Clutha Valley 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

Clutha Valley School is a small rural school in the Greenfield area of South Otago. It provides education for students from Years 1 to 8. The school’s vision is for the school community and its children to regard learning as a journey of growth and to be the best they can be.

There are three parts to this report. 

Part A: A summary of the findings from the most recent Education Review Office (ERO) published report and subsequent evaluation.

Part B: An evaluative summary of learner outcomes and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including 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 2023, ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate the impact of schoolwide initiatives to improve student agency (choice and self-management) in their learning.

Expected Improvements and Findings

The school expected to see:

The continuing development of assessment for learning strategies to involve students actively in their literacy and mathematics learning.

• Engagement in learning has improved for the majority of students.
• New entrants’ oral language skills are improving, giving students increased confidence in their learning across the curriculum.
• Students and teachers have gained greater clarity about what is to be learned and the next steps for learning.
• Leaders and teachers have implemented strategies that have built students’ positive attitudes towards mathematics and are monitoring progress.

A strengthening of strategies students use to learn from one another, to collaborate and to self-regulate their learning.

• Development of shared success criteria and progress steps, and a greater use of peer and self-assessment, have increased students’ self-management of their learning.
• Improved understandings of what is to be learned have assisted students to achieve intended learning outcomes.

Increasing home and school partnerships that contribute to student learning and the growth of student agency.

• Teachers, parents and whānau are working positively together to strengthen student learning outcomes in literacy and mathematics.

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s actions is an increase in students’ motivation to learn and their positive engagement in learning.        

Part B: Current state

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing

Outcomes for students show increasing equity in learner success and engagement.

• The majority of students achieve at or above expected curriculum levels in literacy and mathematics, with equitable levels of achievement for Māori students. 
• Disparities in Pacific students’ achievement and boys’ and girls’ achievement in literacy have been identified; the school is beginning to respond to these trends. 
• Junior school students’ achievement in literacy is improving due to the impact of structured literacy approaches; these are aligned with improvement targets identified in the school’s annual plan. 
• A majority of students attend regularly; while regular attendance is improving, the school is not yet meeting the Ministry of Education’s attendance target.

Conditions to support learner success

Leadership continues to strengthen community collaboration and evaluative practices to improve teaching, learning and student engagement.

• Leaders increasingly expand educationally focused relationships with the school community and take steps to regularly involve parents and whānau in their children’s learning, engagement and progress.
• Leaders evaluate the impact of teaching and learning strategies to support clear expectations about learning progress; appropriate staff professional learning is in place to underpin these developments. 

The curriculum reflects local contexts and teachers increasingly structure learning to develop students’ strengths and address learning needs.

• Students increasingly understand and independently action next steps in their learning, growing their learning competencies aligned with the school’s graduate profile.
• The localised curriculum, centred on the rural location, engages students in purposeful learning contexts.
• Teachers’ confidence and understandings in making improvements in science teaching is increasing; students can more confidently engage with science, particularly to prepare for secondary school learning.

The school develops effective conditions to support learning.

• Board and leaders are well informed about strengths and areas for improvement through consultation with parents, students and teachers, which is used to develop the school’s strategic goals and annual plan.
• The board develops strategic goals and annual planning which engage students in quality learning opportunities.
• Staff develop a range of productive partnerships within the local community; the school is perceived as a welcoming and inclusive environment which benefits students’ wellbeing and sense of belonging.

Part C: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

• deliver effective literacy and mathematics programmes integrated into a meaningful localised curriculum that improves equitable student engagement, progress and achievement
• implement the graduate profile in teaching and learning to grow students’ learning competencies
• improve and sustain levels of regular attendance.

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

Within six months

• teachers identify and implement opportunities to support structured literacy learning across the curriculum 
• leaders consult with the school community and other stakeholders to confirm the valued learning competencies to be included in the school’s graduate profile

Every six months

• teachers monitor and report on students’ progress and achievement in literacy and mathematics, informed by across-school checking of assessment judgements
• teachers evaluate how students are progressing in developing graduate profile competencies
• leaders evaluate the effectiveness of strategies to improve regular attendance to inform developments

Annually

• leaders analyse and report achievement data to the board to strategically plan actions that will continue to improve equitable achievement in literacy and mathematics
• leaders and teachers include the perspectives of parents, whānau and students in examining learner progress in the competencies and identifying areas for next steps.

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

• improved and sustained progress in literacy and mathematics
• students confidently implementing the competencies identified in the graduate profile, resulting in students being increasingly involved in and responsible for their learning
• improved and sustained levels of regular attendance.

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

1 November 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