Te Kuiti Primary School

1 Context

Te Kuiti Primary School provides education for children in Years 1 to 8 and has a roll of 320 children. Sixty-two percent of the roll identify as Māori and many are from the local Maniapoto iwi. There is an increasing number of Samoan children. Some families have intergenerational connections with the school.

The principal was new to her position at the time of the 2013 ERO review. During the last three years, she has implemented the requirements of that review, restructured the curriculum and senior leadership team, and employed a significant number of new teachers. The board has established a local trust to help parents purchase digital devices as tools for learning. It continues to develop positive partnerships with Maniapoto leaders and iwi.

At the time of this ERO review school leaders were overseeing a building programme to provide innovative learning environments (ILEs) for collaborative teaching and learning. The principal and board are working with other local schools to establish the Waitomo Community of Learning.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are underpinned by the school’s motto, which is 'Kia u kia mau mo ake tonu atu, our best always'. The school’s values developed in consultation with its community are respect, manaakitanga, honesty, whanaungatanga and effort. The charter and other key documents focus on accelerating the achievement of Māori and other learners who are at risk of not achieving year-level expectations.

The school’s National Standards achievement information shows that overall Māori student achievement is steadily improving particularly in literacy. At the end of 2015, more than half of the school's Māori children were achieving at or above National Standards in reading and writing, and 50% were at or above National Standards in mathematics. School data shows that more than 75% of the 42 Māori children who have been identified as underachieving and have remained at the school over the last three years, more than 75% have made accelerated progress in reading and writing, and two thirds have made accelerated progress in mathematics.

Analysis of 2016 mid-year achievement information shows that for all students in Years 3 to 8, 71% of students are on track to achieve National Standards in reading, 69% in writing and 62% in mathematics. While there continues to be a disparity between the achievement of Māori and other children, this has begun to decrease, especially in literacy.

The school's processes for determining and moderating overall teacher judgements about student achievement include specific guidelines, which are continually monitored by senior leaders with additional input from external facilitators.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has engaged in professional learning and development to better engage students in learning and to accelerate their progress.

This has included the use of internal and external expertise to improve:

• literacy and mathematics
• te reo Māori
• positive behaviour to support learning
• the use of digital technology in classrooms
• practices to ensure engaging and effective innovative learning.

The principal and senior leaders have established school-wide expectations for teachers' reflection and inquiry into effective practices for accelerating children's progress and achievement.

3 Accelerating achievement

How effectively does this school respond to Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

The school responds effectively to most Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration through a range of well-aligned, school-wide processes and practices. Māori children who are at risk of not achieving are identified at the end of each year through in-depth analysis of school-wide National Standards information. The analysis of multiple sources of evidence, along with continual professional reflection and inquiry, regularly informs teachers’ responses to children’s individual learning needs. The progress of targeted students is monitored every five weeks and reported to the board according to a planned reporting cycle. Class and team targets are regularly reviewed and revised during the year according to teachers' continuing analysis of progress and achievement.

Parents receive prompt digital updates celebrating children’s progress and success. This communication includes suggestions for parents to support home learning. These processes have led to a marked increase in student and whānau attendance at student-led conferences and continual acceleration of progress for students who are at-risk of underachieving.

How effectively does this school respond to other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

The school responds effectively to other children whose learning and behaviour need acceleration. These children benefit from the same rigorous identification, analysis and monitoring of their progress and achievement as their Māori peers. Teachers' regular in-depth analysis of formal and informal assessment information results in targeted teaching to accelerate progress.

Parents receive prompt and regular information about their progress and achievement to assist with home learning. School records show that most of these children have made accelerated progress over their last three years at this school.

4 School conditions

How effectively do the school’s curriculum and other organisational processes and practices develop and enact the school’s vision, values, goals and targets for equity and excellence?

The school’s curriculum and organisational processes is increasingly effective in enacting its vision, values, goals and targets for equity and excellence.

The board of trustees provides very sound governance to ensure that children have equitable opportunities to accelerate their progress, engage in digital learning within a responsive curriculum and participate in educational opportunities outside the classroom. The school's charter and annual plan provide very clear and specific direction for addressing the needs of at-risk learners. Trustees scrutinise achievement reports and provide generous funding to resource the accelerated progress of targeted learners. School operations are well aligned to focus on achieving the board's targets to accelerated progress for children who are at-risk of underachieving.

The principal uses her knowledge and experience to very effectively lead teaching and learning within a collaborative and professional staff culture. She has established high quality management systems and maintains high expectations for an unrelenting focus on accelerating students’ progress and achievement. Senior leaders are focused on raising achievement and growing staff knowledge. They have established robust processes for determining and moderating teachers' judgements about student achievement. They implement regular classroom observations that provide teachers with specific and rigorous feedback to inform continual reflection for improvement. Senior leaders continually review and revise school processes and initiatives. Teachers appreciate the school's strong professional leadership and the robust feedback they receive to improve teaching practices and raise achievement.

The school's curriculum effectively responds to students’ needs and interests and provides authentic contexts for accelerating literacy and mathematics achievement. The curriculum has clear guidelines for teaching, assessment and learning. It includes a sequential te reo Māori programme and guidelines for incorporating local Māori learning contexts into class programmes. Māori students’ culture, language and identity are recognised and affirmed through classroom and school-wide protocols that reflect local tikanga and provide opportunities for tuition in te reo Māori. The senior leadership team continues to revise and further develop its expectations for teaching and learning in all curriculum areas.

Teachers demonstrate many effective teaching strategies. They have high expectations for learning, behaviour and accelerated progress for Māori and all at-risk learners. Student agency and ownership of learning is particularly evident in Years 5 to 8 and developing in junior classes. Children are beginning to use learning progressions as a basis for monitoring their personal progress and identifying next steps. School leaders and teachers access a range of relevant external advice and interventions to address specific individual learning, behaviour and social needs. As a result of strong and effective leadership, students across the school are continually engaged in learning to accelerate their progress.

School leaders and teachers know children and their families well. Parents/whānau receive useful written and informal reports about children's learning, progress and achievement. Education evenings and comprehensive newsletters keep parent/whānau well informed about the curriculum and school events and activities. Community survey responses lead to continual positive change to enhance learning and achievement.

5 Going Forward

How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?

Leaders and teachers:

• know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
• respond effectively to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
• regularly evaluate how well teaching is working for these children
• act on what they know works well for each child
• build teacher capability effectively to achieve equitable outcomes for all children
• are well placed to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children.

The school is continuing to develop its partnership with its local iwi and to increase the integrated use of te reo Māori within class programmes. There is a strong focus on eliminating the disparity between the overall achievement of Māori and other children's achievement. Senior leaders acknowledge the need to continue to provide students with meaningful formative assessment and opportunities for self and peer assessment at all levels of the school.

Te Kuiti Primary School has a well-aligned, unrelenting focus on accelerating academic progress and achievement, which is evident throughout the school. Regular, robust internal review leads to a culture of professional learning and continuous improvement.

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

6 Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review the board of trustees 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

• 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

• processes for appointing staff

• stand down, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions

• attendance

• compliance with the provisions of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014 

7 Recommendation

ERO recommends that the school continues to engage in its rigorous internal review processes to ensure the sustainability of its culture of professional learning and continuous improvement to raise student achievement.

Lynda Pura-Watson

Deputy Chief Review Officer

6 December 2016

About the school