Potaka 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  

Potaka School is located north of Hicks Bay, East Cape and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 8. The school’s vision is that learners will grow in confidence knowing who they are and where they come from. 

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

• A small majority of learners achieve at expected curriculum levels for reading and mathematics and all learners are engaged; writing data is yet to be consistently collected, analysed and reported. 
• Most learners at the school are Māori and whakapapa Ngāti Porou and Te Whānau Āpanui iwi; it is evident that learners have a strong sense of belonging and are confident in their language, culture and identity. 
• A majority of learners attend school regularly in line with Ministry of Education attendance targets. 

Conditions to support learner success

• Leadership sets and intentionally pursues a small number of highly relevant improvement goals with a particular focus on the accelerated progress of those learners most at risk of underachieving. 
• School leaders are taking steps to strengthen teaching practices through targeted professional learning to improve outcomes for all learners, particularly in literacy. 
• Leaders actively promote successful whānau engagement in schoolwide activities.

• To better understand and meet the needs of each learner, teachers are establishing a shared understanding of consistent and robust assessment practices 
• Staff are increasingly using a range of learning strategies that support learners to grow their ability to identify, determine and speak about their next steps in learning. 
• Learners have te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori learning opportunities throughout the curriculum, fostering a strong sense of identity. 

• With the support of professional learning and development providers, the school has in place collaborative cycles of inquiry aligned to strategic goals and focused on staff understanding the impact of their practice on learner outcomes. 
• Leaders and teachers are establishing the ways in which they collect, analyse, and respond to a range of data to inform classroom and schoolwide decision making. 
• School leaders and staff are building educationally-focused relationships with wider community members, to support developing a localised curriculum informed by the mātauranga of local hapū and iwi. 
• The board understands its statutory obligations and is taking steps to have systems and processes in place to ensure robust review of relevant policies and procedures. 

Part B: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to:  

• embed assessment for learning practices across the school, so that staff are increasingly responsive to the needs of all learners and those most at risk of underachievement 
• grow staff capability in data analysis and evidence-informed practices, so teachers are better able to plan and target teaching and learning, for improved learner outcomes 
• increase the number of learners achieving at expected curriculum levels for reading, writing and mathematics 
• complete development and use of a coherent, localised curriculum.

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

Within three months: 

• regularly gather assessment information across the school in reading, writing and mathematics to track and monitor the progress of all learners, and particularly those learners most at risk of underachievement 
• embed targeted structured literacy programmes across the school to accelerate the learning of those most at risk of underachieving in literacy 
• align formative feedback to learners to a schoolwide progression framework so they can identify and speak about their next steps in learning 

Every six months: 

• staff collectively analyse schoolwide data and evaluate the impact of teaching and schoolwide practices on outcomes for all learners, and for those most at risk of underachievement 
• analysed learner attendance and achievement data is reported to the board and scrutinised to inform decisions and take actions to improve teaching and learning 
• whānau and learner voice is collected as part of schoolwide evaluation to inform improvement actions 

Annually: 

• all staff reporting on outcomes of teacher inquiry; identifying impact for learners, improvements in teacher practice and further improvement goals 
• staff collectively analyse schoolwide data to evaluate impact of classroom and schoolwide practices on learner outcomes, and for those most at risk of underachievement 
• analysed learner attendance and achievement data is reported to the board and scrutinised to inform decisions about teaching and learning. 

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

• teachers consistently planning and teaching to meet individual needs particularly for those most at risk of underachievement, based on regular assessment and evaluation cycles 
• students independently setting goals from the school learning progressions and clearly articulating their achievement, learning and progress 
• sustained high levels of attendance and improved learner outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics, with greater numbers of learners achieving at expected curriculum 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 

Shelley Booysen 
Director of Schools 

22 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