Waitākiri Primary School

Waitākiri Primary School

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 

Waitākiri Primary School is located in Christchurch and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 6. The school vision is to have REAL Heroes making REAL choices, underpinned by the values of Respect - Whakaute, Encourage - Akiaki, Achieve - Eke and Lifelong Learners - Ākonga Mauroa.  

There are three parts to this report.

Part A: A summary of the findings from the most recent Education Review Office (ERO) report and/or subsequent evaluation. 

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

Part A: Previous Improvement Goals 

Since the previous ERO report of July 2022, ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate how effectively communication and reporting to families and whānau supports learning and increases engagement.

Expected Improvements and Findings 

The school expected to see:

Students and their whānau engage meaningfully in learning and participating regularly in reporting opportunities.

  • Learners continue to engage and achieve well in learning. 
  • Leaders and teachers have gathered feedback in multiple ways from the community to determine the most effective way to report on the learning and achievement of individual learners.
  • Regular learning conversations are attended by most families with useful information provided about each child’s learning progress and next steps.

Learners set and achieve relevant goals that are shared with their whānau.

  • Reports to parents about their child’s learning now clearly show achievement and progress in reading, writing and mathematics over time.
  • The use of external support has helped to engage with the school’s Māori and Pacific whānau.

Other Findings 

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s action has been that reporting to parents now clearly shows learning achievement and allows parents to monitor their child’s progress during their time at the school.

Part B: Current State 

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

Learners are engaged and progress well across the curriculum
  • Most learners achieve at or above curriculum expectations in reading, writing and mathematics; the school has identified that disparity for Māori remains to be addressed.
  • 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 majority of learners attend school regularly; the school is not yet meeting the Ministry of Education’s 2024 target for regular attendance.

Conditions to support learner success

Strategic leadership provides a coherent and supportive learning environment through the consistent implementation of effective systems and practices.
  • Effective leadership maintains a strong focus on high quality teaching and learning, through well considered evidence-based decisions, that inform the school’s priorities and future direction.
  • Strong professional relationships and shared leadership opportunities positively reinforce the values and priorities contributing to learners’ wellbeing and sense of belonging.
  • The board, leaders and staff collaboratively make strategic resourcing decisions that extend the range of opportunities for all learners to experience success.
Learners benefit from high-quality teaching practice that is responsive to their interests, strengths and needs. 
  • Learners have multiple opportunities to engage in a wide range of learning experiences within the school and its local community; this promotes rich learning and extends learners’ sense of belonging.
  • Leaders and teachers actively participate in professional learning to ensure teaching programmes reflect te ao Māori, this is an area of ongoing development.
  • Learners are well-known and their achievement, progress and engagement are closely monitored; staff use targeted strategies that enhances engagement and supports ongoing progress.
Well-aligned systems and effective conditions ensure ongoing school improvement. 
  • Learner wellbeing is prioritised; a wide range of initiatives and meaningful innovations ensure a positive culture promotes wellbeing across the school. 
  • Strong networks with a range of external agencies support the learning, wellbeing and engagement of learners; leaders continue to build on the positive links the school has with local iwi.
  • The board and leaders have embedded a culture of evaluation, strategic governance and effective professional learning to sustain high quality teaching and learning.

Part C: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

  • implement national curriculum changes to ensure shared understanding and alignment with reporting and assessment processes
  • enhance monitoring and reporting to inform improvements that increase the achievement and engagement of Māori learners to reduce disparity
  • review and refine strategies to continue to raise rates of attendance 
  • embed further learning of mātauranga Māori to enhance programmes and partnerships for learning. 

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

Within six months:

  • become familiar with the national curriculum changes and plan relevant staff development to ensure shared understanding and consistency across the school.

Every six months:

  • continue to closely monitor and report progress and achievement of Māori learners to whānau and the board
  • engage with whānau and identify strategies to increase the levels of regular attendance.

Annually:

  • evaluate and report to the board on the effectiveness of initiatives to improve outcomes for learners and adapt programmes and approaches as required
  • the board and leaders review the strategic and annual plans in conjunction with community feedback and ideas and consider changes in relation to emerging priorities 
  • consult with whānau Māori about how effectively the embedding of mātauranga Māori is meeting the needs of their children and modify programmes if required.

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

  • sustained and improved progress and achievement in literacy and mathematics, particularly for Māori
  • mātauranga Māori embedded across the curriculum
  • sustained levels of increased regular attendance.

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

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

17 October 2024

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

Waitākiri Primary School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2024 to 2027

As of August 2024, the Waitākiri Primary School 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 Waitākiri Primary School, 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.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

17 October 2024

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

Waitākiri Primary School

Provision for International Students Report

Background

The Education Review Office reviews schools that are signatories to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Findings

The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code and has completed an annual self review of its implementation of the Code.

At the time of this review there were 3 international students attending the school, and no exchange students.

Sound systems for pastoral care are in place. Students are integrated well into the classroom environment and know to seek help from their teachers if needed. Regular ongoing contact is maintained with parents/legal guardians to ensure students’ learning and pastoral needs are being met. 

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

17 October 2024

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 

Waitakiri Primary School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within twelve months of the Education Review Office and Waitakiri Primary School working in Te Ara Huarau, an improvement evaluation approach used in most English Medium State and State Integrated Schools. For more information about Te Ara Huarau see ERO’s website www.ero.govt.nz

Context 

Waitākiri Primary School is located in Christchurch and provides education for students in Years 1 to 6.

Waitakiri Primary School School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • enhancing positive relationships and supportive leadership to empower students to grow and develop into successful life-long learners
  • encouraging a school culture and systems to enhance wellbeing and safety for the whole school community
  • building a student’s sense of belonging and feeling of security in their culture, language and identity as they participate, engage and achieve in education.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Waitakiri Primary School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively communication and reporting to families and whānau is supporting learning and increasing engagement.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

  • support groups of students who are not achieving at expected levels, particularly in writing, to make accelerated progress
  • enable teachers and leaders to know how effectively they are building meaningful educational partnerships with families and whānau to support students’ learning and engagement
  • ensure that there is a consistent approach to and greater confidence in assessing students’ learning, and using information effectively to plan targeted learning programmes.

The school expects to see students and their whānau engaging meaningfully in learning and participating regularly in reporting opportunities.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to communicate and report to families and whānau in ways that support learning and increase engagement:

  • Knowing the students well and having good systems in place to monitor and address their progress and wellbeing.
  • Providing well-considered and targeted professional development to continue to build consistency across the school and support teacher capability and capacity.
  • A strong, positive culture with a stable leadership, staff and board who work collaboratively and have a shared understanding of best practice to support learning.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • strengthening current practices for students to share their learning with teachers, family and whānau
  • enhancing the ways parents, whānau and families engage in conversations about their child’s learning.

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

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

25 July 2022 

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

Waitakiri Primary School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of May 2022, the Waitakiri Primary School Board of Trustees 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 Waitakiri Primary School Board of Trustees.

The next Board of Trustees 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.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

25 July 2022 

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

Waitakiri Primary School

Provision for International Students Report

Background

The Education Review Office reviews schools that are signatories to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Findings

Waitakiri Primary School has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code and has completed an annual self review of its implementation of the Code. 

At the time of this review there was one international student attending the school, and no exchange students. 

The school has very thorough systems in place to ensure the pastoral care and learning needs of international students are met during their time at the school. Their learning and wellbeing are closely monitored and supported. They have opportunities to participate in a wide range of curriculum opportunities and experiences.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

25 July 2022 

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