Lemonwood Grove School

Lemonwood Grove 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 

Lemonwood Grove School, located in Rolleston on the southern outskirts of Christchurch, provides education for learners in Years 1 to 8. The school’s roll has grown significantly in recent years. The school’s vision is “the best of you as you” and has four connected values: Grit, Responsibility, Integrity and Thinking.  

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.

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 

The majority of learners are achieving at or above expected curriculum levels with generally higher rates of achievement in Years 1 and 2.
  • A large majority of learners are achieving at or above expected curriculum levels in reading and mathematics, and a small majority in writing.
  • The school is yet to ensure Māori learners’ achievement is at the same level as non-Māori.
  • Evidence shows that learners have a strong sense of belonging, wellbeing and engagement and enjoy a wide variety of learning opportunities.
  • A large majority of learners attend regularly although the school is yet to meet the Government’s target for regular attendance; attendance is a school priority. 

Conditions to support learner success

Leaders work strategically and collaboratively to retain the central focus of improving outcomes for all learners.
  • Leaders and teachers effectively use research about responsive practices to support high-quality teaching and learning for all learners to experience success as the school continues to expand.
  • Improvement goals and actions are carefully chosen and monitored to effectively meet the specific needs of learners.
  • Strong leadership provides a clear vision that ensures consistent implementation of effective systems and practices schoolwide. 
Teaching is responsive to the increasingly wide range of learners' needs.
  • Leaders at all levels are refining the design and delivery of an inclusive curriculum and consistent teaching across all classes which supports success for all learners.
  • Learner progress is supported by purposeful teaching strategies that effectively respond to individual learner's needs across a diverse school community.
  • Classroom environments are welcoming with positive teacher-learner relationships and clear expectations and routines for learning. 
Conditions that underpin effective schooling are consistent across the school and respond to the school’s rapid growth. 
  • The board and leaders have a clear focus on strategic and annual planning based on strong community consultation and centred on furthering learners’ wellbeing, engagement and achievement.
  • A collaborative culture assists leaders and staff to reflect on their practice, evaluate impacts on learner outcomes, and respond to the results.
  • Learners who require extra support to make progress receive effective, individualised assistance to improve outcomes for learning.
  • Leaders and teachers affirm and value the diversity of learners providing inclusive opportunities and programmes to support all learners to experience individualised success. 

Part B: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

  • continue to focus on the sustainability of reading, writing and mathematics programmes when updating the school’s curriculum in line with national curriculum developments and as the school continues to expand
  • continue to develop and consolidate the school’s learning programmes in which learners and their families see their own and the community’s identities reflected
  • leaders and teachers further develop their understanding and application of te reo Maōri, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori to extend and embed te ao Māori learning opportunities across the school
  • sustain wellbeing initiatives to foster learners’ sense of belonging and engagement as the school continues to expand, and to increase regular attendance. 

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

Within six months:

  • develop a schoolwide process to gather learner and staff voice on their wellbeing to help plan future initiatives
  • strengthen teachers’ and leaders’ skills in the collection of and response to learning data, with a particular focus of understanding learning progress across the diverse school community
  • develop a regular parent focus group to ensure community voice helps guide decision making as the school continues to expand
  • further the school’s strategy for extending teacher confidence and capability in te reo Māori and mātauranga Māori, and for integrating te ao Māori learning opportunities throughout the curriculum and in daily life of the school 

Every six months:

  • collect, analyse and report on progress data and respond to any emerging trends
  • review and respond to teachers’ design and delivery of an inclusive curriculum and inclusive teaching across all classes to ensure consistency across the school
  • review and respond to teachers’ knowledge and implementation of assessment practices to ensure consistency across the school

Annually:

  • review, evaluate and respond to learner and staff wellbeing data
  • review, evaluate and respond to progress and achievement data to ensure the sustainability of outcomes and the wider curriculum
  • review the development of the school’s curriculum to reflect the diverse nature of the school community, so learners and their whānau see their own and the wider community’s identities reflected in learning
  • continue to monitor the impact of strategies to improve learner attendance.  

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

  • consistent use of high-quality assessment information that identifies the next learning steps for each learner to support and improves achievement across the school
  • a strongly engaging, learning programme  extending learner engagement and achievement
  • highly effective inclusive teaching practices that respond to learners’ cultures and identities,and support the achievement of all learners.  

