Te Parito Kowhai Russley 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 Parito Kōwhai Russley School is in northwest Christchurch and provides education for learners from Years 1 to 8. The school’s name is gifted by mana whenua and represents the potential of the new growth at the centre of a kōwhai tree. A new assistant principal has been appointed since the previous ERO report.

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. 

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, the school has been evaluating how well staff build educationally powerful connections and relationships with learners and with whānau/families, for equity and excellence in learning. This focus was evaluated through the introduction of a structured literacy approach with a particular emphasis across Years 1 to 4. 

Expected Improvements and Findings

The school expected to see:

More systematic, explicit, data-driven, and engaging teaching practices resulting in higher achievement for learners.

• Leaders strengthened the embedding of structured teaching approaches in reading, guided by purposeful professional development.
• Key elements of effective literacy practice have been reviewed and refined to provide clearer guidance for staff and a more cohesive pathway of learning from Years 1 to 8.
• Leaders and teachers have prioritised the use of standardised and school-based assessment tools; this has led to greater understanding and consistency schoolwide.
• Leaders and teachers enhanced discussions of shifts in practice has resulted in improved outcomes for learners.

Purposeful engagement with whānau/families by discussing and implementing changes to literacy teaching, that further enhance relationships for learner success and wellbeing. 

• Reporting now provides ongoing good quality progress, engagement and achievement information to parents for reading, as well as in writing, mathematics and the wider curriculum.
• Whānau hui supports and informs further curriculum development, strengthening partnerships for learning. 
• Education evenings and curriculum updates promote parents’ partnership with the school in improving literacy outcomes.

Other Findings

During the course of the evaluation, it was found that most learners who enrolled in Year 1 in 2022 made good progress to achieve at or above expectations in reading by Year 3. Students joining the school after Year 1 are well supported through additional targeted interventions, if required to progress and achieve. 

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s evaluation focus is a strengthened leadership structure and approach that builds greater consistency in teaching and learning practices.

Part B: Current State

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

• By the end of Year 8, most learners achieve at expected curriculum levels in reading and the majority achieve at expected levels for writing and mathematics.
• The majority of students attend school regularly; leaders purposefully engage with families to reduce absence rates, they are not yet meeting the Ministry of Education target for regular attendance.
• Wellbeing surveys show that most students have a strong sense of belonging, feel supported in their learning and enjoy the broad opportunities that the school provides. 
• Learners benefit from an established buddy system that builds supportive relationships and promotes their ideas and strengths; this is underpinned by the school’s embedded values. 

Conditions to support learner success

• Senior and team leaders regularly meet to monitor, plan and implement supports for greater learner success.
• Leaders have implemented purposeful professional development that builds effective collaborative practices schoolwide; this is an ongoing priority.
• Senior and team leaders benefit from an external mentor; deliberate growth of coaching skills and support for growing teacher inquiry enhances the effectiveness of teaching and learning.

• Teachers increasingly personalise planning and teaching to meet learner strengths and needs, based on improved assessment practices and feedback from students, whānau and families. 
• Clear guidelines have been developed that promote common understanding of high quality teaching and learning approaches, and consistency of practice.
• Teachers collaborate in teams to align their goals and targets to strategic planning priorities; a formalised process of monitoring, reviewing, and adapting practice promotes learner success. 

• Staff value and represent the school’s diverse communities in teaching and learning experiences, and families’ perspectives are sought via survey and annual whānau hui. 
• A digital platform for sharing real-time learning, progress and achievement with whānau and families promotes partnership in learning between home and school. 
• Deliberate strengthening of assessment practices and tools provides more reliable data for decision making at all levels of the school; well-considered internal evaluation practices are data driven.
• The board receives regular information about teaching and learning, and health and safety matters, appropriately guiding resourcing and governance decisions.

Part C: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• implement planned adaptations to reading, writing and mathematics programmes, incorporating collaborative teaching approaches
• continue the current review and refinement of strategic planning and aligned values in consultation with iwi, whānau and families, keeping learner outcomes to the fore 
• further refine the inquiry model for growing staff capability and consistency, with greater opportunities for observations and feedback that promotes learner attendance, engagement and academic progress
• explore opportunities for greater relationship-building with the school’s diverse communities, building partnership in regular attendance, improved learner outcomes and involvement in the life of the school.

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

Every six months:

• monitor the influence of professional development and changes in teaching practices on improved learner outcomes, including attendance so that teaching practices continue to be adapted responsively
• gather student voice in relation to adaptations in collaborative teaching and learning practices, to inform additional improvements

Annually:

• continue to analyse progress against strategic goals and targets to determine the effectiveness of interventions and programmes for students who are not yet achieving at expected curriculum levels
• explore additional opportunities to build learning partnerships with whānau and families that promote improved learner achievement, including further targeting to improve attendance figures.

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

• consistently high quality, collaborative and responsive teaching and learning practices
• sustained levels of regular attendance and learners achieving at and above curriculum level expectations
• coherent school values and strategic goals and actions informed by collective perspectives and evidence of what works best for learners.

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

11 December 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