Ararira Springs Primary- Te Puna o Ararira

Ararira Springs Primary- Te Puna o Ararira

School Evaluation Report

Tēnā koutou e mau manawa rahi ki te kaupapa e aro ake nei, ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa. Mā wai rā e kawe, mā tātau katoa. 

We acknowledge the collective effort, responsibility and commitment by all to ensure that the child remains at the heart of the matter. 

Context  

​​Ararira Springs Primary- Te Puna o Ararira​ caters for students in Year 1 to 8 and is located on the south side of Lincoln township. The core values of caring, curiosity and capability were co-constructed alongside Te Taumutu Rūnanga. The school’s gifted name reflects these core values and the cultural narrative connected to the Ararira waterways. 

There are two parts to this report. 

Part A: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings.  

Part B: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.

Part A: Current State  

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement. 

Learner Success and Wellbeing

Most students make sustained progress and achieve at or above appropriate curriculum levels. 
  • Most students are achieving at or above expected curriculum levels in mathematics and writing; a large majority achieve at or above these in reading. 
  • Disparity for boys remains in writing; reducing this is a priority for school leaders. 
  • Learners express a strong sense of belonging and wellbeing; learners participate confidently and contribute meaningfully in a range of contexts within the local and wider community. 
  • A large majority of learners attend school regularly; however, leaders have policies and procedures in place to improve attendance as the school is not yet meeting the Ministry of Education target for regular attendance. 

Conditions to support learner success

Strategic and effective leadership builds and sustains high quality systems and processes for teaching and learning. 
  • High levels of relational trust, collaboration and a focus on purposeful professional learning among leadership and staff supports a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. 
  • Strong leadership actively engages with learners, staff, parents, whānau and local iwi to ensure the school’s vision, goals and priorities reflect community aspirations; parents and whānau are respected and valued partners in their child’s learning. 
  • The school provides an inclusive learning environment that promotes a caring culture and effectively meets the diverse needs of students.
Students experience high quality teaching and learning and a wide range of meaningful learning opportunities. 
  • Learners engage well in the localised and culturally relevant curriculum that targets individual learning needs and interests. 
  • The comprehensive curriculum reflects local contexts in ways that students can see themselves, their identity and culture across all learning areas. 
  • The systematic collection and management of data is used to evaluate the impact of teaching strategies and programmes on students’ success and to identify further areas for improvement.
Key organisational conditions that support learner success are well established. 
  • The board is strategic, and highly outcome focused; comprehensive information is well used to make effective resourcing decisions to target what is best for students. 
  • Leaders and teachers confidently collect, analyse and interpret data from a range of sources using broad and innovative data systems to inform teaching and learning. 
  • Student feedback and ideas are gathered and specifically used to inform the learning context, experiences outside of the classroom and sustain the positive school culture. 
  • The board and leaders have embedded a strong culture of evaluation, strategic governance and effective professional learning to sustain high quality teaching and learning. 

Part B: Where to next?  

The agreed next steps for the school are to:  

  • implement curriculum changes to ensure a shared understanding and alignment with reporting and assessment practices; particularly for students and groups of students who need their achievement accelerated 
  • deepen knowledge and understanding of the wide range of cultures in the school’s community so that all students have a stronger sense of belonging and feel their culture is valued 
  • embedding strong transition processes for students, whānau and teachers joining the school to ensure a strong sense of wellbeing for learning is developed 
  • continue to improve attendance rates through positive strategies and implementation of caring attendance procedures. 

The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows. 

Every six months: 

  • gather and analyse engagement and achievement data to monitor the impact curriculum change is having on students and groups of students who need additional support to progress and increase their levels of achievement 
  • continue to gather feedback and ideas to monitor the impact of the transition processes on improving positive outcomes for students and teachers 
  • report progress towards strategic, annual and attendance goals to ensure close monitoring of all students and robust information is reported to the board for additional resourcing decisions. 

Annually: 

  • report to the board on wellbeing, culture and belonging in line with strategic and annual goals to inform areas for improvement 
  • continue to gather student feedback and ideas across wellbeing and curriculum engagement to inform curriculum deliver and content, including transition processes 
  • evaluate the impact that teaching and pastoral strategies have on improving outcomes for students and groups of students who need this and adapt as required.  

Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in: 

  • a continued positive learning culture across the school and community 
  • improved achievement in reading, writing and mathematics and accelerated achievement for those students and groups of students that need this 
  • students and teachers expressing a stronger sense of wellbeing for learning and belonging 
  • improved and sustained attendance, successfully meeting the government targets. 

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Evaluation Report and is due within three years. 

