Longburn 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

Longburn School is situated in Longburn village, west of Palmerston North, and provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. The school’s vision, ’Sowing seeds of possibility on a pathway to potential - Pūmanawa ai ki te ara pai’, is supported through the values of respect, responsibility, positivity and learning.

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.

• The majority of learners achieve at expected curriculum levels in reading and mathematics; a small majority achieve at expected curriculum levels in writing.
• Leaders and teachers increasingly respond to inequity in achievement for some groups of learners, particularly boys; addressing this remains an identified priority.
• Students have a strong sense of belonging and are well supported to be confident in their identity, language and culture.
• The majority of learners attend school regularly; the school is not yet meeting the Government’s 2024 target for regular attendance.

Conditions to support learner success

Leadership sets and pursues improvement goals and targets focused on improving achievement and wellbeing for all learners.

• Strategic leadership determines areas for school improvement, and actions are carefully planned to promote positive outcomes for learners.
• Leaders set meaningful targets and use evidence-based interventions to facilitate ongoing innovation, improvement and development of teacher capabilities for improved outcomes.
• Leaders use internal and external expertise to facilitate ongoing development of the curriculum and strengthen responsive teaching practices.

Responsive teaching practices and respectful learning environments promote engagement in learning.

• Increased wellbeing initiatives foster emotional intelligence and self-management as foundations for learning.
• Leaders and teachers work in close partnership with mana whenua to refine the school’s curriculum so that it better reflects the aspirations of learners and the wider community.
• The school is embedding the ways that te reo Māori, te ao Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori are woven through all aspects of the school’s curriculum.

Key systems and processes promote positive outcomes for all learners.

• Professional learning opportunities, and monitoring of changes in teacher practice and student outcomes, are deliberate and aligned to strategic priorities.
• Leaders and teachers regularly engage the expertise of external agencies and professional learning providers, collaboratively supporting the learning and wellbeing of students.
• Board resourcing decisions align to strategic goals and are responsive to the emerging needs of learners.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• further develop explicit teaching approaches to sustain and improve learner progress and achievement
• plan and implement approaches to accelerate the progress and achievement of individuals and groups of students who need this, with a particular focus on writing and mathematics outcomes
• continue to integrate te reo Māori, te ao Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori into classroom programmes
• explore and implement further strategies for ongoing improvement in students' regular attendance.

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

Within six months:

• continue to engage in focused professional development in writing and mathematics to strengthen teacher capability and improve equity between groups of learners
• refine strategies for supporting regular attendance 

Every six months:

• collate and analyse schoolwide student progress and achievement data to inform teaching and learning and identify strategies that improve and accelerate learning, especially in mathematics and for boys in writing
• review how well teachers are increasingly integrating te reo Māori and mātauranga Māori within the curriculum and the impact on learner outcomes
• review the impact of initiatives to improve students’ regular attendance and identify further actions

Annually:

• review and report to the board the impact of teaching and learning programmes on achievement outcomes, to know what has been most successful and what needs further improvement in accelerating progress and achievement for all learners
• evaluate the impact of professional development for improving teacher practice and raising student outcomes to inform planning for ongoing improvement
• report analysed attendance and achievement data to the board; strategically plan actions that will continue to sustain and improve learner outcomes.

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

• sustained and improved outcomes, particularly in mathematics and for boys in writing
• data and feedback used by all staff to collaboratively monitor and evaluate the impact of teaching adaptations on learning outcomes
• further strengthening of staff and learner capability in te reo Māori and mātauranga Māori.
• increased regular attendance levels.

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

Sharon Kelly
Acting Director of Schools

14 March 2025

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