Kauri Flats School

School Context

Kauri Flats School opened in February 2017 in Takanini, Auckland. The school caters for children from Years 1 to 8. The growing roll is currently 187. Many learners at the school speak other languages in addition to English.

The school’s vision is for students to have ‘unrelenting curiosity for learning’ (UC4L). The school’s values are thinking, respect, empathy, courage. It has a focus on supporting children to be academically successful and socially aware.

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

• student achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
• the achievement of Māori and Pacific learners
• acceleration of progress for learners not achieving at expected levels
• achievement and progress in relation to the school’s other valued outcomes
• student health and wellbeing.

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 achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for most of its students. The 2018 school data show that most students achieve at or above expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics. Data also show that most students are making good progress in reading, and almost all students are making good progress in writing and mathematics. Patterns of achievement for Māori learners during 2018 are similar to those for all learners.

It would be beneficial for leaders to identify trends and patterns for all ethnic groups, to more easily monitor and support equitable outcomes.

Learners who started with the school as foundation students continue to make good progress and overall there is an upwards trajectory of improved achievement for these students.

Learners achieve very well in relation to the school’s other valued outcomes. Learners model the school’s vision and values and have a strong sense of language, identity and culture. They are highly engaged, collaborative and respectful.

1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?

The school is making good progress in accelerating learning for those students who are at risk of not achieving. Systems to accelerate learning are operating well in the school.

Māori students have achieved accelerated rates of progress in writing and mathematics over the last two years. Pacific students are making accelerated rates of progress in reading and writing. However, this cohort is too small to show an established trend.

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?

Senior leaders have high expectations for teaching and learning, and a focus on equity, excellence and accelerated learning.

Children at all levels of the school are actively engaged in learning and are enthusiastic about being at school. The curriculum supports flexible grouping and responsive programmes for all children, particularly those requiring extension and learners with special needs.

Students learn through a localised curriculum in modern, innovative learning environments (ILEs).

The school’s te ao Māori plan is meaningfully implemented across the school and evident in classrooms. Learners come from many diverse backgrounds and their cultures and languages are respected, valued and incorporated into the curriculum.

Families value the strong partnerships and ease of communication with the school, including access to their children’s digital assessment and achievement information. Māori and Pacific families who spoke with ERO affirmed Kauri Flats School as a positive place for their tamariki and their whānau.

The principal ensures the vision and values of the school underpin and guide effective decision making. Senior leaders support well-considered professional learning for teachers. The board represents and serves the school community well. The newly elected trustees recognise the importance of ongoing governance training.

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

Senior leaders agree that next steps are to strengthen the monitoring of target and priority learners to ensure sustained levels of wellbeing, progress and achievement.

Additional professional development would be beneficial to promote greater professional rigour and consistency in the quality of teacher appraisals.

It is now timely to develop a more rigorous, outcomes-driven approach to internal evaluation. A schoolwide framework could be helpful in guiding more effective evaluation.

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 Children’s Act 2014.

4 ERO’s Overall Judgement

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Kauri Flats School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Well placed

ERO’s Framework: Overall Findings and Judgement Tool derived from School Evaluation Indicators: Effective Practice for Improvement and Learner Success 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:

• well-embedded strategic vision and school values
• effective leadership in an environment that places value on diversity, inclusion and wellbeing
• a school culture that enables innovative, creative teaching and learning communities.

Next steps

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

• greater data scrutiny and monitoring to accelerate the progress of target students
• continuing to strengthen the rigour of internal evaluation processes
• further governance training for trustees in bicultural education
• a more evaluative approach to support consistently high-quality teacher appraisal processes across the school.

Steve Tanner

Director Review and Improvement Services Northern

Northern Region

24 January 2020

About the school

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 Kauri Flats School. 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 

Kauri Flats School is a new primary school built to cater for new high density housing developments in the Takanini, Auckland. The school opened on 7 February 2017 with 36 students. At the time of this review, 64 students were enrolled. The school is designed for a future roll of up to 700 students. 

The school’s vision is for students to have an ‘unrelenting curiosity for learning’ (UC4L). To enact the vision, senior leaders identified relevant attitudes and behaviours that are important for students to achieve. They have planned strategically to develop a school culture that supports students to be socially aware and academically successful. Trust, respect, empathy and courage underpin the school’s behaviour expectations. 

3 Background 

Kauri Flats School provides for children from Years 1 to 8. The construction of the school has encountered many challenges. Because of delays, the school opened with temporary buildings comprising a large flexible learning space and an administration block. The addition of a hard court area and playground has increased the learning and play spaces available to children. Building of the permanent facilities is well underway. The construction company is confident staff will have access to these facilities before school starts in 2018. 

4 Findings 

The setup phase of this new school, including developing governance and management frameworks, has been capably led and managed by the establishment board, governance facilitator, principal and deputy principals.  

The Establishment Board of Trustees (Ebot) remains in the governing role. Trustees are committed to seeing the establishment phase of the school through to completion of the buildings. The Ebot has made very good use of the expertise of its governance facilitator to support and manage the school’s development. The board has been fiscally cautious in the use of the establishment funding available to the school. 

Parent and whānau groups have worked on strategic documents that extend the understanding and interpretation of the school’s vision. As a result, key documents are in place to enable planning for Māori and Pacific students achieving success. The parent group is well supported to understand and to participate in the future governance of the school. 

Senior leaders model the ways of working they expect from teachers. They are proactive and solutions focused. Senior leaders are visible about the school and actively involved in working with children. They have identified key characteristics for teachers to work effectively in flexible learning spaces. This is helpful in appointing teachers who would be a good fit with the curriculum and expectations of the school. As a result, teachers are able to communicate and collaborate well.

Teachers have built on earlier curriculum work by collaboratively developing aspirational statements about what UC4L could mean for teaching and learning. They use these statements to guide the development of programmes of work and approaches to teaching and learning in the flexible learning spaces. Teachers have made good use of their first year of working together to investigate and test the effectiveness of programmes and approaches that are likely to enact the school’s vision for learning. 

Students speak knowledgeably and confidently about their learning opportunities. They have good opportunities to be self-managing, and to make decisions about their learning within a trusting and closely monitored environment. Students work collaboratively using meaningful strategies that promote their learning and social competency.

The school has established processes that foster a culture of reflection for ongoing improvement. Teachers are key contributors to termly reviews of school operations. Parent ideas and aspirations are gathered through surveys and consultation with groups. Reviews of progress in relation to the strategic goals have kept the focus on the agreed direction for the school.

Appropriate assessment tools are used to help teachers make informed judgements about students’ learning. Senior leaders and teachers identify and monitor students who need to make better progress. They are continuing to build and refine processes to track and monitor the achievement of all students, including the customisation of the student management system. To ensure the dependability of the school’s student achievement information, and to build schoolwide assessment capability, an external moderator has worked alongside teachers.

Senior leaders and trustees have identified appropriate next steps for the school as the roll increases, including:

• clarifying schoolwide processes, systems and expectations of teachers in implementing the curriculum
• promoting bicultural awareness and practices for all students
• ensuring teachers and students have access to an appropriate range and quantity of resources to support programmes and initiatives
• continuing to refine assessment processes to track and monitor the achievement of all students.

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

Kauri Flats School is a new primary school where children learn in flexible spaces. Teachers encourage students to build on their interests, and to make decisions about their learning. The school is led and governed effectively.

ERO is likely to carry out the first full review of the school by the end of the third year of the school’s operation.

Julie Foley
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
Te Tai Raki - Northern Region 

About the School