Tahuna Normal Intermediate

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

Tahuna Normal Intermediate is a co-educational school for students in Years 7 and 8 located in St Kilda, Dunedin. The school has a history of working closely with the University of Otago College of Education to provide placements for teacher trainees. The school’s vision is to develop independent learners through the provision of high-quality learning programmes and by fostering the values of respect, creativity, success and responsibility. 

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

ERO and the school worked together to evaluate the extent to which the school is culturally responsive, and Pacific learners, in particular, are secure and confident in their identities, languages, and cultures, across all curriculum areas. 

Expected Improvements and Findings

The school expected to see:

• Equity and excellence for all learners in terms of their academic progress, wellbeing and belonging.
• Positive progress is evident in addressing identified areas of inequity in achievement and engagement for girls, Māori and Pacific learners. 
• Targeted actions to foster belonging have contributed to improved engagement of Pacific students seen through improved attendance, representation in school leadership roles and confidence to express and celebrate their cultures.
• The school has made significant progress in improving the equity of access to digital devices to support learning.
• The school has taken steps to engage with the families of Pacific learners to better understand their aspirations for their children’s learning and has strengthened representation of Pacific communities on the school’s board.
• Teachers have participated in professional learning to build their knowledge of, and responsiveness to, Pacific cultures and learners.

Other Findings

During the course of the evaluation, the school trialled and implemented a new mathematics curriculum and teaching programme. School information shows that this has contributed to improved mathematics learning outcomes for groups of learners. Leaders and teachers have strengthened processes for collaboratively inquiring into effective teaching practice and this has fostered more consistent and coherent teaching practices across the school.

The most significant shift that has occurred as a result of the school’s evaluation focus is a greater awareness of the values and aspirations of Pacific parents for their children’s learning and development.

Part B: Current State

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing

Learning outcomes are increasingly equitable and excellent.

• Most learners make sustained progress and achieve at the appropriate curriculum level in reading, writing and mathematics throughout their two years at the school; improved equity for Māori learners is evident.
• There is disparity in learning outcomes for Pacific learners and addressing this continues to be a focus of the school.
• The majority of learners attend school regularly; the school is yet to consistently meet Ministry of Education targets for regular attendance and continues to work with families and learners to achieve this.

Conditions to support learner success

Effective leadership fosters a culture committed to quality teaching and equity and excellence in learner outcomes.

• Leadership uses evidence well to plan and monitor the school’s improvement goals and to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies on improving student’s learning and wellbeing.
• Leaders and teachers are embedding processes for the planning, coordination and evaluation of the school’s curriculum and teaching; clear and shared expectations for quality teaching are being established.
• School leadership makes sure that comprehensive policies, partnerships, programmes and practices are in place and used to promote learners’ wellbeing, inclusion and engagement in learning.

Learners benefit from a broad and responsive curriculum and are well supported to build their skills in literacy and mathematics. 

• Learners experience a curriculum that increasingly includes local contexts and authentic purposes for learning; incorporating te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori through all aspects of the school’s curriculum is strengthening.
• Teachers create an orderly and collaborative classroom environment where learners engage in purposeful learning; teachers are embedding practices for fostering students’ learning strategies, resilience and independence in learning.
• Learners needing additional support are identified promptly and provided with relevant, individual support to learn and progress.

Professional learning, partnerships, evaluation and governance contribute positively to ongoing school improvement.

• Leaders and teachers regularly work together to discuss, plan and reflect on effective teaching practices.
• Data from a range of sources is regularly collected, analysed and interpreted at class, team and school levels by leaders and teachers, to guide and support school improvement.
• Leaders and teachers identify, draw on and work with other education providers, community resources, specialists and agencies to support and improve transitions, learning and wellbeing.
• The board scrutinises a range of learner data and evaluative information and consults with the school community to identify strategic improvement priorities, plan and make appropriate resourcing decisions.

Part C: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

• embed the school’s project-based curriculum design and evaluate its effectiveness in fostering students’ independent learning skills
• embed new writing and mathematics programmes and teaching practices and evaluate their effectiveness in supporting improved student achievement
• extend culturally responsive curriculum and teaching practices to support all learners’ sense of belonging, engagement and understanding of New Zealand’s bicultural heritage
• continue to work with the school’s community to improve levels of regular attendance as the foundation of success in learning.

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

Within six months

• develop and trial assessment frameworks and practices for knowing about students’ independent learning skills
• continue to build teacher confidence and capability for implementing the school’s expectations for effective teaching of mathematics and literacy
• develop action planning for the implementation of the school’s culturally responsive curriculum and practices

Annually

• use assessment information to evaluate the effectiveness of curriculum and teaching for fostering student independent learning skills
• use school systems for knowing about the consistency and quality of teaching to evaluate how well the school’s expectations for teaching of mathematics and literacy are being implemented
• continue to regularly analyse how well learners are progressing and achieving in mathematics and literacy and use this to inform decision-making to improve outcomes
• monitor and report on the school’s implementation of its culturally responsive curriculum and teaching practice, including a focus on progress in teacher confidence and capability
• continue to monitor attendance data and review the success of strategies to encourage regular attendance.

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

• learners developing and demonstrating independent learning skills
• learners highly engaged in learning and applying their learning in a range of community settings
• learners progressing and achieving at expected levels in literacy and mathematics
• learners having a sense of belonging and feeling confident in their identity, language and culture
• improved 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

8 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