Bayfield High 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 

Bayfield High School, located in Dunedin, continues to be an inclusive co-educational school for Years 9 to 13 students. The school’s recently reviewed vision for its learners is for all students to experience success. Bayfield is proud to have a diverse student body which includes international students from across Europe and Asia. It plays host to Te Waka Whaikaha, a dedicated Learning Support Centre which has an approach to developing individualised learning which caters for students across the academic spectrum.

The almost complete school building project has energised the school community and supported the Board’s focus on improving the learning outcomes for all students.

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 

In the past three years ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate the impact on Māori and other priority learners’ achievement, engagement, and sense of belonging through the introduction of mixed ability class grouping.

Expected Improvements and Findings

The school expected to see:

Implementation of planned interventions supporting a focus on equity

• Mixed ability classes are reflecting a more balanced distribution of students and improved academic gains across key curriculum areas.
• Students have greater choice in their learning pathways as they progress through to the senior school.
• Teachers have participated in professional learning and development in specific areas of teaching practice that reflect sound, culturally responsive research, and meeting students individual learning needs.
• A whānau tutor group has been established, raising attendance for many of those students.

Equitable outcomes for Māori learners at NCEA Level 1

• 2023 NCEA results indicate the school is yet to show an increase in equitable outcomes and this remains a key priority going forward.
• Māori learners showed gains in value-added areas between Years 9 and 11.
• Engagement information for Year 11 Māori learners indicates significantly more positive engagement overall.
• Māori learners are displaying a greater sense of belonging through taking on leadership roles.

Improved retention of male learners at Year 12

• A greater proportion of male learners are continuing their learning at the school or through recognised tertiary pathways. 

Other Findings

During the course of the evaluation, it was found that mixed ability grouping teaching practices were better understood and implemented by some teachers than others.

The greatest shifts that occurred in response to the school’s action are students’ belief in their ability to achieve and teachers’ recognition of their own efficacy as agents for change in student outcomes. 

Part B: Current State

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing

• The greater majority students achieve NCEA at their respective year level. There is increased achievement for male students in Years 11 and 13, and for all Year 13 students in NCEA Level 3 and University Entrance.
• The disparity in NCEA achievement is reducing for Māori learners in relation to their non-Māori peers.
• Most students in Years 9 and 10 achieved curriculum expectations for numeracy/number and reading at the end of 2023.
• The greater majority of learners with additional needs achieve their goals as set out in their individualised education plans.

Conditions to support learner success

• Leadership is deliberately building a culture committed to quality teaching which reflects practices that cater well for students in mixed ability classrooms.
• Leadership is evaluating the school curriculum to ensure it is best meeting student needs and aligns well with current educational requirements.
• Leadership roles have been expanded and extended through the staff to better progress school priorities.

• Teachers are strengthening teaching strategies and practices to continue to promote greater equity. 
• Students following vocational pathways, and students with additional needs, have sufficient opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the New Zealand Curriculum. 
• The school is yet to embed consistent mixed ability grouping teaching practices across the curriculum.

• The school is extending meaningful, educationally significant partnerships to enhance outcomes for learners. 
• The school is continuing to strengthen professional capability and collective capacity to improve learner outcomes with a specific focus on equity. Learners with diverse learning requirements continue to be a priority.
• Internal evaluation processes and practices are being strengthened with a more deliberate focus on data and information which can inform decision-making.

Part C: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• embed adaptive teaching practices to achieve more consistency across the school in meeting the needs of all learners, and continuing to reduce the disparity for Māori
• evaluate the school’s curriculum in a way that considers current national curriculum priorities and changes
• continue to strengthen partnerships with whānau, hapu and iwi and provision for Māori learners in all aspects of their schooling
• continue to collaborate with the local cluster of schools to agree on learning priorities that support successful transition into and out or the school. 

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

Within six months:

• Re-establish leadership to support Māori whānau and student learning partnerships and provision.
• Embed the mixed ability year 9 class structure for all year 9 students.

Every six months:

• Systematically plan and continue to build staff professional practice across high impact teaching and learning practices.

Annually:

• Review and evaluate the school-wide curriculum, and mixed ability grouping teaching practices, to identify priorities for change and implementation.
• Strengthening evaluation understanding and practices across the school.
• Reviewing specific provision and outcomes for Māori students, including for those in the whānau class in 2024.

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

• improved equity and excellence for learners
• learners’ needs being responded to through adaptive teaching practices being used consistently across the school 
• a school curriculum that is responsive the aspirations of all key stakeholders, including learners, whānau, hapū and iwi through an explicit, sequenced school-wide schema
• Māori learners and their whānau feeling their identity and culture are valued and nurtured by the school.

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

30 April 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