Tokanui 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 

Tokanui School is situated in Southland and provides education for students in Year 1 to 8.  Students take pride in looking after the environment around them and learning about it through their involvement in Enviroschools, following the principles of student empowerment, sustainability, Māori perspectives and respect for people and cultures.

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 for learners are high and sustained.

• Almost all students achieve at or above curriculum levels in mathematics, most students in writing and a large majority in reading. 
• Learners express a clear sense of belonging, articulate their learning well and have pride in their school.
• Approximately half of all students attend school regularly, the school is not yet meeting the Ministry of Education’s target for regular attendance. 

Conditions to support learner success

Collaborative leaders effectively foster a culture of evidence-based improvement.

• Leaders undertake rigorous analysis of student progress and achievement data to inform strategic and annual goals.
• Leaders and teachers carefully monitor and track progress and achievement for students who are at risk of not achieving and respond in a timely way.
• Robust consultation with students, whānau and staff gathers aspirations that inform improvement priorities.

Students learn through a broad and increasingly responsive, localised curriculum.

• Teachers and leaders make appropriate changes to their teaching practice in response targeted professional development; this strengthens consistency across the school.
• Teachers work collaboratively to develop and implement teaching and learning opportunities that are increasingly inclusive of students’ language, culture and identity. 
• Teachers and leaders know students well and implement learning programmes deliberately aligned to individual student needs and interests; this supports engagement in learning.

Key organisational conditions are well established and support student success.

• Partnerships with parents, whānau, iwi and the wider community are strategically planned and used to inform improvement priorities.
• Teachers and leaders work with a wide range of external agencies to support improved outcomes for learners.
• The school board is well informed by leaders about teaching and learning across curriculum areas and progress and achievement for all students; this supports effective decision making about resourcing.
• A wide range of initiatives and programmes support students to achieve and engage in learning; embedding evaluation schoolwide should enhance understanding of the impact these have on learner success and wellbeing.  

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• continue to improve progress and achievement in reading and writing 
• develop initiatives and implement strategies to improve attendance
• introduce and implement a Māori action plan so that te reo Māori is taught progressively through each level of the school
• embed formal evaluation of performance against key strategic goals so that leaders and teachers know and understand the initiatives and strategies that improve outcomes for Tokanui learners.

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

Within six months:

• undertake schoolwide teacher professional development in structured literacy
• draft and implement a te reo Māori action plan in consultation with whānau; ensure all staff undertake professional development to improve capability in delivering the action plan
• consult with students and parents to understand attendance issues and develop an improvement plan
• strengthen understanding of effective evaluation to inform ongoing improvement and develop a schoolwide approach for leaders and teachers

Every six months:

• collate and analyse student progress and achievement data for trends and patterns, and use this to inform actions towards improving outcomes in reading and writing
• review intentional strategies used to improve attendance, acknowledge what is working and identify where to next 
• continue to reflect on leaders and teachers’ confidence, knowledge and use of te reo Māori against the intended outcomes in te reo Māori action plan, to inform areas for ongoing improvement
• undertake planned evaluation in line with strategic goals so that progress towards key priorities is known and next steps are identified

Annually:

• report on student outcomes in reading and writing to the board and community to inform progress towards achieving annual targets and identify strategies for ongoing improvement
• report to the board on improvements in rates of regular attendance and prioritise goals for ongoing improvement
• using Poutama Reo indicators evaluate the impact of the action plan for te reo Māori on improving teaching and learning
• use the school’s evaluation approach to know how well key priorities and goals have been met and forward plan.

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

• improved outcomes in reading and writing
• more students attending regularly
• students and teachers participate in a progressive te reo Māori programme and build their te reo Māori capability
• a fully embedded evaluation process to inform strategic direction.

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 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