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
Ko Taku Reo – Deaf Education New Zealand was established in 2020 after the merger of Kelston Deaf Education Centre in Auckland and van Asch Deaf Education Centre in Christchurch. The new national school was formed to provide education and support for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) learners and their families and whānau across New Zealand.
Ko Taku Reo is a multi-faceted school that provides support for DHH students aged from 5 to 21 years in primary, secondary and tertiary education settings. Many students experience significant language delay and/or language deprivation before enrolling in school, and some learners have additional high and complex needs.
Some students attend deaf-bilingual provisions alongside their DHH peers in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The school also operates residential hostels in Auckland and Christchurch. The majority of DHH learners attend their local school where they receive support from Ko Taku Reo’s specialist outreach teachers in conjunction with extensive services.
Ko Taku Reo also operates an early childhood service in Auckland and an early involvement service in Christchurch to provide programmes that encourage language development and support for parents and families. ERO reviews of early childhood services are reported separately on its website.
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: Summary of Findings
Prior to the merger of the two schools in 2020, two Ministry of Education-appointed Limited Statutory Managers (LSM) supported the board to develop a new organizational structure at all levels of operations. A new school principal, directors and senior leaders were appointed during this period. The school board, LSMs and leadership team engaged with ERO during the merger and new school establishment process and established ongoing improvement goals for the new national school.
During the course of the evaluation, ERO found that extensive work had been undertaken to develop the strategic vision and values and to create an organizational structure with defined roles and responsibilities. This included work in developing schoolwide policies and systems and infrastructure for finance, property, health and safety, administration, information management and digital innovations.
At that time, the school needed a mechanism for improving achievement by collating and using student achievement data to inform its decision making. Additionally, robust leadership systems and structures needed to be developed so that the separate action plans for heads of department might be enacted coherently, to build staff capability.
The greatest shift that occurred in response to the schools’ merger process was the move to develop a consistent national practice model, with professional learning communities established to strengthen Deaf Education knowledge and practice.
Part B: Current State
The principal resigned in November 2022. At that time the school board was not able to be formed due to a lack of candidates standing for election. The Ministry of Education appointed a Commissioner to perform the functions of the school board. The Commissioner established an Advisory Group to regularly hear from a cross-section of the school’s internal and external stakeholder groups, informing decision-making.
Significant changes have occurred in the school leadership team since 2022. The former Ko Taku Reo board chairperson became the nominal acting executive principal in November 2022, to provide continuity pending a permanent appointment. In Term 3, 2023, the Director of Teaching and Learning resigned. Two senior staff members were seconded to manage the responsibilities of this key leadership role.
In Term 4, 2023 the Commissioner initiated a review of the school’s strategic plan using internal expertise, supported by an external consultant. The schools new strategic plan was released at the end of Term 1, 2024. The Commissioner also commenced an organizational restructure of leadership positions, roles and responsibilities.
In July 2024, the Advisory Group members identified the need for more targeted consultation processes to be implemented with the wider school community. ERO views this as a critical area for action, giving further opportunities for parents and whānau to share their perspectives on school direction, and strategic and curriculum developments. The appointment of a permanent principal and the formation of a school board should assist with this.
The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.
Learner Success and Wellbeing
| Improvements are required to ensure learners are engaged, making sufficient progress and achieve well in the enrolled school; this should be addressed with urgency |
- Some learners in Years 1 to 10 achieve at the expected curriculum levels for reading, writing and mathematics; schoolwide strategies for accelerating students’ progress are a priority.
- Few senior students achieve National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Levels 1 to 3 or University Entrance qualifications in 2023, including Tūri Māori and Pacific students.
- Leaders have introduced a student management system to report trends and patterns of progress and achievement for the enrolled school; strengthening analysis, reporting, and response to data are key next steps.
- The school has recently conducted a student wellbeing survey for Years 7 to 13 as part of a Ministry of Education pilot; developing an action plan to respond to this data and ensuring younger students’ views are responded to, are key next steps.
- Less than half of students in the enrolled school attend regularly; the annual plan should include a supporting action plan to lift attendance levels to meet the Ministry of Education target.
Conditions to support learner success
| Leadership at all levels across the school must ensure plans are enacted with an unrelenting focus on improving student outcomes. |
- Seconded school leaders responded promptly to ERO’s concerns to review the quality of teaching and took targeted actions, including providing suitable staff induction and training processes.
- New curriculum leadership roles have been established to promote Deaf culture and identity, use of NZSL in all teaching programmes and learning experiences, and Tūri Māori success.
- Enrolled school leaders have recently implemented more formalised teacher support and guidance process to address ongoing performance issues.
