Brunswick School

School Context

Brunswick School provides education for children in Years 1 to 8 and is located 15 kilometres north of Whanganui. At the time of this ERO review, of the 82 on the roll, six identify as Māori. Some children travel from the urban area to attend this rural school.

The vision defined by the school is for all children to strive for personal excellence as self-managing learners in a safe and supportive community. Key capabilities identified to promote the valued outcomes are hauora, respect, integrity, belonging and innovation.

The school’s learning focus is on improving numeracy and literacy achievement.

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

• achievement in reading, writing and mathematics relative to each year curriculum expectation
• progress in relation to school targets for reading, writing and mathematics.

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’s 2017 achievement information shows amajority of students achieved at or above curriculum expectation for their year level in reading, writing and mathematics. Achievement in reading is higher than it is in writing and mathematics.

Since 2015, there has been a decrease in overall male achievement, particularly in writing and mathematics. Significant disparity now exists in these learning areas with female peers. Teaching and learning of mathematics and writing are professional learning focuses in 2018.

Learning priorities of students with additional learning needs, a number of whom are males, are well known by teachers and progress towards goals in individual learning plans is closely monitored.

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

The school has some success in accelerating learning. Less than half of the children below curriculum expectation who do not have complex needs, accelerate their learning sufficiently in a year to reach curriculum expectation. Other learners develop skills likely to support meaningful progress in subsequent years.

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?

Purposeful learning and focused inclusive classroom environments promote children’s sustained engagement in learning. Teachers effectively use a range of strategies to respond to a variety of learner strengths and needs. Authentic learning opportunities linked to environmental sustainability are a feature of the curriculum.

Te ao Māori is valued and increasingly reflected within the curriculum. School involvement in pōwhiri contributes to growing knowledge of te reo me ngā tikanga Māori. There is acknowledgement of mana whenua in korero and waiata that promotes knowledge of the local area. The board’s annual plan identifies continuing to build relationships with whānau, hapū and iwi as an area for continued development.

Effective transition is flexible to the needs of children and families and focuses on building partnerships that support meaningful engagement. Learning-centred relationships are promoted through formal and informal reporting to parents.

Students with additional and complex learning needs are effectively supported to progress their learning. Teachers adapt their classroom programmes to respond to the range of learners. Comprehensive, collaboratively developed individual learning plans are closely linked to each student’s specific strengths and needs.

A schoolwide focus on developing the key capabilities for success in life, learning and work successfully supports children to take increased responsibility for their own learning. Deliberate classroom strategies build learners’ self-management skills. Acknowledging children’s voice and choice is enabling them to contribute more meaningfully to their own learning direction.

Collaboration and involvement in professional learning and inquiry builds teacher capability and collective capacity to respond effectively to learners. The appraisal process continues to be developed to ensure appropriate support for teacher improvement. A useful framework guides formal teacher inquiry and includes systematic consideration of the impact on improving learner outcomes.

Trustees have increased their involvement in setting annual and longer term direction focused on all children’s achievement and preparation for future learning. The annual plan is well aligned to the stated vision, values and strategic goals. Annual achievement targets link to all learners below curriculum expectation.

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

Systematic inquiry into the effectiveness of actions and interventions to improve achievement and progress, for individuals and specific groups below expectation, in writing and mathematics is necessary to identify priorities for improvement.

Teachers monitor the progress of children by referring to a range of assessment information. Increasing the use of already available data should assist more effective consideration of learner progress and better analysis of how effectively learning is accelerated.

Trustees, leaders and teachers should make greater use of progress data to determine the effectiveness of strategies to support all children below curriculum expectation to accelerate their learning. Progress of target learner groups should be regularly reported to trustees and be a key part of the annual analysis of variance.

The documented school curriculum provides guidelines to support classroom teaching and learning. It is timely to review the existing document to incorporate best practice, current developments and priorities. The revised curriculum should include:

• teaching practices known to support acceleration and maximise students’ potential
• assessment processes to support judgements of achievement and progress in relation to curriculum expectations
• effective use of digital technology to promote learning
• extending culturally responsive practices that support Māori learners
• expectations supporting further development of learner agency and personalised learning.

Some consultationcontributes to establishing priorities and determining future direction. This should be extended to include regular collection of feedback from children and parents and whānau as part of ongoing evaluation of how well the school is supporting wellbeing and learning.

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.

Areas for improved compliance practice

To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:

• review practices linked to education outside the classroom activities
• continue to review its responding to complaints and in-committee practices to ensure they align with best practice guidelines.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

• the use of a range of approaches that effectively support children with additional and complex learning needs to progress their learning
• a schoolwide focus on developing key capabilities for success in life, learning and work that support children to take responsibility for their learning
• involvement of trustees in setting annual and longer term direction that focuses on all children’s achievement and preparation for future learning.

Next steps

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

• greater use of progress data to determine the effectiveness of strategies supporting children below curriculum expectation to accelerate their learning [ERO will monitor and discuss progress with the school]
• documenting best practice guidelines for teaching and assessment for ongoing improvement to learning
• evaluation of the effectiveness of teaching in writing and mathematics to increase achievement and progress [ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop for trustees and senior leaders]
• regular collection of feedback from children and parents and whānau to assist ongoing evaluation of how well the school is supporting wellbeing and learning.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.

Alan Wynyard

Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)

Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region

16 August 2018

About the school