Makauri 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 

Makauri School, a rural school on the outskirts of Gisborne, provides education for Years 1 to 6. A new principal was appointed at the start of the school year, 2024. The school’s vision is ‘Building Learning Pathways for Success’.

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 

Outcomes for learners are increasingly equitable and excellent.

• Most learners progress and achieve at the appropriate curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics, with many above. 
• Learners with additional learning needs are well supported and good progress is evident.
• The school is yet to meet the Ministry of Education target as student attendance overall is slightly below; Years 1 and 2 attendance requires improvement.

Conditions to support learner success

Leadership actively fosters a culture for high quality teaching. 

• Leaders and staff collaboratively set strategic planning and improvement goals that are 
  learner-centred; including the community in decision making to set school direction is a next step. 
• Professional learning and development for the principal and the staff aligns well with the school’s learner-improvement focus, is making a difference to practice, and the impact on learning is regularly noted in the teachers’ growth cycle discussions.
• Leadership provides staff with clear expectations for teaching and learning; these expectations are regularly monitored for schoolwide consistency.

Learners have sufficient opportunities to learn across The New Zealand Curriculum, with consistent focus on gaining foundational skills including literacy and numeracy.

• Teachers use assessment information well to meet individual learner needs; a next step is more 
  in-depth analysis of the data, to look at trends and patterns for groups of students and report to the board. 
• Teachers’ capacity in using structured literacy approaches is growing and supporting learners’ academic achievement.
• Staff, principal and whānau are developing the local curriculum that increasingly incorporates te āo Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori. 

Leaders and staff are refining and aligning key school conditions to focus on learner outcomes, community input and student achievement.

• Community consultation to set school priorities, including with mana whenua, is at a beginning stage.
• Partnerships for learning are well-developed and parent input into their children’s education is valued.
• The board is learner-focused, actively engaged and make evidenced-based resourcing for learning. 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• monitor and analyse patterns of attendance and work with the community to understand the impact of absences on progress and achievement
• enhance and build on community partnerships to set priorities for their children and include mana whenua in curriculum development
• the principal and staff enhance their data analysis for more in-depth understanding of the needs of groups of students
• collect and use student wellbeing data to strengthen responsive classroom practices.

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

Every three months:

• analyse attendance data and measure progress towards improving regular attendance for all groups of learners

Within six months:

• strengthen strategies and approaches that support attendance and assist the school community to understand the correlation between regular attendance and academic progress and achievement
• continue to encourage the involvement of the community about school direction and include mana whenua in local curriculum development 

Every six months:

• the board, leaders and staff continue to build partnerships with parents to ensure their views are actively sought to guide ongoing development and strategic improvement
• analyse student progress data and use this information to inform next steps in teaching and decision making

Annually:

• conduct a wellbeing survey with staff, learners and families, that includes aspects of responsive practices, to assist with strengthening classroom practices and further engage learners
• work with parents about how they would like to be involved in their child’s learning and assist understanding about the importance of regular attendance
• evaluate the progress in implementing its local curriculum and the extent to which mana whenua have been involved
• analyse and report schoolwide achievement data for all groups of learners to the board, to strategically plan actions with the community, that will improve attendance, achievement and learner outcomes.

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

• improved and sustained high levels of achievement for all learners
• improved levels of learner attendance 
• increased community input about school direction and its curriculum.

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

6 November 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