- The permanent principal appointment is critical for building sustainable senior and middle leadership capacity; and to coordinate and monitor progress towards longer-term improvement actions and goals.
| Variable teaching practices within the enrolled school negatively impact on students’ learning, wellbeing and achievement. |
- Suitable Individual Education Plans (IEPs) are set and reviewed twice-yearly; formal written progress and achievement reports to parents and whānau were introduced in 2024.
- Enrolled, Curriculum and Pedagogy school leaders have created common practice guidelines for the enrolled school to guide improved teaching and learning outcomes for students; this document will be extended to include outreach teachers in 2024.
- The leadership team has prioritised targeted staff professional development to improve teaching and assessment practices, which includes growing NZSL as a medium of instruction and supporting staff to understand and foster Deaf culture.
- Recently introduced literacy and mathematics programmes in Years 9 and 10 focus on enabling more students to meet NCEA requirements in these key areas.
| Leaders are establishing key conditions to support schoolwide improvement. |
- After two years of undertaking the school’s governance functions, it is timely for the Ministry of Education, with the Commissioner, to prioritise the formation of a school board that represents the national school community.
- Senior leaders should continue to strengthen communication and partnerships with parents and whānau, to focus on improving student outcomes and the development of the school’s curriculum and strategic planning.
- Enrolled school leaders should continue to build educationally powerful connections with families and whānau to ensure their aspirations for students’ wellbeing and learning inform teaching and learning.
- Leaders and teachers should evaluate schoolwide data to monitor their impact on increasing students’ attendance, wellbeing, progress and academic achievement.
- Rūaumoko marae is located on the same site as the Auckland hostel residence; the school acknowledges the importance of further strengthening a sense of belonging for the Tūri Māori community and its identity, tikanga and culture for Tūri Māori students.
Part C: Where to next?
The agreed next steps for the school are to:
- raise student achievement and attendance through more effective teaching and learning
- appoint an experienced principal with the appropriate skills to lead the school and its national community to improve student outcomes
- work with the Ministry of Education to establish a timeframe for re-establishing a school board to represent the breadth of a national school community and to work cohesively toward a common vision, values and priorities
- further build relational trust with the school’s parents, whānau and communities to strengthen partnerships for learning, curriculum development and strategic planning and decision making.
The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.
Within three months:
- gather all enrolled school and outreach school direct service students’ perspectives on wellbeing, teaching and learning, and analyse this information to determine actions for improvement
- identify strategic actions and resources to work towards meeting the Ministry of Education target for regular student attendance
- prioritise planning for the process for appointment of a permanent principal and formation of a national school board
Every three months:
- strengthen senior and enrolled school leaders’ monitoring of effective teaching and learning practices using the school’s guidelines, to ensure more students make accelerated progress and experience educational success
- continue to monitor and analyse wellbeing, attendance and achievement data to evaluate the effectiveness of the enrolled school’s action plans and strategies to improve learner progress and success
- continue to provide targeted teacher professional development and supports to improve the quality and consistency of teaching practices for all teachers across the school
Within six months:
- survey and meet with whānau and the community regarding the strategic plan, to determine satisfaction levels, and opportunities to further improve student learning outcomes
- report on enrolled school students’ accelerated progress and achievement for Year 1 to 10 learners in reading, writing and mathematics, and NCEA students’ progress towards achieving national qualifications
- engage with whānau Māori and Tūri Māori to gather their perspectives and aspirations for strengthening partnerships that support Tūri Māori success, as Tūri Māori
Annually:
- gather satisfaction data from students who receive direct and indirect support from outreach services
- continue to review the effectiveness of the teaching guidelines that have been implemented, to ensure they are supporting accelerated progress for DHH learners
- further consult with the enrolled school’s community to design a school curriculum, which may be personalised according to location and context
- continue to analyse data and report on regular student attendance, wellbeing, progress and achievement in each area of the school to monitor improvements and determine subsequent evidence-informed goals and actions.
Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:
- effective support for students with improved attendance, engagement and achievement results
- whānau and families engaging as valued partners in the child’s learning process
- effective teaching practices that are personalised to the learner and informed by high quality assessment practices and teaching strategies
- robust leadership systems, structures and approaches to support the school to achieve its strategic goals
- a stable school board working productively alongside a skilled professional leader and leadership team.
Recommendation to the Ministry of Education
ERO recommends that the Secretary for Education consider intervention(s) listed in section 171 of the Education and Training Act 2020 in order to bring about the following improvements:
- convene a case conference to enable key stakeholders to consider the ERO report and the school’s next steps and agree how the Ministry can assist the school to:
- enact its strategic and annual plan to work with continued urgency to improve student achievement and the quality of teaching and learning
- develop processes including a timeline for the appointment of a permanent principal
- continue to work with the school community to develop processes and a timeline for the establishment of a national school board.
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
30 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