Cobham School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Cobham School working in Te Ara Huarau, an improvement evaluation approach used in most English Medium State and State Integrated Schools. For more information about Te Ara Huarau see ERO’s website. www.ero.govt.nz

Context 

Cobham School is a small primary school located in Gisborne and provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. Whānau is prioritised in the school, and this is reflected in the school motto: "...he iti pounamu, he whānau kotahi...""...small but precious, whānau first..."

Cobham School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• ensure learners will have the skills and opportunities to successfully access the national and local curricula

• ensure learners and staff are happy, healthy and able to engage positively and productively with learning

• provide a localised curriculum that focuses on culture, environment, and the arts.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Cobham School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well schoolwide conditions, including teaching, learning and assessment practices, are impacting learner wellbeing, engagement and achievement.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is the identified need to:

• improve attendance, engagement, progress and achievement for all learners

• develop and maintain high expectations for positive behaviour and wellbeing

• strengthen leadership and stewardship to improve the school’s performance.

The school expects to see:

• consistent and sustained progress towards equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners

• regular attendance rates for all learners

• schoolwide consistency in effective teaching, learning and assessment practices, that result in improved outcomes for all learners

• shared and enacted expectations for positive wellbeing for learners and staff

• leadership for learning, resulting in effective decision-making and resourcing that significantly improves the school’s performance and learner outcomes.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal:

• Staff who are committed to improving outcomes for all learners.

• Engagement with external support in order to facilitate improvement in assessment practices, leadership and decision-making.

• A clearly structured plan for improvement that clarifies and supports actions for success.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise achieving outcomes of equity and excellence for all learners through:

• Developing a leadership of learning framework to guide and confirm implementation of:

  • priority actions to achieve outcomes of equity and excellence for all learners

  • robust systems and processes for monitoring, evaluating and responding to, the impact of actions on learner outcomes

  • systems and processes to ensure actions of ongoing improvement in response to internal evaluation.

• Strengthened and consistent expectations and systems for positive behaviour and wellbeing for all.

• Staff professional learning focused on strengthening consistent teaching, learning and assessment practises across the school in reading, writing and mathematics.

• The Board of Trustees engaging in professional learning to support further understanding and implementation of effective governance roles and responsibilities.

ERO has concerns about:

• The leadership of learning and stewardship to bring about the required improvements for equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners.

Recommendation:

The school continues to focus on valued outcomes for learners in a positive environment for teaching and learning while embedding effective leadership and stewardship.

The Ministry of Education is working alongside the school.

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. ERO will support the school in reporting their progress to the community. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

25 September 2023

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