Waiau 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

Waiau School is located in North Canterbury and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 6. The school has a strategic focus of being inclusive, progressive, connected and the school values are respect, responsibility and resilience. The school is a member of the Tipu Maia Community of Learning.

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 are improving for most learners.

• A large majority of learners are achieving at expected curriculum levels in literacy; boys are not yet achieving as well as girls in literacy.
• Most learners are achieving at expected curriculum levels in mathematics.
• Most learners report they are happy and feel safe at school.
• The school is meeting the Ministry of Education’s national target for regular attendance.

Conditions to support learner success

Leaders are developing a culture committed to quality teaching and improved learner outcomes.

• Leaders have established useful systems to support teaching staff to reflect on their practice, effectively monitor priority learners and improve outcomes for all learners.
• Leaders increasingly use evidence to plan and monitor aspects of the school’s improvement cycle and the effectiveness of strategies to improve learner outcomes.
• Leaders build educationally focused relationships with other education providers and community groups to support learner transitions and increase opportunities for learner success.

Leaders and teachers are taking steps to provide a responsive curriculum and consistently high-quality teaching practice.

• Teachers participate in purposeful professional learning aligned with the schools’ improvement goals to continue to develop their teaching practices and to improve learner progress and achievement.
• The curriculum design increasingly reflects local contexts, builds on learners’ experiences, knowledge and understanding and is beginning to offer more meaningful learning opportunities for learners.
• Teachers increasingly use appropriate assessment information to align planning and reporting the progress and achievement of each learner; teachers are establishing ways to adapt their practice to respond to learners’ strengths and needs.

Conditions to support learner success are being established.

• Partnerships with the local and wider community are valued and these support meaningful learning opportunities for engaging learners.
• The board represents, supports and partners effectively with the community, to develop the school’s strategic direction and is strengthening its practice through professional learning and evaluating its own performance.
• Teachers and leaders are beginning to meaningfully recognise te ao Māori through their teaching practice to engage all learners.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

• continue professional learning in structured literacy to build teacher capability and improve progress and achievement for all learners in reading and writing
• review teaching expectations, practices and assessment in mathematics and literacy in response to professional learning and the changes to The New Zealand Curriculum to ensure coherence and consistency for learners across the school
• strengthen the capacity of teachers and leaders in evaluation to inform decision making and ensure equitable outcomes for all learners
• review and refine strategies to sustain high levels of regular attendance.

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

Within six months:

• teachers participate in professional development in structured literacy and implement teaching practices to improve reading and writing progress and achievement for all learners
• share information and promote attendance with whānau to sustain high regular attendance.

Every six months:

• leaders and teachers report to the board on reading, writing and mathematics progress and achievement of all learners and respond to the findings
• leaders and teachers evaluate the effectiveness of teaching strategies to accelerate priority learners’ progress and achievement to know what is working well and for who
• use the information above to inform decision making and improve outcomes for all learners.

Annually:

• review and refine strategies for maintaining high levels of regular attendance
• leaders to evaluate the impact of professional learning on teaching practices and learner outcomes and use this to inform decision making
• leaders report to the board on the progress and achievement information of all learners and on the effectiveness of strategies to accelerate target learners to inform strategic decision making.

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

• strengthened consistent teaching and assessment practices in reading, writing and mathematics that support learner progress and achievement
• improved and equitable outcomes for all learners in reading, writing and mathematics
• sustained high levels of regular attendance
• strengthened evaluation capacity for teachers and leaders and informed decision making.

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

6 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