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

27 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

Lemonwood Grove School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2024 to 2027

As of October 2024, the Lemonwood Grove 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 Lemonwood Grove 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

27 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

Lemonwood Grove 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 was one international student attending the school, and no exchange students.

The school is in its first term of having an international student. It has created effective processes for self review that support and sustain its compliance with The Code. 

The principal and Board receive regular, good quality reporting on the progress of the international student in learning, participation in co-curricular activities and wellbeing. 

The student reports positive relationships with teachers and other school students.

Sharon Kelly 
Acting Director of Schools

27 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

Lemonwood Grove School - 14/02/2020

School Context

Lemonwood Grove School |Te Uru Tarata is a newly established school in Rolleston, which opened in January 2017 with a starting roll of 59 students. It has a current roll of 347 Year 1 to 8 students. Further developments are planned to cater for the anticipated strong roll growth. 

The school’s vision is: ‘the best of you as you’.

The mission statement is: ‘to provide a landscape of possibilities where people connect and ideas flow in challenging, collaborative and creative ways’.

Both the vision and mission statement are underpinned by the school values: Grit (Niwha), Responsibility (Takohanga), Integrity (Ngākau taputahi), Thinking (Whaiwhakaaro).

Key strategic goals state that:

  • learners will be at the centre and encouraged to be the best they can be

  • learners will achieve at least one year’s worth of progress in reading, writing and mathematics

  • robust procedures and systems developed and implemented to ensure that all learners’ mental, social, physical and spiritual needs are being actioned.

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

  • achievement and progress in reading, writing and mathematics
  • outcomes related to engagement/wellbeing.

The school is a member of the Nga peka o Tauwhare Kākaho 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 effectively working towards achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for its students.

Achievement information for the end of 2018 shows that most students are achieving at or above curriculum level expectations in reading and mathematics and a large majority in writing.

Mid-year achievement information in 2019 for reading and writing showed that most students are on track to be at or above curriculum level expectations.

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

As the school develops, it can show it is beginning to accelerate the progress of some students who need it.

The school has developed effective processes for identifying, supporting and monitoring the progress of all priority students.

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?

Students benefit from strong, supportive relationships at all levels of the school that promote a sense of belonging. They participate and learn in a caring, collaborative, inclusive environment. Teachers have created an environment and culture that supports students to learn. They provide a curriculum that engages students through their interests, needs and abilities. Students appreciate how teachers listen to them, reflect on and adapt programmes to meet their learning needs and interests. There is a strong focus on supporting student participation, engagement and agency in learning. The learning environment encourages students to be self-managing learners in ways that promote equitable opportunities for them to achieve success across all learning areas.

Leaders build high levels of trust and learner-focused relationships with families, whānau, and other education providers to increase learning opportunities for students. Effective communication strategies are used to engage parents, whānau and community. Leaders and teachers recognise the importance of parent and whānau feedback and use it to determine priorities for improvement. There has been a considered approach to building connections with whānau and iwi to support the development of te ao Māori within the curriculum.

There is strong professional leadership across the school. Leaders ensure school targets and goals are understood with appropriate practices and systems in place to support their achievement. Effective strategies are put in place to build the school’s leadership capacity and to support continuous upskilling of all teachers. Strategic recruitment and collaborative practices are used effectively to build professional capability and collective capacity of staff schoolwide.

Leaders and teachers are improvement focused and share high expectations for students and themselves. Students’ progress is regularly tracked and monitored. Groups who need additional support are identified and targeted, and appropriate interventions are put in place.

The board builds relational trust and develops culturally responsive relationships with the school community. Trustees are reflective and are focussed on student learning and well-being They access a range of quality student achievement and progress information to inform their decision making.

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

Leaders and teachers need to continue to develop and use effective internal evaluation processes across all aspects of school processes and practices. This should enable them to more effectively evaluate the impact of interventions, planned actions and practices on student learning outcomes.

To better recognise and respond to students’ language culture and identity leaders and teachers need to further embed and develop culturally responsive practices throughout the school.

Trustees and leaders should refine strategic planning to provide closer alignment between strategic and annual goals and prioritise a small number of achievable goals. This should help them to better track and monitor progress towards achieving these goals.

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 Lemonwood Grove School | Te Uru Tarata’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:

  • a caring, inclusive, collaborative environment that promotes a sense of belonging
  • focus on supporting student participation, engagement and agency in learning that is contributing to positive outcomes for studentsa strong
  • strong professional leadership across all levels of the school that is building the capability of staff.

