Review 6 September 2024
LatestSchool 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
Viscount School in Māngere, Auckland provides education for learners in Years 1 to 8. The school’s values are ‘Ako, Respect and Safety’. Since the previous ERO review, there has been a change to the leadership team, with a new principal appointed in Term 1, 2024.
There are two parts to this report.
Part A: 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 B: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.
Part A: Current State
The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.
Learner Success and Wellbeing
The school is working towards equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners.- Less than half of all learners achieve at or above expected levels in reading and writing; and a small majority achieve at or above expected levels in mathematics.
- School leaders are now analysing achievement information for specific groups including Māori, Pacific learners and gender to know about equity of outcomes for all groups of learners.
- Learners experience a welcoming, positive, and inclusive school environment that acknowledges their strengths, home languages and cultures; these contribute to their wellbeing and sense of belonging.
- The school continues to work towards meeting the Ministry of Education attendance target, with data for Term 1, 2024 showing that less than half of learners attended regularly.
Conditions to support learner success
School leadership is strengthening and embedding the conditions necessary for effective teaching and learning.- School leaders value and promote a culture of professional learning, growth and development that is beginning to increase success for all learners.
- Building consistency of teaching practice and ensuring there are higher expectations for learning outcomes is fostered by leaders.
- Leaders work collaboratively to monitor that the school’s curriculum and teaching practices are clear and focused on improving learning outcomes for learners.
- Learners have classroom practices that are welcoming, warm, relational, and affirming and they follow clearly established routines and expectations for learning.
- Learners experience a planned and documented local curriculum where they can see themselves, their culture and identity reflected, leading to increased engagement.
- Many learners have English as an additional language and their learning programmes place emphasis on successfully building vocabulary in literacy and mathematics.
- Current priorities for ongoing professional learning and growth are building capability in assessment practices and greater integration of te ao Māori to effectively support learning.
- Respectful relationships assist learners and parents to be comfortable engaging with staff and seeking support when required.
- The school continues to strengthen and build opportunities for whānau to contribute to and enhance learning programmes, with plans to make increased use of their knowledge, skills and abilities.
Part B: Where to next?
The agreed next steps for the school are to:
- continue to evaluate how well current strategies have lifted overall student attendance
- continue to build consistency of teaching practice to make the most of learning time to lift the achievement of all learners in literacy and mathematics
- develop te ao Māori, tikanga Māori, and te reo Māori to further enrich the curriculum
- strengthen use of assessment practices in response to learning needs and embed assessment practices into staff professional growth conversations to lift the achievement of all learners.
The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.
Every six months:
- leaders and teachers will closely monitor the effectiveness of initiatives to improve the attendance of students who do not attend regularly
- monitor how well assessment practices across the school effectively informs teaching and learning programmes
- continue to monitor and analyse student achievement data to promote equity and excellence for all learners.
Annually
- ensure attendance and achievement data for groups of learners, including gender and ethnicity, is reported to the board to understand and respond to, with focus on improved outcomes for learners in literacy and mathematics
- monitor and evaluate the outcomes of building staff capability in assessment practices, te ao Māori, tikanga Māori, and te reo Māori to improve outcomes for learners
- the board will continue to use information regarding the impacts of staff professional learning on student outcomes to inform on-going and future professional learning decisions.
Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:
- improved attendance, especially for those learners who do not attend regularly at present
- improved overall levels of accelerated progress and achievement for all learners in literacy and mathematics
- greater consistency and use of assessment practice across the school to drive improvements in the teaching of literacy and mathematics.
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
6 September 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