Cotswold Matahae 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 

Cotswold Mātāhae School is located in Christchurch and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 6. The school vision to Build Brighter Futures is underpinned by the values of ‘Manaaki – Caring; Whakawhiti Kōrero -Communicate and Contribute; Nau mai ngā wero – Challenge and Create’. Since the previous ERO report in 2022, a new principal has been appointed.  

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 previous ERO report of June 2022, ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate the extent to which Māori and Pacific learners had opportunities to learn in culturally responsive ways.

Expected Improvements and Findings 

The school expected to see:

An increased sense of belonging and cultural identity for learners.

• Māori and Pacific learners have increased opportunities to experience their cultures that supports their sense of belonging within learning and the school environment. 
• Community feedback has strengthened culturally appropriate practices across the school.

Ongoing development of teaching strategies and understandings of ways to support many different learning needs in culturally responsive ways.

• Staff are well supported to build their knowledge and understanding through ongoing professional learning.
• Learners and teachers benefit from the development of high quality, practical resources to support schoolwide consistency in culturally appropriate teaching programmes. 

Part B: Current State 

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

• Achievement for Māori and Pacific learners is improving, but not yet equitable; the school has a range of active initiatives to lift the achievement for these targeted learners. 
• Most learners attend regularly; the school is meeting the Ministry of Education’s target for regular attendance, initiatives to support engagement are showing improving attendance levels across the school. 
• Learners needing additional support benefit from effective systems that ensure their learning needs are identified, closely monitored and specifically addressed, contributing to improved engagement and learning outcomes. 

Conditions to support learner success

• Leadership opportunities for all staff results in a shared direction for school improvement that promotes positive outcomes for learners. 
• Collaborative leadership approaches contribute positively to the wellbeing of learners and staff, supporting engagement in learning. 
• An experienced and effective leadership team share high expectations for quality teaching and learning and promote effective practices that enable learner success. 

• Learners have many opportunities to experience success across the breadth of the curriculum.
• Teachers provide well-considered and targeted strategies to ensure that all learners, particularly Māori and Pacific achieve personal success. 
• Learners experience well-managed classroom environments that support their engagement and progress with learning. 

• The board has robust systems for effective school operation; regular consultation with the local community informs decision making based on feedback and evidence.
• School leaders and staff are highly reflective and make good use of wellbeing and learning information to improve school systems and practices.
• The school has a clear commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, by continuing to strengthen staff knowledge and capacity of tikanga Māori and te reo Māori, this supports learners’ sense of belonging and inclusion.

Part C: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• evaluate the new mathematics programme to determine how effectively it supports learner progress and achievement, particularly for Māori learners
• implement specific literacy practices to improve writing outcomes across the school for all learners
• create and implement a graduate profile that supports learners’ understanding and ownership of their own learning 
• continue to embed wellbeing initiatives to foster learners’ sense of belonging and engagement and increase attendance.

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

Within six months:

• review the effectiveness of the mathematics programme for improving learner engagement, progress and achievement
• implement and review the variety of chosen initiatives to increase teacher capacity to deliver wellbeing programmes
• develop a graduate profile that promotes learners’ ownership of their learning.

Annually: 

• continue reporting to the board progress towards meeting the school’s strategic goals for improving achievement, particularly in mathematics, and for those learners at risk of not meeting expected curriculum levels and regular attendance targets
• review the effectiveness of the literacy programme for increasing teacher capacity and learner outcomes, particularly in writing 
• report to the board how well learners’ sense of wellbeing is increasing through the variety of initiatives in place.

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

• improved progress and achievement for all learners in writing and mathematics, particularly for Māori
• increased teachers’ knowledge and skills in the teaching of literacy 
• further improved levels of learner wellbeing, engagement and attendance
• the refining of the school’s values and the development and implementation of a graduate profile to support learners’ understanding and ownership of their own learning.

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

16 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