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This short report, aimed at primary school leaders, sets out how prepared students and schools felt ahead of the Covid-19 lockdown in August and provides recommendations for how schools can support their students as they return to the classroom. 

This short report, aimed at secondary school leaders, sets out how prepared students and schools felt ahead of the Covid-19 lockdown in August and provides recommendations for how schools can support their students as they return to the classroom. 

A quality, inclusive early childhood education is important for all children. It is especially important for children who need support to be fully included, and to learn and play alongside their peers. It helps them have better learning and life outcomes – both today and into their futures.

How well were school leaders determining Professional Learning and Development priorities and evaluating its impact?

ERO spoke with school leaders responsible for planning Professional Learning and Development (PLD) and looked at a variety of documents in 242 state or state-integrated schools (excluding kura) reviewed in Terms 3 and 4, 2018. ERO made an overall judgment about how well school leaders were determining PLD priorities and evaluating the impact of PLD.

All of the participants in this evaluation modify their teaching and learning programmes to better suit the needs of their learners. They intentionally focus on the integration of the NCEA standards through their te marau ā-kura. Leaders, professionals, kaiako and kaimahi are extremely effective in developing and using innovative tools and resources to support student progression.

Senior leaders at Invercargill Middle School have put processes in place to ensure that all teachers participate in and contribute to the co-construction of decisions about how best to move forward. The principal describes the approach as ‘change coming from the classroom, not the principals office’.

Research evidence shows early in a child’s life is a critical time in terms of the rapid language development that takes place, particularly in the first two to three years.

This evaluation investigated how effectively young children’s oral language learning and development were supported in their early years of education.

This evaluation investigates how well schools are using the EOTC Guidelines in their provision of EOTC, how well their EOTC activities complement the curriculum, how well they plan for the safety of EOTC activities, and how well the revised EOTC Guidelines support teaching and safety. This report gives examples of effective EOTC teaching and practices that support safety. The report also identifies where the effectiveness and safety of EOTC could be improved.

Starting school is a major childhood event. It can be an exciting time for children and their families. But it is a big change and can be an uncertain time. Since 2018, schools have been able to have children start in groups at certain dates during the year. This is called cohort entry. ERO found that cohort entry has a range of benefits for children’s wellbeing and learning, schools’ ability to structure transitions more easily, and for teachers due to fewer disruptions and more time to teach.

Going to school is critical for our children’s futures. The evidence is clear that every day of school matters – missing school leads to lower achievement. Aotearoa New Zealand has lower attendance than other countries and, alarmingly, attendance is falling. This short summary looks at some of the reasons why.