Poolburn School

What ERO wrote in its latest report

This is ERO’s report of 17 March 2025 — “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

Poolburn School is a rural full primary school located in the Ida Valley, Central Otago. The school caters for Year 1-8 students. The school values are respect - ngākau whakaute , integrity - ngākau pono , thinking - whakāro arohaehae , excellence - panekiretanga and self-management - manākitanga .

There are three parts to this report.

Part A: A summary of the findings from the most recent Education Review Office (ERO) report and/or subsequent evaluation.

Part B: 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 C: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.

Part A: Previous Improvement Goals

Since the previous ERO report in October 2022, ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate how well the real time approach to reporting through Seesaw lifted and sustained progress, and embedded strong home school connections.

The school expected to see a seamless link between home and school resulting in a positive outcome on student achievement.

Increasing rates of progress for reading, writing and mathematics are evident for students at risk of underachieving.

Regular learning conversations with families provide useful information about each child’s learning progress and next steps.

Leaders and teachers have identified that the increase in community engagement has further strengthened children’s engagement in learning.

Other Findings

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s action was a strengthening of school and community partnerships leading to more successful outcomes for all learners.

Part B: Current State

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.

Learner Success and Wellbeing

Learners make sustained progress and are highly engaged in their learning.

Almost all learners achieve at or above the appropriate curriculum level for reading, writing and mathematics; outcomes for learners show no significant inequities between groups of learners.

Learners needing additional support benefit from systems that ensure their learning needs are identified and addressed, contributing to improved engagement and learning outcomes.

Learners experience a strong sense of belonging within the school community; they are well known by all staff and positive relationships result in high levels of meaningful pastoral care.

A large majority of learners attend school regularly; however, the school is not yet meeting the Government’s target for regular attendance.

Conditions to support learner success

School leadership fosters a collaborative teaching culture that continually works towards high quality teaching and learning outcomes.

Leadership uses a suitable range of quality evidence about learners’ progress and achievement to evaluate the implementation of strategic targets and inform future priorities.

Teachers’ professional development is targeted, well-planned and implemented to areas of priority for improving learning outcomes through the school’s localised curriculum.

Leadership actively mentors teachers to strengthen their practice, enhance teaching capabilities and provide a range of opportunities for professional growth.

Teaching practices are evidence based and responsive to the interests and learning needs of all students.

Learners have a curriculum that increasingly reflects local contexts and provides a wide range of activities within the school environment, so they see themselves in their learning.

Positive environments and high levels of engagement are established, where learning time is maximised, and teachers provide feedback to students that is specific to their learning.

Appropriate assessment information is used to plan classroom teaching programmes and report the progress and achievement of each learner to their parents.

Effective organisational conditions that underpin success in learning are strongly embedded in the school.

Highly reflective practices and ongoing review are effectively used by the board, school leaders, and teachers to inform further improvement and direction.

Strong relationships and partnerships are fostered with families and local community; these strengthen positive outcomes for learners.

An established culture of trusting relationships and shared responsibility enables staff to work together to improve outcomes for learners.

Part C: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

plan for appropriate professional learning to help leaders and staff implement and understand changes to The New Zealand Curriculum

further develop assessment practices across the school to support students’ knowledge of their own learning and next steps

strengthen knowledge and understanding of te ao Māori in teaching and learning across the school

continue to focus on raising regular attendance rates for all students to meet Government targets.

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

Every six months:

continue to review and revise strategic planning to reflect any changes to identified priorities for learning

continue to analyse and monitor learner progress, achievement and attendance information to inform next steps in teaching and learning

continue to embed teaching and learning practices that improve achievement outcomes for learners by building on their strengths, needs and interests

Annually:

use learner progress and achievement data and evidence from a range of sources to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies to improve learning, attendance and engagement, and report the outcomes to the board to inform strategic decision making

evaluate how well te ao Māori has been integrated through teaching and learning across the school

report to the board on the effectiveness of the school's implementation of the refreshed curriculum and identified next steps for ongoing improvement

gather feedback to evaluate the impact of strategies used to strengthen engagement and learning partnerships with parents and whānau

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

sustained excellent progress and achievement outcomes for all learners

changes in curriculum and assessment implemented in a timely, effective manner

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

Sharon Kelly Acting Director of Schools

17 March 2025

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 →