Ongaonga 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 

Ongaonga School, in rural Central Hawkes Bay, provides for learners in Years 1 to 8. A new principal was appointed in 2021. The vision of the school is for learners to be accepted, extended and encouraged to reach their full potential.

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

• Achievement information shows that in relation to curriculum expectations, most students including Māori, achieve well in mathematics and writing and the majority progress and achieve well in reading; outcomes for learners in reading and writing shows inequity for boys.
• Positive teaching and learning relationships promote, for learners, a strong sense of belonging. 
• Students with additional learning needs have an inclusive learning environment and they progress well.
• Attendance is just below the current Ministry of Education targets for regular attendance; absence is closely monitored, areas of concern identified and students and their whānau are supported by staff to engage.

Conditions to support learner success

• Leadership increasingly builds relational trust within the teaching team, resulting in collaborative approaches to in-depth, relevant professional growth, responsive teaching programmes and meeting students’ diverse needs well. 
• Strategic planning and improvement goals are student-outcome focused and with clear measures for success; students at risk of not achieving are clearly identified in a timely way, targets set, monitored and their progress reported.
• Leadership, with staff, are starting to look at the impact that professional learning is having on teaching and what makes the most difference for learners; continuing to strengthen collective inquiry into teaching practice is a next step.

• Students have sufficient opportunity for learning across the curriculum; teachers are taking steps to develop the curriculum and reflect local contexts.
• Teachers are increasingly consistent in focusing on foundational skills in literacy and mathematics and student gains in these skills are evident; strengthening the use of effective literacy teaching strategies to support equitable outcomes for boys is an area for further development.
• Schoolwide assessments, moderation and analysis of this information by teachers, is becoming established practice and used to respond to learner needs; strengthening assessment for learning and monitoring of sustained progress over time, is a next step.

• The school is improving community partnership with increasing opportunities for parents and whānau to be involved in their child’s learning.
• Teachers’ growing capability is supported through ongoing professional development aligned with the school’s goals; continuing to support the integration of te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori in the developing local curriculum is an area for further development.
• Leadership is beginning to use quality evidence to plan and monitor improvement strategies; a planned next step is to further evaluate the impact of these strategies on learner progress and achievement outcomes.
• Leadership is establishing the way they collect, analyse, and interpret data; the use of whānau and iwi perspectives to inform school decision making, is an identified next step and affirmed by ERO’s evaluation. 

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• strengthen teachers’ inquiry into aspects of their practice, to identify and ensure agreed, consistent, effective approaches in literacy, guided by high quality assessments and analysis of data
• evaluate the impact of improvement strategies on learner progress and achievement outcomes; this includes strengthening the use of whānau and iwi perspectives and including learner voice to inform school decision making
• further develop capability and capacity of all staff to integrate te reo Māori, tikanga Māori, and mātauranga Māori in the school’s local curriculum to support learners’ strengths, identity and culture.

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

Within six months:

• ensure that teaching as inquiry, within the professional growth cycle, is aligned to the school’s strategic planning, and prioritises teaching and learning strategies that make a positive difference to all learner outcomes
• undertake school-wide professional development in literacy 
• gather whānau and iwi aspirations and perspectives regarding future school direction
• develop and introduce structured and regular opportunities for learners to provide feedback to school leaders about teaching and learning, curriculum and wellbeing.

Every six months:

• track, monitor, analyse and report attendance, progress and achievement data with a particular focus on reducing the levels of disparity for boys
• professional learning continues to build on teachers’ capacity and capabilities to integrate te reo Māori, tikanga Māori, and mātauranga Māori and identify agreed ways to measure progress
• gather teacher voice about the quality of the professional learning and the impact on teaching, clearly identifying next steps to enhance confidence and practice.

Annually:

• using a range of moderated data, analyse, evaluate and report to the board on learner attendance, progress and achievement; information is gathered over time to indicate progress against school improvement priorities 
• evaluate how effectively teachers respond to the needs of students, particularly those students whose progress needs accelerating; include in the evaluation a range of teacher, student and whānau voice
• measure progress in teacher capacity to integrate te ao Māori, tikanga Māori, and mātauranga Māori within the local curriculum
• collaborate with all stakeholders, students, parents, whānau, iwi, staff and board, to celebrate success and identify strategic goals.

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

• improved attendance for all learners
• consistent and effective teaching practices that result in improved parity of learner outcomes
• integration of te reo Māori, tikanga Māori, and mātauranga Māori through all aspects of the local curriculum to better respond to learners’ strengths, identity and culture
• data and evidence-based evaluation practices inform school and classroom decision making to adapt and respond to all learners’ needs.

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

5 August 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