students’ interests, teachers’ skills and knowledge, the environment and wider community that makes learning engaging and relevant for students
- effective processes and practices for internal evaluation that promote high quality learning and teaching.
Next steps
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:
- extending the good practices already evident in the assessment and monitoring of literacy and mathematics to other areas of the curriculum
- continuing with the development, strengthening and ongoing evaluation of new school initiatives to further enrich students’ learning.
Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services Southern
Southern Region
24 June 2019
About the school
| Location | Oamaru |
| Ministry of Education profile number | 3798 |
| School type | Full Primary (Years 1 to 8) |
| School roll | 140 |
| Gender composition | Boys 56%, Girls 44% |
| Ethnic composition | Māori 10%
NZ European/Pākeha 74%
Filipino 16% |
| Review team on site | April 2019 |
| Date of this report | 24 June 2019 |
| Most recent ERO reports | Education Review August 2014
Education Review June 2011 |