Stoke 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 

Stoke School is in Stoke, Nelson and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 6. The school promotes an inclusive culture through its STOKED values – ‘Supportive, Tūturu, One Whānau, Kaitiakitanga, Enthusiastic and Diverse’.  The school is a member of Te Kāhui Ako o Omaio ki Tahunanui.

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 

Leaders and teachers are working towards learner outcomes becoming more equitable and excellent.

• A large majority of learners achieve at or above expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Significant disparity for Māori and Pacific learners in literacy and mathematics is evident; girls achieve better than boys in literacy.
• The school is not yet meeting the Ministry of Education’s national target for regular attendance; the majority of learners attend school regularly.

Conditions to support learner success

Leaders are effectively embedding a culture that focuses on relationships, quality teaching and equity to improve learner outcomes.

• Leaders and teachers are embedding the use evidence to plan, monitor and address learners’ learning and wellbeing needs to improve disparity and learner outcomes.
• Leaders and teachers carefully consider learners’ languages, cultures and identities to improve engagement, equity and excellence for learners. 
• Leaders increasingly reflect whānau and iwi aspirations in the strategic goals and targets to meet the needs of their children and mokopuna. 

Leaders and teachers provide a school curriculum that is responsive to learners’ needs and reflects local contexts and culture.

• Teaching is relationship-based; teachers and leaders know their learners well and use this knowledge to plan and to engage learners in learning.
• Teachers and leaders effectively reflect on and participate in coaching to enhance teaching and learning practice.
• Teachers and leaders regularly use analysed learner achievement, wellbeing and attendance data to improve their practice and learner outcomes.

School practices and supportive partnerships with the local community enhance learner inclusion and wellbeing.  

• Leaders and teachers prioritise relationships, increasingly supporting learners and their families as they work towards improved learner outcomes. 
• Teachers and leaders use practices that support improving individual learners’ wellbeing and behaviour outcomes.
• Partnerships with external agencies are well-established; the school works proactively with agencies to support learners and whānau wellbeing to reduce barriers to learning.
• The board and school leadership work together constructively keeping learners’ needs at the centre of their planning and budgeting decisions.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• extend literacy professional learning and implementation of structured literacy practices to support literacy teaching and learning in the senior school 
• continue to work with whānau to improve attendance, progress and achievement
• embed the new wellbeing approach that focuses on the mana and wellbeing of learners to help address disparity in learner outcomes. 

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

Within six months:

• provide professional learning on teaching and assessment in literacy and mathematics, aligned with national curriculum changes, to ensure consistency of practices school wide
• plan for embedding current professional learning in wellbeing, behaviour and literacy in teaching and learning to improve learner outcomes

Every six months:

• evaluate the impact of structured literacy practices for target learners to know what is working for who
• continue to report progress and achievement in literacy and mathematics to the board and respond to any emerging findings
• monitor and evaluate the impact of the strategies used to improve attendance 

Annually:

• monitor and evaluate the impact of professional learning and teaching practice on target learner outcomes
• continue to analyse and report to the board and community on attendance, progress and achievement for all learners.

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

• increased equity for Māori and Pacific students in engagement, progress, wellbeing and achievement outcomes
• improved achievement in literacy and mathematics for all learners 
• increased regular attendance
• whānau, staff and students working together to support learning and wellbeing.

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

13 September 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