Te Ara Maurea Roydvale 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 

Te Ara Maurea Roydvale School, located in west Christchurch, provides education for learners in Years 1 to 6. The school’s vision to foster a future generation, Ko ngā ranagtahi o anamata, is supported by the values of whakaute (respect), takohanga (responsibility), manawanui (perseverance) and ako (learning). 

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 August 2022, ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate how well school conditions are improving learner agency and engagement, particularly for Year 6 students. 

Expected Improvements and Findings

The school expected to see:

Planned changes in its approach to improving learner outcomes in writing by implementing targeted teaching practices. 

• School achievement information in writing shows a steady increase in learner achievement since 2021.
• Leaders demonstrate sound practices to gather and analyse achievement information which informs next steps for teaching and learning, particularly in writing. 
• A highly collaborative approach by staff has strengthened assessment practices, ensuring consistency of teacher judgements across the school. 

Learners contribute effectively to their learning, showing increased levels of engagement through meaningful student participation, developing co-constructed learning programmes. 

• Learners are actively supported to engage in aspects of schoolwide planning. 
• Comprehensive evaluation of learner progress and achievement includes meaningful student voice and forms of quantitative data. 
• High levels of student agency are supported by co-construction with teachers for authentic learning.
• Student agency is promoted through teacher professional development that builds and sustains shared understanding of best practice in this area.

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s action is the improved achievement in writing and high levels of authentic learner agency. Targeted, quality professional development has continued to build expertise and capability for improvement and innovation. 

Part B: Current State

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing

• Teachers’ and leaders’ growing understanding and use of culturally responsive practices are reflected in the improved achievement levels for Māori and Pacific learners, who achieve and progress at similar rates to their peers. 
• Target groups of learners, through explicit teaching, make significant progress in writing.
• Learners know and make decisions about their own learning through the rich and meaningful learning opportunities provided. 

Conditions to support learner success

• Leaders effectively consider multiple sources of evidence to coherently plan, implement and review strategic and annual plans.  
• Improvement goals are well defined, targeted and closely monitored to meet the specific needs of learners.
• Strong leadership provides clear guidance and expectations for improved outcomes for all learners. 

• Teachers create collaborative and orderly learning environments that effectively promote positive learner engagement.
• The use of current, evidence-based best practice ensures students have effective individualised learning opportunities and high levels of engagement.
• Learners are very well supported to develop the foundational skills required for independent self-led learning.

• Staff and trustees show a strong commitment to growing their capability and understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
• Leaders use a wide range of strategies and networks to ensure the use of inclusive practices that promote learner wellbeing.
• Targeted professional growth and development, including connections beyond the school, supports high quality practices and outcomes for learners.
• The school effectively collaborates with its community. It includes the ideas and perspectives of students, whānau and teachers in its thinking about improvements needed and in the decisions it makes. 

Part C: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• further grow and embed te ao Māori learning opportunities across the school
• continue to actively participate in new and emerging curriculum practices 
• ensure consistently high-quality assessment practices are implemented; these include students understanding how well they achieve and how to improve their own progress, particularly in literacy. 

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

Every six months:

engage in professional development, continuing to grow teacher capacity and understanding of best practice in literacy and mathematics

• monitor teachers’ knowledge and implementation of assessment practices to ensure consistency across the school.

Annually:

• use learner progress, achievement, and engagement data along with the perspective of whānau and learners to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching practice to inform further improvement steps
• expand data analysis to provide greater comparisons across groups of learners. 

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

• high quality, consistent use of assessment information to meet the needs of the learners
• ongoing development of teachers’ content knowledge, ensuring consistency across the school 
• extending levels of whānau engagement and understanding of how to support their child’s 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

15 May 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