Me mahi tahi tonu tātau, kia whai oranga a tātau tamariki 
Let’s continue to work together for the greater good of all children 

​​Sharon Kelly 
Acting Director of Schools 

​​10 February 2025​ 

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 

Ararira Springs Primary- Te Puna o Ararira

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report ​2024​ to ​2027

As of ​November 2024​, the ​Ararira Springs Primary- Te Puna o Ararira​ 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 ​Ararira Springs Primary- Te Puna o Ararira​, 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. 

Sharon Kelly 
Acting Director of Schools  

​​10 February 2025​ 

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 

Ararira Springs Primary- Te Puna o Ararira

1 Introduction

A New School Assurance Review is a review of particular areas of school performance and is undertaken to specific terms of reference.

New School Assurance Reviews are generally undertaken within the first year of the school’s opening.

Terms of Reference

This review is based on an evaluation of the performance of Ararira Springs Primary- Te Puna o Ararira. The terms of reference for the review are to provide assurance to the community:

  • that the school is well placed to provide for students
  • that the school is operating in accordance with the vision articulated by the board of trustees.

2 Context

Ararira Springs is a new school established in Lincoln, Canterbury, to support significant population growth in the town and to alleviate the pressure on Lincoln Primary School.

Originally established as Lincoln South Primary School, the school is officially known as Ararira Springs Primary – Te Puna o Ararira. The chosen name ‘Ararira Springs Primary – Te Puna o Ararira’ reflects the values outlined in the community consultation report and accompanying cultural narrative.

3 Background

Since May 2018 the Education Review Office (ERO) has been kept well informed of school progress, a readiness to open report was completed by ERO in May of 2019. Ararira Springs School officially opened in January 2019 with 101 students, from Years 1 to 8. The roll has continued to increase as the community in Lincoln has grown. At the time of this review the roll was 213.

The school’s vision is Māku e whakatika (It starts with me). The school values of caring, curious and capable learners support the vision and encourage students to be able to make a difference in their world.

School trustee elections during 2020 have allowed the smooth transition from the establishment board to an elected board.

4 Findings

The school is well placed to provide for students.

The newly elected board has a mix of the previous establishment board members and newly elected trustees. This has ensured continuity of governance while also allowing for the representation of new families.

Collaborative practices and respectful relationships are evident at all levels of school operation. The Board of Trustees (BOT) and senior leaders work collaboratively. Teachers work within a shared learning environment with shared responsibility for the learning and wellbeing of their students. Respectful and strongly collaborative relationships with all stakeholders ensure that key working and guiding documents accurately reflect their aspirations and values.

School leaders have established an effective framework for school operations. This includes the development of policies and procedures to ensure the safety of all stakeholders and the smooth operation of the school.

There is a useful assessment framework including achievement expectations in place. Teachers and leaders use a range of valid reporting tools to ensure rich learner achievement information is collected, analysed and communicated to families.

Systems for identifying, monitoring and tracking students are well thought out. Students are well supported to achieve their personal best. This support comes from other learners, teachers, learning assistants, senior leaders and (where appropriate) external support agencies. These systems also identify students who are achieving above expectations and support the extension of their learning.

The school is operating in accordance with the vision articulated by the Board of Trustees.

The school’s vision is highly evident in all aspects of its operations. Effective, positive partnerships among trustees, staff, learners and families are based on a shared understanding of the school’s vision. Comprehensive consultation and communication have been fundamental to the well-considered design, development and delivery of the curriculum.  

The local cultural narrative has provided a base framework that underpins the school’s operations, values and relationships. The school’s vision and values have been linked to key Māori concepts after guidance from mana whenua. These concepts are actively taught and promoted in the life of the school. Naming of buildings, plantings in the school grounds and the development of the school’s name, colours and logo all link back the local cultural narrative.

Students clearly articulate the school values and can give examples of these values in practice. Leaders and teachers deliberately weave the school vision and values through teaching and learning The vision and values provide the basis for strategic planning and continued improvement.

The core values and vision are visible in the learning environment and in the actions of learners and teachers.

The school and ERO agree that the key priorities for the future are to continue to:

  • develop internal evaluation processes and practices to better identify next steps for improvement and to ensure sustainability of the school’s vision and pedagogies during anticipated roll growth
  • build processes to clarify and embed expectations for behaviour.

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:

  • school management and reporting
  • 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 students' 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.

Conclusion

The school is well placed to provide for students. It is clearly evident that the board, leaders and staff are operating in accordance with the school’s vision. The school is well placed to sustain and improve its performance.

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

2 March 2021

About the School

Location

Lincoln

Ministry of Education profile number

585

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

213

Gender composition

Male 49%, Female 51%

Ethnic composition

Māori

NZ European/Pākehā

Chinese

Other

11%

59%

9%

21%

Review team on site

November 2020

Date of this report

2 March 2021