East Gore 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

East Gore School is a primary school for students in Years 1 to 6, located in Gore. The school’s vision is to provide a welcoming and inclusive learning environment in which all learners thrive and celebrate their diverse heritages. A new principal was appointed for the start of 2024.

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

• School information shows most learners achieve at expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics and there are equitable outcomes for Māori learners.
• Some disparity is evident in girls’ achievement in mathematics and boys’ achievement in reading and writing.
• A majority of learners attend school regularly; the school is yet to meet Ministry of Education targets for regular attendance and continues to work constructively with students and their families to improve levels of attendance.

Conditions to support learner success

• Leaders value the many different identities, languages and cultures of learners and their families; they provide increasing opportunities for parents and whānau to participate in the life of the school and contribute to their child’s learning.
• Leaders are taking steps to attract, retain and grow teaching teams and foster leadership throughout the school.
• Leaders are beginning to plan and coordinate the school’s curriculum and teaching and to set expectations for high quality teaching.

• Leaders and teachers collaboratively develop useful guidelines for consistent approaches to curriculum planning and teaching; structured approaches to teaching reading, writing and mathematics are being implemented.
• Learners’ engagement is enhanced through increasing opportunities to learn in a range of community settings; te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori are increasingly integrated in learning programmes.
• Leaders and teachers are reviewing and strengthening the way they use assessment information to adapt teaching practice and gain more accurate and useful insights into individual, class and whole school progress and achievement.

• Leaders and teachers work closely with families and community partners to reduce barriers to education and support access to learning for all.
• Leaders and teachers are strengthening programmes and practices that promote learners’ wellbeing, inclusion and confidence in their identities and cultures.
• Leaders and teachers engage in professional learning that is aligned with the school’s improvement goals and are increasingly using evidence to monitor anticipated changes in practice and learner outcomes.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• complete the development of the school’s curriculum and guidelines for quality teaching
• embed and sustain the school’s structured approaches to teaching mathematics and reading
• strengthen planning, monitoring and evaluation of targeted teaching to accelerate the learning of those students who need this most
• review and strengthen practices for collecting and analysing assessment information to ensure board, leaders and teachers have good quality information to inform goal setting
• continue to work with the school community to encourage regular school attendance as the foundation for success in learning.

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

Within six months:

• leaders and teachers continue to collaboratively update the schools’ curriculum and teaching guidelines and expectations, including induction materials
• leaders develop processes for termly planning and monitoring of targeted teaching for learners who need adapted teaching to be successful in learning
• leaders and teachers implement and support new assessment practices and deepen their analysis of assessment information to inform future planning and teaching

Every six months:

• teachers have opportunities to build their capability to deliver the school’s structured approaches to teaching mathematics, reading and writing
• leaders and teachers review how consistently curriculum and teaching expectations are being implemented and identify areas for improvement
• board, leaders and teachers evaluate the effectiveness of targeted teaching for learners needing additional support to succeed and use these findings to set goals to improve outcomes
• board and leaders monitor attendance data and review the success of strategies to encourage regular attendance and remove barriers to school attendance

Annually:

• board, leaders and teachers use quality assessment information to evaluate all students’ progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics and use this to inform future school improvement goals.

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

• an increasing proportion of learners attending school regularly
• learners needing additional support having success in learning and making appropriate progress
• learners experiencing a coherent, well-coordinated curriculum and having equitable opportunities to make progress in reading, writing and mathematics
• board, leaders and teachers making good use of quality assessment information to identify student achievement and teaching goals.

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

27 September 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