Murchison Area School

The same report — the board assurance report of 20 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.

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

The board must ensure that suitable human resources management practices are implemented including documenting that original or certified copies of qualifications are properly sighted and, for non-teaching positions, a safety check including a Police Vet has been obtained every 3 years [Education and Training Act, 2020, Children’s Act, 2014]

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 166 — 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. August 2018

   146

   Counted while ERO’s review team was at the school. Education Review Office, report of 21 September 2018

2. May 2015

   127

   Counted while ERO’s review team was at the school. Education Review Office, report of 29 June 2015

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 20 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

Murchison Area School is located in Murchison and provides education for learners in Years 1 to 13. The school’s vision for its learners is: Living to Learn, Learning to Live | Ka ake , ka ora ; Ka ora , ka ako , supported by the four school values: Respect ( Whakaute ), Honesty ( Whakapono ), Consideration ( Whai Whakaaro ) and Responsibility ( Haepapa ) .

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.

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

Learners’ progress across the school is positive with increasingly equitable and excellent outcomes.

Most learners in Years 1 to 8 are achieving at or above expected curriculum levels in reading and mathematics, with the majority of learners achieving at or above in writing.

Most learners in Years 9 to 10 are achieving at or above expected curriculum levels in literacy and a small majority in mathematics.

A large majority of Year 11, 12 and 13 learners, including a majority of Māori learners, continue to achieve National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) at Levels 1, 2 and 3.

A small majority of learners are presently attending regularly, although the school is yet to meet the Ministry of Education’s target for regular attendance; school initiatives are improving attendance.

Conditions to support learner success

School leaders work strategically and collaboratively, improving outcomes for learners.

Leaders set goals and targets that are increasing equitable outcomes across all learning areas; specific attention is given to improve outcomes for target learners.

Leaders allocate staff strategically to ensure that learners’ specific needs and learning progression are well supported.

Leaders prioritise professional learning for staff that enhances effectiveness and consistency of teaching practice.

Learners at all year levels experience meaningful and relevant learning through a well-considered localised curriculum.

Teachers know their learners’ needs very well, closely monitor progress and provide appropriate targeted support.

Senior learners’ engagement and achievement is supported by the broad and varied senior curriculum which uses local community resources and supportive and personalised teaching.

Learners have planned transitions into, within and beyond school contributing to a strong sense of belonging and support for their post-school pathways.

Learners’ progress and achievement is well supported by increasingly effective learning partnerships with whānau and the community.

Learners benefit from intentional community partnerships; the board and staff actively include community perspectives in planning.

Leaders continue to grow links with iwi and the local community to further develop and embed localised curriculum across all learning areas.

The school is taking steps to integrate te ao Māori into learning programmes in order to increase bicultural understandings and practices.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

continue to raise learners’ progress and achievement in literacy in Years 1 to 10, embedding the current approaches to teaching literacy

further grow the understanding of te reo and tikanga Māori and embed consistent practices across the school to ensure that the curriculum reflects an increasing commitment to bicultural partnership

continue the development of staff-wide distributed leadership to ensure practices that best promote learner progress and achievement are sustained.

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

Within six months:

leaders continue to improve evaluation and reporting to the board on the impact of strategies on improving progress and literacy achievement of learners in Years 1 to 10

teachers use Poutama Reo to determine specific targets and timeframes to continue the development of staff capacity in te reo and tikanga Māori and the development of mātauranga Māori across the school curriculum

Every six months:

leaders continue to report progress towards meeting attendance and literacy targets, wider student learning and achievement to the board and act on any emerging trends

Annually:

leaders evaluate the effectiveness of literacy practices to inform planning

leaders review and evaluate schoolwide consistency of application of mātauranga Māori

leaders review how effectively staff professional learning is supporting leadership development to ensure sustainability of schoolwide systems and learner progress and outcomes.

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

raised learner achievement in literacy in Years 1 to 10

schoolwide consistency of the implementation of mātauranga Māori

effective systems to sustain schoolwide practices for learner attendance, progress and achievement.

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

20 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 →