Postgate 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

Postgate School, located in Porirua, provides education for learners in Years 1 to 8. Postgate ‘PRIDE’ reflects the values held by the students, staff and the school community of participation - whanaungatanga, respect - manaakitanga, integrity - tikanga, determination - rangatiratanga and excellence - māramatanga.

There are three parts to this report.

Part A: A summary of the findings from the most recent Education Review Office (ERO) report and/or subsequent evaluation.

Part B: 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 C: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.

Part A: Previous Improvement Goals

Since the ERO report of October 2022, ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate how effectively systems and processes are developing and supporting new leaders of teaching and learning.

Expected Improvements and Findings

The school expected to see:

The embedding and alignment of schoolwide systems and processes that support new leaders to effectively grow and develop collaborative culturally responsive teaching teams, focused on improving outcomes for all learners.

• A shared vision, a collaborative culture and an unrelenting focus on improving outcomes for learners, encourage teachers to seek leadership opportunities across the school.
• Targeted professional learning and ongoing mentor feedback supports and challenges all leaders to model quality culturally appropriate professional practice that successfully raises student achievement.

Leaders use the school’s embedded inquiry model to systematically evaluate the impact of their leadership practice, mentoring of others and the success of learning initiatives and interventions.

• The systematic inquiry cycle is used by every leader to strategically design change and improvement focused on accelerating learners’ progress. Teachers are well-supported by leaders when they share relevant and accurate information about students’ achievement and wellbeing.

Other Findings

During the course of the evaluation, it was found that as new leaders deepened their understanding of leadership and shared their knowledge of quality teaching, professional teaching practice strengthened schoolwide and focused on improving students’ achievement.

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s action was that leaders and teachers effectively used the school’s inquiry model to review their own professional practice and the systems supporting achievement to further strengthen student outcomes.

Part B: Current State

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.

Learner Success and Wellbeing

Outcomes for learners are becoming increasingly equitable.

• School achievement information shows that the majority of learners achieve at or above curriculum level expectations in reading, writing and mathematics; Māori and Pacific learners are generally achieving as well as their peers.
• Boys are not achieving as well as girls in writing; leaders identified the need for more targeted schoolwide writing programmes to address this.
• The school has made progress towards but is not yet meeting the Ministry of Education’s target for regular attendance; this remains an ongoing focus for the school.

Conditions to support learner success

Leadership fosters a culture committed to quality teaching and high expectations of learners’ progress and achievement.

• A learning culture, based on relational trust, s fostered and modelled by leaders; staff work collaboratively to build quality professional practice focused on continuous improvement.
• Leaders and staff use a range of assessment information to evaluate how well strategic targets have been achieved and plan next steps to further improve learners’ progress, achievement and wellbeing.

Teachers use a range of evidence-based, culturally appropriate teaching practices to provide learners with purposeful learning opportunities.

• Teachers collaboratively reflect, discuss and evaluate how effectively their professional teaching practice improves learners’ achievement.
• Assessment information is used well by teachers to identify teaching and learning goals, and to provide students with constructive feedback.
• Teachers are increasingly integrating te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori throughout the curriculum to extend students’ knowledge and understanding.

Planning for improvement is developed in partnership with the school’s community and well informed by evaluation evidence.

• Learners needing additional support are promptly identified and are provided with relevant, individualised and effective support to learn and make progress.
• The board represents and strategically works with the school’s Māori whānau group, Te Whānau Kaitiaki, and the Pacific parents’ group, to guide the school’s direction and improvement priorities for students.
• Parents and whānau are valued and respected partners in learning; they are well informed, and are offered many opportunities to support, and actively participate in their child’s learning.

Part C: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

• plan and implement a schoolwide professional learning focus that promotes boys’ engagement and improves achievement, particularly in writing
• align the school’s current approach to structured literacy and mathematics to continue to promote student engagement and achievement, and high-quality teacher practice
• continue to strengthen culturally appropriate practices, including regular use of te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori to promote active student engagement and accelerate the achievement of all learners
• continue to monitor and focus on improving levels of attendance.

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

Every six months:

• continue to review the effectiveness of teachers’ professional practice through classroom observations and learners’ achievement in structured literacy and mathematics; report progress of identified learners and planned next steps to the board
• continue to review the impact of culturally appropriate practices and the improved use and capability of staff and learners in te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori through observations and teacher and student reflections
• track and monitor levels of attendance and report to the board.

Annually:

• analyse and report to the board on the schoolwide achievement of boys in writing; strategically plan actions that will continue to improve their achievement and learning outcomes
• analyse schoolwide achievement in structured literacy and mathematics, including learners involved in support programmes; use this data to report to the board, and to strategically plan actions that will improve the achievement and learning outcomes of all
• evaluate the impact and outcomes of the growth of teachers’ and learners’ use of te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori across the school; strategically plan next steps to further strengthen student engagement and accelerate achievement
• review and report on schoolwide attendance to the board; identify successful initiatives and plan next steps.

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

• improved student achievement outcomes and accelerated progress, including boys in writing
• students who effectively apply structured strategies that accelerate progress in literacy and mathematics
• strengthen staff capability and learners in te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori.

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

Sharon Kelly
Director of Schools (Acting)

3 April 2025

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