Geraldine Primary School

Canterbury

Geraldine Primary School ERO Report

Education Review Office reviews for Geraldine Primary School in Canterbury, New Zealand.

Review 24 March 2025

Latest

School 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.

About the School

Geraldine Primary School provides education for learners in years 1 to 6. The school roll is around 260 learners. Approximately 90% of its learners identify as European/Pākehā, 11% Asian and 9% Māori. The school values are: Achieving|Takakawe, Caring|Manaakitanga, Responsible|Takohanga, and Respectful|Whakaute.

Part A – Parent Summary

How well placed is the school to promote educational success and wellbeing?

How well are learners succeeding?Success and progress for all learners is increasing.What is the quality of teaching and learning?Learners benefit from high quality teaching practice that improves progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics.How well does the school curriculum respond to all learners needs?

Learners have sufficient opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the curriculum.

There is an increasingly consistent focus on supporting learners to gain skills in literacy and mathematics.

Learners with complex needs are well supported to achieve their education goals.

How well does school planning and conditions support ongoing improvement?School planning and conditions to support ongoing improvement to the quality of education for learners are well established.How well does the school include all learners and promote their engagement and wellbeing?The school reasonably promotes learners’ engagement, wellbeing and inclusion.How well does the school partner with parents, whānau and its community for the benefit of learners?

The school reports usefully and accurately to parents / whānau about their child’s learning, achievement and progress.

The school responds well to a wide range of information gathered through community consultation, to inform strategic planning and curriculum decisions.

Student Health and SafetyThe school board is taking reasonable steps to ensure student health and safety.

Achievement in Years 0 to 8

This table outlines how well students across the school meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.

Foundation Skills

 Reading

Most learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.

Results are equitable for all groups of learners.

Writing

A large majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.

Results are becoming more equitable for all groups of learners.

Mathematics

Most learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.

Results are equitable for all groups of learners.

Attendance

The school is approaching the target of 80% regular attendance.

The school is developing a suitable plan to improve attendance.

Regular attendance is not yet improving towards or beyond the target.

Chronic absence is not yet reducing over time.

Assessment

The school is improving its approach and the reliability of its practices to accurately find out about achievement against the curriculum.

Teachers are developing assessment information to adjust teaching practices to ensure ongoing improvement in teaching and student progress.

Progress

The school has had increased numbers of English second language learners in recent years.

The school is developing good quality planning to increase the rate of progress for all groups of students.

The school has to some extent improved achievement and progress for those learners most at risk of not achieving since the previous review.

The school has to some extent extended achievement and progress for learners working at or above curriculum levels since the previous review.

The school is meeting Government reading, writing and mathematics targets and/or pānui, tuhituhi and pāngarau targets set for 2030.

An explanation of the terms used in the Parent Summary can be found here: Guide to ERO school reports
 

Part B - Findings for the school

This section of the report provides more detail for the school to include in strategic and annual planning for ongoing improvement across the school.

Areas of Strength

Students report they have a strong sense of belonging and wellbeing; caring and respectful relationships between students and teachers are evident.

Leaders set and review strategic goals in partnership with the school community. Leaders foster relational trust and pursue excellent and equitable outcomes for all learners.

The curriculum is well designed, appropriately structured to support learning and makes good use of local contexts. There has been a strengthened focus on supporting the social and emotional capabilities of learners. Structured literacy and mathematics practices are embedded in the school and are being aligned with the new English and Mathematics curricula.

Staff are well supported to grow their teaching practices and curriculum knowledge and to implement school priorities.

Teachers and leaders regularly use a range of evidence to plan and implement actions for improvement.

Key priorities and actions for improvement

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

  • continue to align the schools’ mathematics and literacy programmes with changes to the New Zealand Curriculum
  • review and implement changes to assessment practices and use assessment information to inform teaching and learning
  • evaluate the effectiveness of strategies and interventions to accelerate learning
  • implement strategies to lift regular attendance in partnership with the school community.

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

Every six months:

  • review and evaluate the progress of learners targeted for acceleration and the impact of the interventions used to inform where to next
  • review and evaluate the effectiveness of strategies for improving attendance and adjust accordingly

Annually:

  • review and evaluate the implementation of the schools’ new mathematics teaching and learning programme to inform ongoing improvements
  • implement and review aligned assessment practices and use these to report learner progress and achievement.

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

  • learners continuing to progress and achieve against the new curriculum expectations
  • learners targeted for acceleration will experience success
  • learners, teachers, and the board using good quality information to identify next learning steps as well as teaching and learning priorities
  • an increased proportion of learners attending school regularly.

Part C: Regulatory and Legislative Requirements

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements

All schools are required to promote student health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.

During this review the Board has attested to some regulatory and legislative requirements in the following areas:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Actions for Compliance

ERO has identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

  • The school must check two identity documents and evidence referee checking as part of safety checking of the workforce.[Sections 25, 26 and 27, Children’s Act 2014: Safety checks of children’s workers; Regulations 5 – 8, Children’s (Requirements for Safety Checks of Children’s Workers) Regulations 2015]
  • Police vetting for non-teaching staff must be obtained every three years.
    [Section 104 and Schedule 4, Education and Training Act 2020]

The board has since addressed the areas of non-compliance identified.

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 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

Sharon Kelly
Director of Schools (Acting)

24 March 2025

Education Counts

This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Read the full report on ero.govt.nz →

ERO report information is sourced from the Education Review Office.