Awapuni School (Gisborne)

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 

Awapuni School is an inner-city school in Gisborne that provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. The school’s vision, that students love to learn and learn to love, is supported by values based around kindness to self, others, the environment and community.  A new principal was appointed in 2022.

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 majority of students achieve curriculum expectations in mathematics; achievement outcomes are lower in reading and writing with slightly lower achievement for Māori students in writing.
• Effective transition processes for new entrants and inclusive, consistent practices schoolwide support students’ developing sense of belonging.
• Less than half of the students at Awapuni School attend regularly; the school does not yet meet the Ministry of Education target for regular attendance and has prioritised working with whānau and agencies to improve this.

Conditions to support learner success

• Leaders use a range of evidence to identify school priorities and inform decision making; professional development is aligned to school priorities.
• Leaders set and pursue goals for student progress within a local curriculum, that increasingly reflects the values and aspirations of the school community.
• Leaders work collegially with staff to strengthen the consistency of teaching programmes and to closely monitor student progress.

• Structured approaches to the teaching of reading are becoming embedded schoolwide.
• Learners are well known by teachers and support staff; assessment evidence is increasingly used to inform teaching practices.
• A school curriculum is being established, based on local contexts and school values, that engages students and provides opportunities to apply learning in new situations; a planned next step is to ensure consistency in the teaching of te reo Māori and build understanding of te ao Māori schoolwide

• Policies, programmes and practices are being strengthened to further promote student wellbeing and confidence in their identity, language and culture.
• Partnerships are developing between the school, whānau, hapū and iwi; the stories and history of the area and its people are increasingly recognised and celebrated
• Teachers collaboratively inquire into their practice to identify successful approaches; professional growth is prioritised and supported.
• The board effectively manages the school’s resourcing and is strengthening its governance capacity to assist the principal in achieving school improvement goals.

Part B: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• collaborate with whānau and the wider school community, with urgency, to improve regular attendance at school; develop an Awapuni School learner profile to promote engagement
• continue to strengthen structured and evidence-based practices to support the teaching of reading and writing schoolwide
• review assessment processes to ensure high quality useful information is gathered and used to inform teaching practice
• develop teacher capacity in te reo Māori, ensure a consistent schoolwide teaching programme is in place and that te ao Māori and te reo Māori are authentically represented in classroom programmes. 

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

Within three months:

• to improve regular attendance, a plan is created with whānau input, and actions are in place

Within six months:

• staff are engaged in professional development in writing; a plan is implemented for literacy development across the school
• te reo Māori is being taught schoolwide and te ao Māori concepts are embedded in the school curriculum; ways to measure teacher growth in this area are identified
• community consultation has commenced to identify the values, skills and dispositions to be represented in the Awapuni School learner profile

Every six months:

• critically review school attendance and the actions that support attendance and share this information with the board and school community
• analyse achievement data to monitor student progress, the impact of initiatives and approaches, especially in writing, to inform next steps for teaching actions and resourcing
• review the assessment schedule to ensure it aligns with The New Zealand Curriculum and provides information that supports learner progress
• use agreed measures to identify teachers’ growing capability in te reo Māori, knowledge of te āo Māori and its authentic use in classroom programme.

Annually:

• evaluate and report progress towards improving attendance for all groups of learners 
• report to the board in relation to annual and over time progress and achievement for all groups of students, including the levels of disparity between these groups to inform planning 
• the Awapuni Learner profile is used to report learning progress and achievement to parents and whānau. 

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

• an increase in the number of students who attend over 90% of the time, leading to improved and sustained engagement in learning and progress and achievement
• teaching practices that result in improved outcomes for learners raised achievement in reading, writing and te reo Māori, especially for Māori students in writing
• well embedded assessment practices that inform school and classroom decision making
• shared understanding between home and school of what student progress looks like and how learning goals can be enhanced by collaboration.

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

31 October 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