Bluestone School

The same report — the board assurance report of 25 September 2024 — also sets out actions for compliance: the non-compliance ERO identified during that process. This is that section of the report in full, in ERO’s words.

The board has identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

In consultation with the school’s Māori community, developed and made known to the school’s community policies, plans and targets for improving the progress and achievement of Māori students [Section 127 (1)(d) of the Education and Training Act 2020]

Consulted, once in every two years, with the school community on the school’s health curriculum. [Section 91, Education and Training Act 2020]

The board has since taken steps to address the areas of non-compliance identified.

Read this board assurance report on ero.govt.nz →

The roll ERO recorded, and when

ERO writes a roll into each report it publishes: a count taken for that report, on the day shown, by the review team that was there. The Ministry of Education’s current roll for this school is 471 — the figure at the top of this page, and the one to use for how big the school is now. These are a different measurement by a different body, so they will rarely agree, and a difference between them is not a change in the school.

1. March 2018

   485

   Counted while ERO’s review team was at the school. Education Review Office, report of 8 May 2018

2. May 2014

   564

   Counted while ERO’s review team was at the school. Education Review Office, report of 19 June 2014

We draw no line between these. Each was counted for its own report, years apart, by a different review team, and a roll moves between reviews for reasons none of these figures record — so the difference between any two of them measures nothing.

What ERO wrote in its latest report

This is ERO’s report of 25 September 2024 — “School Evaluation Report” — section by section, under ERO’s own headings, in ERO’s own order. Nothing is summarised, shortened or reordered.

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

Bluestone School is a full primary school for students in Years 1 to 8 located in Timaru . The school’s vision is to inspire creative life-long learners through a focus on effective teaching, fostering a sense of identity, belonging and hauora (wellbeing) and enhancing student engagement. Since the last ERO review there is a new principal and senior leadership team in the school.

The school is the managing school for the Timaru Technology Education Centre that provides technology education for Year 7 and 8 students from other schools.

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

The school is working towards improving outcomes for all learners.

A majority of learners achieve at expected curriculum levels for reading and mathematics, about half achieve at curriculum expectations in writing.

School information shows that Māori make similar rates of progress in their learning; further analysis is needed to know how equitably they are achieving overall.

A majority of learners attend school regularly; the school is yet to meet Ministry of Education targets for regular attendance and is working proactively with families and learners to improve this.

Conditions to support learner success

New leadership is establishing trusting relationships and collaboration across the school community to achieve the strategic vision and improvement goals.

Leaders effectively support teachers to lead, plan and coordinate the school’s curriculum and are developing clear and shared expectations for effective teaching.

Leaders prioritise professional growth and leadership development for teachers that is aligned with the school’s improvement goals and learner needs; evaluating how well professional development has led to anticipated changes in teaching and improved outcomes for learners is a next step.

Leaders are taking steps to strengthen goals and targets for raising student achievement to better support more focused actions and knowing the impact of these for learners.

Teaching programmes and approaches are becoming more responsive to students’ diverse needs and aspirations.

Teachers actively engage in professional learning to develop shared understandings of effective teaching of literacy and mathematics; te reo , tikanga and mātauranga Māori are beginning to be included in all aspects of the school curriculum.

Teachers create orderly, inclusive and increasingly collaborative classrooms and learners are engaged in purposeful, well-paced learning opportunities.

Leaders and teachers are strengthening systems and practices for identifying and providing for learners needing targeted learning support to have success in learning; they are strengthening the analysis and use of data to support insights into learner progress at class, teaching team and whole-school levels.

Intentional partnerships and a commitment to inclusion and wellbeing effectively support school improvement and positive outcomes for students.

Leaders and teachers use internal and external expertise (including networks with other schools) well to improve teaching, systems and practices and to access wellbeing and learning support for learners.

Leaders and teachers value the diverse identities, languages and cultures of learners, their families and communities and are strengthening the ways they support their participation, sense of belonging and success in learning.

The board and leaders gather, analyse and act on useful data, including community and student feedback, to improve learners’ wellbeing.

Leaders and teachers encourage parent and whānau participation in the life of the school; they communicate clearly with parents about learners’ progress and share teaching and learning approaches.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

strengthen goal setting for raising student achievement at whole school and class levels, particularly for writing

foster effective practice for teaching writing

improve analysis of assessment information to know about the effectiveness of strategies to raise achievement and to inform decisions at class, teaching team and whole-school levels

strengthen systems and practices for identifying, providing for and evaluating targeted learning support for those students who need this

continue to work with the school community to encourage regular attendance as the foundation for success in learning.

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

Within three months:

school board and leaders revise school learning targets to focus on accelerated progress and achievement for those learners who need this, particularly in writing

teachers set specific termly learning goals for learners needing to make accelerated progress in writing and plan teaching strategies to achieve these

leaders and teachers develop additional intervention strategies and programmes to support accelerated learning in literacy, mathematics and English language learning

leaders provide professional learning for staff on effective teaching of writing and priority intervention strategies.

Every six months:

teachers evaluate the effectiveness of goals and plans to accelerate learners’ progress and achievement in writing and reset

leaders and teachers evaluate the effectiveness of targeted interventions for accelerating learning in reading, writing and mathematics and English language learning and adapt plans to support success

leaders and teachers review key shifts in practice in response to professional learning on the effective teaching of writing and identify future focus areas

leaders and teachers collaboratively review teaching team and whole school achievement information to identify trends, needs, strengths and teaching and learning priorities

board and leaders monitor attendance data and review the success of strategies to encourage regular attendance.

Annually:

board and leaders use termly and six-monthly evaluations of learning interventions and plans to accelerate learning in writing, to know what has worked and to inform future planning for professional learning, targeted learning interventions and school achievement targets.

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

more learners achieving at expected levels in writing

learners participating in targeted learning interventions making accelerated progress

teachers, leaders and board use learning information effectively to know how well teaching and targeted learning interventions are supporting the progress and achievement of learners

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

25 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

Read this report on ero.govt.nz →