West Park 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

West Park School located in Johnsonville, Wellington, provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. The school’s vision ‘Every Student Matters, Every Moment Counts’ is underpinned by the values of ‘excellence, respect, diversity, honesty, collaboration, kindness, laughter, and initiative’.

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

• Most learners, including Māori, achieve at or above the expected curriculum level in reading.
• Most learners achieve at or above the curriculum level in mathematics, the majority of learners achieve at this level in writing; the school has yet to address disparity for Māori learners in both these areas.
• Targeted teaching of an early literacy skills programme in the junior school has resulted in accelerated and sustained achievement results for all learners.
• Most students attend school regularly; attendance exceeds the 2024 Ministry of Education target.

Conditions to support learner success

• Leadership provides comprehensive documentation to make known the school’s priorities and expectations for teaching and learning.
• Leaders are strengthening systems and processes to ensure that legislative requirements regarding children’s health and safety are known by all staff and implemented consistently across the school.

• A suitable range of assessment tools support the gathering of reliable data to track and monitor student progress and achievement.
• Students in the junior school have benefited from a focused programme to accelerate student progress and achievement in foundational skills; positive results are maintained over time.
• Learners requiring additional support are identified through early intervention and comprehensive individual plans are put in place to support their learning; external agencies are appropriately involved to strengthen the response to specific needs.

• The board scrutinises student data and evaluative information to identify strategic improvement priorities, they plan and make appropriate resourcing decisions.
• Learner wellbeing is promoted through a focused positive behaviour programme.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

• give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi through developing partnerships with Māori
• focus on integrating quality te reo Māori and tikanga Māori learning opportunities through implementation of the curriculum to improve the outcomes for Māori learners
• continue to grow teaching teams, with an ongoing focus on staff support and professional development to promote consistency of teaching and learning across the school.

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

Within three months:

• consult with whānau Māori to inform ongoing development of the local curriculum.

Every six months:

• analyse the completed New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) staff wellbeing survey to inform appropriate actions for improvement
• continue to analyse achievement information to know the impact of initiatives and professional development, and to inform next steps for learners and groups of learners, and to respond to any disparity identified.

Annually:

• review and report the impact of teaching and learning programmes on achievement outcomes to know what has been successful and what needs further improvement to inform ongoing strategic direction.

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

• stronger partnerships with whānau Māori that strengthens the school’s response to Māori learners
• consistent teaching and learning practices that promote high levels of engagement, attendance, wellbeing and equity in achievement outcomes for all learners, especially Māori students.

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

23 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