David Street 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 

David Street School is in Morrinsville and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 6.  The school’s vision is based on Kia Maia and provision of an inclusive and welcoming culture for learning. The school has a relationship with kaumatua, kuia and whānau. The school and community hold the values of honesty, excellence, responsibility, curiosity and respect. 

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 

Since the previous ERO report of June 2022, ERO and the school worked together to evaluate how responsive and effective the local curriculum is in improving outcomes for all learners, with a particular focus on student engagement, wellbeing, and achievement.

Expected Improvements and Findings 

The school expected to see further actions implemented to enhance the effectiveness of the school’s local curriculum and enable increased engagement, confidence and success for all learners.

• The school’s learning pathways and assessment practices support students to have greater ownership and understanding of their own learning.
• A strengthened approach to school-wide learning support, effectively responds to students’ diverse needs, enabling learners to develop confidence and experience greater success.
• Students at risk of not achieving are clearly identified and some make accelerated progress. 
• Ongoing opportunities for all students to participate and learn in meaningful and relevant contexts promotes higher levels of engagement in learning.

Other Findings

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s action has been the further strengthening of professional collaboration; a culture of trust and meaningful inquiry to inform targeted action and improve outcomes for all learners.

Part B: Current State 

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

• Most students are achieving at or above expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics; Māori students are achieving at similarly high levels in relation to their non-Māori peers in literacy and at slightly lower levels in mathematics; boys are achieving at slightly lower levels than girls in literacy.
• Almost all students make progress over a year and some students including target learners make accelerated progress to meet curriculum expectations; students with additional needs progress in relation to their individual goals.
• Wellbeing data shows almost all students have a strong sense of belonging and positive relationships with their teachers and peers.
• The school is not yet meeting the Ministry of Education’s target for regular attendance. 

Conditions to support learner success

• Genuine collaboration at every level of the school community supports the achievement of the school’s strategic vision and improvement goals.
• Clear expectations and comprehensive guidelines for teaching, learning and assessment promote consistency of high-quality teaching practice across the school.
• A strong commitment to manaakitanga that sustains respectful relationships with local hapū, contributes to upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi and supporting success for all students.

• Inclusive environments and respectful relationships between teachers and students promote a strong sense of belonging and positive engagement in learning.
• A deliberate focus on developing students’ learning capabilities and skills in communication, literacy and mathematics contributes to high levels of overall achievement.
• A well-planned approach to tracking the progress of target learners each term supports useful inquiry into strategies to improve learning progress and outcomes.

• The board actively represents and serves the school community and makes well informed resourcing decisions to enable equitable opportunities for students to learn and succeed.
• A strong focus on engaging parents and whānau in their children’s learning and regular communication over progress and achievement, strengthens home and school partnerships.
• A strategic approach to professional learning and ongoing collaboration between leaders and teachers strengthens collective capability to improve and sustain positive outcomes for students.

Part C: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• provide opportunities to further strengthen middle leadership capability to enable sustainability of school practices
• continue to implement effective strategies to accelerate learning, challenge students to achieve excellence and increase equitable outcomes for identified students, including boys in literacy
• minimise barriers to learning and increase overall rates of regular attendance.

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

Within six months:

• review and adapt the school’s assessment practices to implement the new priorities for assessment
• review the school’s existing curriculum progressions to align to new structured literacy and mathematics programmes.

Annually:

• extend annual target setting to include a focus on increasing the number of students achieving above expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics
• extend analysis of a variety of data to further inform internal evaluation and targeted action for continuous improvement
• continue to evaluate and report on the effectiveness of actions and practices to strengthen student learning, progress, achievement and attendance. 

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

• increased and sustained levels of equity and excellence in outcomes for all learners
• increased rates of 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

17 December 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