Lee Stream School

School Context

Lee Stream School is a small rural school with a roll of 31 children from Years 1 to 8. Most travel by bus from the surrounding area. Children learn in two multi-level classrooms.

Since the 2015 ERO review, there has been no change in staff. Two members of the board of trustees are new.

The school’s vision is to work closely with its families and wider community to provide each child with the best possible opportunities. Its valued outcomes are that children will achieve well, realise their potential, have a strong sense of self-worth and be ready to lead a positive and fulfilling life. The school’s core values are to show respect, kindness, honesty, excellence, positive attitudes, responsibility, and be trustworthy and inclusive.

The school’s two strategic aims link back to its vision. These are to ensure that every child progresses and achieves well, and to further strengthen partnerships with parents and the wider community. There are targets to accelerate the progress of any child below expected levels in literacy and mathematics. This includes a specific target to improve some boys’ writing achievement.

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

• progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
• physical and emotional wellbeing
• understanding and demonstration of key competencies (valued dispositions)
• oral language.

Lee Stream School is part of a cluster of rural schools. As part of the cluster, it has Ministry of Education (MoE) funded professional learning and development to further improve written language achievement.

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 achieving very good outcomes for most children and working towards achieving equitable outcomes for all.

Over the last three years, most children have achieved at or above the school’s expected levels for reading, writing and mathematics. For reading and writing the percentage was at least 84% of children. Girls achieve slightly better than boys in each area. Māori children achieve well.  

Reports to the board indicate that:

• most children demonstrate the desired school values and key competencies
• the majority of children regularly demonstrate key hauora – wellbeing indicators (that were a teaching focus)
• children feel safe, valued, respected and well supported.

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

The school has had some success in accelerating the learning of these (target) students in literacy. In 2017 it had limited success in accelerating students’ progress in mathematics. 

In 2017, 50% of the children below expected levels in writing made accelerated progress. Over a three year period, the gap between boys’ and girls’ achievement has been significantly reduced. For reading, 40% of target children made accelerated progress. Some of these children are now at expected levels. Interventions to lift the achievement of target students in mathematics resulted in a small proportion of children making accelerated progress.

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?

Children learn in a very supportive, family-like learning environment. Relationships among children and between children and adults are caring, respectful and supportive. Teachers know each child very well as a learner and as an individual. Children often help each other with their learning. In their classrooms they are settled and engaged. They know their individual learning goals and/or next steps.

The curriculum is responsive and engaging. Children experience a broad and well-integrated curriculum, which uses real-life contexts. Very good use is made of local people and places, and digital technologies to enrich children’s learning. Te ao Māori is thoughtfully interwoven into topic studies. For literacy and mathematics, teaching is carefully differentiated to meet the individual needs of children in multi-level classes.

Teachers have built strong learning-focused partnerships with parents. Parents are very well informed about their children’s progress and achievement and how they can best support them. Children benefit from parents’ frequent involvement in learning activities and experiences.

Children below expected levels are very well supported to catch up. Teachers use a range of assessments to identify their specific needs, and respond with well-considered strategies and content. Children’s progress and achievement is carefully monitored. Interventions in writing have been leading to improved attitudes towards writing and improved achievement. 

The school is well led and governed. Leaders and trustees are reflective and improvement focused. The principal ensures that trustees are well informed, enabling them to make sound resourcing decisions. There is strong alignment between different initiatives in the school and its strategic goals. Internal evaluation is increasingly used to inform decision making.

A key strength in this school is its practices that enable teachers to continue to build their expertise. Teachers benefit from relevant professional learning, a high quality appraisal process and a culture where they are encouraged to trial new ideas. Purposeful teacher inquiries into aspects of teaching and learning have led to new initiatives and strategies to improve children’s learning. These have resulted in improved outcomes for children.

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

Aspects of internal evaluation need further strengthening. Evaluation could be extended to include other valued learning outcomes, such as how well each NZ Curriculum principle is enacted. Curriculum reviews could better include student and parent voice and evaluation of other important areas, such as resourcing and coverage.

Some improvements are needed in target setting and reporting processes. Given that most children achieve at expected levels, it is appropriate to set a target to increase the number of children achieving above the level. Reports to the board could better show the rates of progress for all target children.

It is timely to develop skill progressions for different learning areas. This will assist teachers and children to assess in meaningful ways, learning in curriculum area beyond literacy and mathematics.

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 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

• very supportive learning environment
• responsive and engaging curriculum
• strong, learning-focused partnerships with parents
• well-considered support for children needing additional help with  their learning
• sound leadership and governance
• strong practices to build teacher expertise.

Next steps

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

• improving aspects of internal evaluation
• improving aspects of target setting and reporting
• the development of further learning progressions to enable meaningful assessment in wider curriculum areas.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

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

Alan Wynyard
Director Review & Improvement Services Southern

9 October 2018

About the school