Tirimoana School

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

Tirimoana School is a primary school in Te Atatu South, Auckland and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 6. The school’s CARE values are ‘Compassion, Act responsibly, Respect and Effort’.

The school is a member of Kokiri Tahi, the Te Atatū Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning.

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: Previous Improvement Goals

Expected Improvements and Findings

Since the previous ERO report of January 2023, the school has been working to evaluate the impact of leading, learning and change initiatives on the school’s aim to achieve consistently high and equitable outcomes for all learners.

The school expected to see:

A shared understanding of the learning progressions informing assessment, planning and evaluation for learner outcomes.

• School wide learning progressions in mathematics and writing have contributed to improved achievement for most learners.

A localised curriculum, that reflects community aspirations for excellence and equity and changes from The New Zealand Curriculum refresh, implemented into coherent systems and practice.

• Curriculum guides, aligned to The New Zealand Curriculum, have been developed with clear expectations for coherent teaching and learning to support teachers.

All learners connected to an established school culture that reflects the school’s PB4L values, believing in their potential for success and progress.

• Learners are regularly surveyed to provide feedback on what is working well for them at school and the leadership team considers this feedback in their planning.
• Learners are confident in using the school’s values to guide their behaviour at school.
• The development of a Tirimoana School Graduate Profile empowers learners with the expected skills and capabilities that they are developing at school.

Teachers’ adaptive expertise addressing individual strengths and next steps of all learners, including those with additional needs.

• Professional learning supports teachers to strengthen their planning and delivery of an integrated curriculum to meet the needs of all learners.

All learners attending school regularly, with a goal for all learners to attend at least 90% of the time over the school year, with a minimum of unjustified absences.

• Active involvement in local attendance initiatives has resulted in some improvements in attendance over the past two years.

Other Findings

During the course of the evaluation, it was found that teachers and leaders are well placed to adopt upcoming changes to The New Zealand Curriculum.

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s action, was the development of mathematics and writing curriculum guidelines that provide teachers with clear guidance on teaching and learning expectations.

Part B: Current State

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.

Learner Success and Wellbeing

Outcomes for learners are increasingly equitable and excellent.

• Most learners, including Māori learners achieve at or above curriculum expectations in reading, writing and mathematics.
• The majority of Pacific learners achieve at and above in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Learners have a strong sense of belonging and are confident in their identify, language and culture.
• The majority of students attend school regularly however the school has not yet met the Ministry of Education target; attendance initiatives have been successful in improving attendance.

Conditions to support learner success

Senior leaders provide experienced effective leadership, fostering high levels of relational trust and collaboration.

• Leaders set high expectations for quality teaching and learning and actively demonstrate a commitment to ongoing professional growth to meet school goals.
• Leaders collect and analyse a range of evidence to plan and monitor strategic improvement goals; a next step is to strengthen capacity at the middle leadership level.
• Leaders have developed high quality curriculum guides in mathematics and writing; these contain year level achievement progress and achievement targets and expectations that promote consistent, coherent practices across school in teaching, learning and assessment.

Leaders and teachers have high expectations and work collaboratively to focus on achievement, progress and wellbeing.

• Learners are effectively supported in purposeful, engaging and well-paced activities; they understand what success looks like and what they are expected to understand, know and do.
• Teachers foster respectful and inclusive relationships; they use explicit instruction that enables learners to develop their knowledge, ask questions and problem-solve.
• Learners are offered rich opportunities throughout the school; local contexts are reflected in teaching and learning programmes including additional extension and support programmes.

Coherent organisational conditions including leadership, systems, processes and practices are well embedded to drive strategic improvement at all levels.

• Parents and whānau are respected and valued partners in their child’s learning; the school promotes strong relationships that focus on achievement, wellbeing and the wider curriculum.
• Leaders and teachers cultivate and sustain reciprocal professional networks to build knowledge and capability across the school.
• A strong commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi is evident through te reo and tikanga Māori programmes, trusting partnerships with mana whenua and local marae.
• A systematic approach to planning for school improvement and innovation is informed by adaptive, responsive high-quality evidence and evaluation.

Part C: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

• continue to develop and embed consistent teaching and learning programmes across all curriculum areas
• raise the capability of middle leaders to analyse and use student achievement information across all levels of the school, to monitor progress and evaluate the impact of teaching and learning
• continue to focus on raising achievement for those learners who are below expectation, particularly for learners in writing, and Pacific learners
• embed successful attendance initiatives to improve regular attendance.

The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.

Within six months:

• revise the school’s curriculum documents and assessment overview and introduce changes
• develop a professional learning plan to guide middle leadership development
• carry out a gap analysis to identify learners who are achieving below expectation and ensure that they have an intervention plan to accelerate their learning
• engage with Pacific families to further strengthen learning relationships

Every six months:

• collect, analyse and moderate assessments as a staff, to ensure there is collective understanding for progress and achievement targets and effective strategies to raise achievement
• monitor and review the professional learning of middle leaders
• review the success of acceleration initiatives to support the increased progress of those who are achieving below expectation
• report to parents on attendance; including specific approaches for those who are not attending regularly

Annually:

• use feedback from teachers and learners, classroom observations and student achievement information to evaluate the consistency and coherence of agreed teaching approaches in reading, writing and mathematics
• evaluate the professional learning plan for middle leadership to inform strategic planning
• review the effectiveness of intervention programmes to ensure that achievement in writing, and the achievement for Pacific learners is improving
• evaluate the success of attendance initiatives for input into annual plans.

Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:

• strengthened analysis and use of student achievement data to support teaching and learning
• strengthened middle leadership to embed consistency and coherence throughout the school
• raised achievement in writing through consistent and coherent teaching programmes
• raised achievement for Pacific learners so that most are achieving at or above curriculum expectations
• improved attendance to meet Ministry of Education targets for regular attendance.

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

11 November 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