Five Forks School

The same report — the board assurance report of 12 June 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.

ERO and the board have identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process. The school needs to:

work towards offering Year 7 and 8 students opportunities for learning second or subsequent languages [New Zealand Curriculum]

adopt a policy and guidelines on the use of physical restraint. [Section 101, 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 57 — 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. November 2019

   36

   Counted while ERO’s review team was at the school. Education Review Office, report of 1 April 2020

This is one count taken for one report. It says what the roll was on that day, and nothing about how the roll has moved.

What ERO wrote in its latest report

This is ERO’s report of 12 June 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

Five Forks School is a small rural school for students in Years 1 to 8, located in North Otago. Students learn together in three multi-level classes. The school’s vision is to support all students to feel valued and grow into respectful, responsible and reflective life-long learners.

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

Learning outcomes are equitable and excellent.

Information for the past three years shows nearly all students achieve at expected curriculum levels in reading and mathematics and most achieve at curriculum expectations in writing; inequity in boys’ achievement in writing has reduced over time and there is a continued focus on improving all students’ progress and achievement in writing.

Students are increasingly able to reflect on their learning and progress and identify their next learning steps.

A majority of learners attend school regularly, but not yet at levels recommended by the Ministry of Education. Leaders and teachers work with families to encourage regular attendance and to ameliorate the impact of absence on achievement.

Conditions to support learner success

Leadership effectively fosters a culture committed to quality teaching and equity and excellence in student outcomes.

Leadership ensures the school’s curriculum and teaching are well planned, coordinated and regularly evaluated; expectations for high-quality, evidence-informed teaching are clear and shared.

To achieve the school’s strategic vision and improvement goals, governance and leadership builds and sustains high levels of relational trust and effective collaboration at every level of the school community.

Professional learning opportunities for teachers are strategically aligned with the school’s improvement goals and students’ needs.

Curriculum and teaching respond to students’ interests and needs and effectively support them to gain sound foundation skills in literacy, communication and mathematics.

Students have relevant, authentic opportunities to learn across the breadth of The New Zealand Curriculum and in contexts that reflect their lives, identities and local community.

Learning strategies that enable students to develop their capability to reflect on and direct their own learning and behaviour, are being increasingly used; teachers engage students in learning through questioning, increasing exposures to concepts, ideas, skills and examples, along with timely and specific feedback.

Students needing additional support are identified promptly and are provided with relevant, individualised and effective support to learn and progress at an appropriate pace.

Effective governance and strong partnerships with the community and other schools support and contribute to ongoing school improvement.

A comprehensive range of policies, programmes and practices foster students’ physical and emotional safety and wellbeing; relationships between staff and students are founded on mutual trust and allow students to seek help when required.

The board, leaders and teachers actively facilitate parent, whānau and community engagement and participation in the life of the school, contribution to decision-making and knowledge of and support for their children’s learning.

Leaders and teachers use relevant internal and external expertise, including networking with other schools, to support capability building, improvement and innovation.

The board effectively manages and strategically plans for the school’s financial, property and human resourcing and holds leadership accountable for the performance of the school through scrutinising evidence of student engagement, progress and achievement.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next step for the school is to:

extend and embed consistent practices for teaching literacy, lifelong learning strategies and the school’s bicultural curriculum including opportunities to learn te reo, tikanga and mātauranga Māori .

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

Within six months

implementation planning and professional learning for teachers on the school’s structured literacy programme

confirmation of the school’s learning strategies in consultation with students, families and staff and developing systems for tracking students’ growing capabilities

short and long term planning for the school’s bicultural curriculum.

Annually, monitoring and evaluating

literacy teaching and learning to ensure practices are implemented as intended, aligned with national curriculum expectations and guidelines, and supporting appropriate progress and achievement for students

students have regular, consistent opportunities to develop and demonstrate the school’s learning strategies and demonstrate growing capabilities

meaningful incorporation of te reo , tikanga and mātauranga Māori across the curriculum in all classes.

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

sustained and improved student achievement in literacy, particularly in writing

students becoming increasingly reflective, self-regulated and self-directed learners

students growing in their knowledge and understanding of te reo and tikanga Māori and of New Zealand’s bicultural heritage.

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

12 June 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 →