Nelson Central 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 

Nelson Central School is located in Nelson and is a large contributing school, offering English and Māori medium streams of learning in Year 1 to 6. The school vision is empowering each other to flourish in their learning and in their world through the lenses of equity, excellence and belonging. The school motto, ‘Aim High – Ki Runga Rawa’, encapsulates this.

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 students achieve at or above curriculum expectations in reading, writing and mathematics; outcomes continue to improve in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Improving equity for groups of students’ achievement remains a priority, including Māori students in mathematics and boys in writing. 
• Outcomes for Māori and Pacific students demonstrate significant improvements over time.
• The school has yet to reach the Ministry of Education target for regular attendance with a small majority attending regularly. 

Conditions to support learner success

Collaborative leadership sets and actively pursues evidence-based improvement goals.

• Teachers and leaders regularly analyse student progress and achievement data and use it to identify areas of need and plan interventions.
• Leaders carefully track and monitor the achievement of students at risk, to ensure sufficient rates of progress for their success.
• Leaders ensure effective professional development is aligned to improvement priorities and strengthens teaching practices.

Teaching and the curriculum increasingly reflect local contexts and students' identity and culture.

• Leaders and teachers have a strong focus on improving culturally responsive practice through implementing evidence-based staff professional learning and development.
• Teachers have high expectations and differentiate learning to meet the needs of learners.
• Student achievement and engagement is enhanced through meaningful teaching and learning that increasingly includes te ao Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori.

Organisational conditions are consistent and coherent and drive continuous improvement.

• Leaders and teachers establish positive partnerships with whānau and iwi with the purpose of responding to the educational outcomes whānau Māori want for their children.
• The board, leaders and teachers undertake well considered review and reflection to identify areas of strength and to target areas for ongoing improvement.
• Active consultation with the community identifies what is working well and gathers further aspirations for learner outcomes; leaders have identified a need to ensure the increasing immigrant community knows and meaningfully contributes to improvements. 

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• raise student achievement in literacy for identified cohorts of students including boys in writing
• continue to strengthen whānau partnerships in particular for Māori whānau and recent immigrants
• strengthen attendance practices to improve students’ regular attendance.

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

Every six months:

• identify effective practice in literacy teaching and use this to inform enhanced strategies for responding to learner need
• investigate strategies and initiatives to support and strengthen relationships with immigrant whānau
• review the impact of targeted approaches to further improve rates of regular attendance
• staff take deliberate action in response to emerging trends, with particular attention to those learners at risk of not achieving and those with lower rates of regular attendance.

Annually:

• evaluate the impact of the literacy teaching practice on learning and use this to enhance teaching practices across the school
• leaders and teachers, analyse student progress and achievement information in reading, writing and mathematics and report to the board
• staff take planned action in response to emerging trends, with particular attention to those learners at risk of not achieving
• evaluate the engagement of targeted whānau groups to strengthen collaborative decision making.

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

• ongoing improvement in literacy outcomes schoolwide, including improved parity across groups of learners
• meaningful whānau engagement ensures aspirations are reflected in curriculum and improvement priorities 
• increased student engagement in learning and rates of regular school attendance.

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 Bootsen
Director of Schools

30 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