Next steps

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

  • further developing and using internal evaluation processes to more effectively evaluate the impact of interventions on student learning outcomes.
  • further embedding and developing culturally responsive practices throughout the school to better respond to students’ language, culture and identity
  • refining strategic planning to better track and monitor progress towards achieving the goals.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services 

Southern Region

14 February 2020

About the school

Location

Rolleston

Ministry of Education profile number

6967

School type

Full Primary (Years 1-8)

School roll

347

Gender composition

Female 52%

Male 48%

Ethnic composition

Māori 5%

NZ European/Pākehā 80%

Other 15%

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)

No

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

October 2019

Date of this report

14 February 2020

Most recent ERO reports

These are available at www.ero.govt.nz 

New School Assurance Review August 2018

Lemonwood Grove School - 24/08/2018

New School Assurance Review Report

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 Lemonwood Grove 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

The Rolleston area is growing rapidly. To accommodate this population growth, a number of new primary schools and a secondary school have been established. Lemonwood Grove School was established to provide education for school-aged children predominantly in the Faringdon community.

3 Background

From June 2016, a process was undertaken on behalf of the Ministry of Education (MOE) to assess the school’s readiness to open at the beginning of 2017. A readiness to open report was provided to the MOE in May 2017.

Lemonwood Grove School successfully opened in January 2017 with 59 students, from Years 1 to 8. The roll has continued to increase as the Faringdon community in Rolleston has grown. It is increasingly diverse as new families settle in the area. At the time of this review the roll was 192.

The school’s mission is to provide a landscape of possibilities where people connect and ideas flow in challenging, collaborative and creative ways. There is a strong focus on the key GRIT values and dispositions (grit, responsibility, integrity and thinking) for learners to adopt and develop. These values will equip learners to achieve the holistic vision to be ‘the best of you, as you’.

4 Findings

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 are fundamental to the well-considered design, development and delivery of the curriculum. The curriculum aims to provide all learners with the opportunity to develop to their full potential.

The core values, beliefs and principles are visible in the learning environment and in the actions of learners and teachers. Fundamental to these values is the first principle that learners are at the centre of practices and expected outcomes. In order to meet the vision for learners, projects, initiatives and programmes are explicitly linked to best outcomes for learners.

The wellbeing/hauora of learners and staff is prioritised. It is directly linked to the school’s vision and strategic goals. This reinforces the school’s desire to develop and respond to the needs of learners in every way.

The school is very well placed to provide for students.

There is a focus on purposeful, meaningful assessment and reporting. A comprehensive review process, with stakeholder consultation, is currently enabling leaders and teachers to continue strengthening the school’s ability to provide for students. Teachers and leaders use a range of valid reporting tools to ensure rich learner achievement information is communicated to families.

Students are given the framework to control what, when, where and how they learn. This framework is well organised and planned, but flexible. Planning for learning is future-focused and emphasises the development of strong learner-centred relationships. This planning philosophy prioritises connected learning that embraces the knowledge, skills and attitudes the school’s vision promotes for each learner. The unique school-based learning approach includes learning through play, enrichment programmes, links between the values and dispositions (competencies), and clear alignment with the school’s principles for learning.

There are comprehensive, well understood systems for identifying, monitoring and tracking students at risk of poor outcomes. Students are rigorously supported to be the best they can be. This support comes from other learners, teachers, learning assistants, senior leaders and (where appropriate) external support agencies. Parents are involved and included in partnerships which focus on the learning of their children. The school has worked hard to develop and achieve an inclusive culture.

The school is very well placed to sustain and improve its performance. Trustees and leaders have developed thorough, well documented ‘living’ policies and procedures. Stewardship roles are strategically organised within a thoughtful structure of working groups which report regularly. Leadership is highly collaborative and committed to the continuous improvement and development of the school. Strong alignment of purpose and action is evident, from vision to its enactment.

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

  • respond to growth in the school community

  • embed the school’s appraisal process for staff

  • develop cultural responsiveness.

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 very 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 very well placed to sustain and improve its performance.

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

Alan Wynyard

Director Review & Improvement Services Southern

Te Waipounamu - Southern Region

24 August 2018

About the School

Location

Rolleston, Canterbury

Ministry of Education profile number

6967

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

192

Gender composition

Girls: 48%

Boys: 52%

Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

Pacific

Other ethnicities

9%

61%

6%

24%

Review team on site

July 2018

Date of this report

24 August 2018