Kahurangi School

School Context

Kahurangi School, located in Strathmore, caters for students from Years 1 to 8. At the time of this review the roll was 216 students, with 31% identifying as Māori and 19% Samoan. A large proportion of students are English language learners, and from a range of cultures.

The overarching vision is for ‘creative, energetic and enterprising young people who can seize the opportunities offered by new knowledge and technologies, who recognise Māori and Pākehā as treaty partners and value other cultures, and who will be confident, connected, actively involved lifelong learners’. School principles of Learning – Poutama, Pride – Whakahī, Culture – Ahurea and Community - Ahikāroa are the valued outcomes for students.

The 2019 charter goals are to ensure success and equity for all learners, future focused learning, partnership and collaboration, effective teaching and a supportive learning environment. The annual plan targets focus on raising achievement levels for all students in reading, most boys in writing and most Māori and Pacific students in writing and mathematics.

Since the May 2016 ERO report, there have been significant roll growth and new staff including the appointment of two internally appointed assistant principals commencing in 2018. Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:

• achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
• children with additional learning needs
• behaviour
• attendance.

Ongoing professional development since 2017 focused on growing leadership capability. This continues for 2019.

The school is a member of the Motu Kairangi 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?

School achievement data for 2018 shows that a large majority of students achieve at or above curriculum level expectations in reading and mathematics. The majority of students meet expectations in writing.

Equitable and excellent outcomes for Māori and Pacific students are not yet evident when compared to their Pākehā peers.

There is significant disparity for these students and children of other ethnicities in reading, writing and mathematics, and for boys in writing. This is an ongoing priority.

Students with additional learning needs are well supported to participate, progress and achieve in relation to appropriately developed Individual Education Plans.

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

The school is developing a clearer picture of acceleration for specific groups of students in writing and mathematics. School data for 2018 shows acceleration is evident, particularly in writing for many students at risk of not achieving. A small number of Māori students show accelerated progress in reading and Mathematics.

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?

Trustees, leaders and teachers actively pursue the school vision for equitable access for all students. Relationships between trustees, leaders and teachers are based on trust, integrity and openness, and transparent sharing of knowledge in the interests of improving outcomes. Trustees, leaders and teachers purposefully foster a positive culture aligned to meeting the school’s vision. High expectations clearly aligned to the school’s principles are strongly embedded. Reciprocal learning relationships between parents, families and whānau, and building wider community connections are actively promoted.

Well-considered systems, practices and processes promote shared schoolwide understanding and guide teaching and learning. Comprehensive analysis of achievement data is used well to inform teaching. Students at risk of not achieving are effectively identified and appropriate programmes are implemented. Sound systems at classroom level support effective measuring and monitoring of individual student achievement.

A well-considered, culturally responsive, local curriculum effectively promotes students’ culture, language and identity. Sufficient equitable opportunities for learning supports children’s engagement. Relationships of care and inclusiveness (whānaungatanga) are a key foundation for learning. All learners have many opportunities to participate and celebrate success in cultural, academic, sporting, artistic and leadership activities. Tuakana teina is clearly evident.

A robust appraisal process builds leadership and teacher capability. Leaders and teachers are strongly improvement-focused. They regularly reflect on their practice against well-constructed goals aligned to success criteria for the development of practice. Teachers evaluate the effectiveness of inquiries in accelerating the learning and progress of target students. This helps determine the impact of teaching for students’ learning.

Leadership is highly collaborative, reflective and has a strong improvement-focused approach. The leadership team is supported to deliberately establish and strengthen systems, practices and processes to improve equity and excellent outcomes for all children.

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

The school acknowledges that continued urgency is required to address disparity and to achieve equitable and excellent outcomes for all students to meet the intent of the strategic plan. Developing a more explicit schoolwide picture of acceleration, well aligned to target groups particularly Māori, Pacific, boys and other students at risk of underachieving, is a priority. This should better enable leaders and trustees to identify the progress of these groups of students in each learning area.

The school has identified that a key next step is to continue to develop and embed internal evaluation. This should better enable trustees, leaders and teachers to more effectively evaluate the impact of initiatives and interventions on student outcomes, particularly for those students at risk of underachieving.

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 Kahurangi School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Developing.

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:

• systems and processes that focus on responding to individual learning and wellbeing needs
• leadership that promotes improvements in school performance and effectively supports teachers to develop their practice
• a culturally responsive curriculum that promotes equitable access to learning.

Next steps

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

• trustees and leaders strengthening the analysis of achievement information to systematically address in-school disparities
• continuing to develop a shared understanding of internal evaluation practices, to better understand the impact of programmes and initiatives on acceleration and achievement for learners at risk of not achieving.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified non-compliance in relation to Health and Safety policies.

In order to address this, the board of trustees must:

1. develop a policy on Physical Restraint
   [Clause 11] Education (Physical Restraint) Rules 2017
2. develop a policy on surrender and retention of property and searches of students by the principal, teachers and authorised staff members
   [Vulnerable Children Act 2014 Section 139AAA- 139AAF].

Areas for improved compliance practice

To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:

• develop documented procedures that align with the appointment policy; and the Health and Safety policy
• report in its annual report on the extent of its compliance with the personnel policy on being a good employer
• regularly report health and safety information to the board.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini

Southern Region

16 September 2019

About the school