Background:
Te Awa School was opened on the 2nd of February 1925 with four new classrooms and acres of land, however no students attended school due to an epidemic infantile paralysis. Students eventually started school on April 20th with around 150 students.
In 2009 Te Awa School was part of a Ministry of Education’s “Building Evaluative Capability in School Improvement” initiative. Te Awa School along with 4 other schools formed a cluster to Strengthen Education in the Napier South (SENS) under BECSI.
The Challenge:
2009 saw the employment of a new school principal. Together with the senior management team they were able to identify 3 areas that needed to be addressed; teacher pedagogy, behaviour and our community believing that Te Awa School was a good school.
Our first challenge was around student achievement. School wide STAR data collected as part of the SENS project aligned with international surveys (for example, PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS) showed that there was a disconcerting disparity between low and high achievers. Te Awa School STAR data showed little or no progress in student achievements from 2008 to 2009. Data collected showed that 54% of students were working below stanine 4. STAR data also showed that 33.3% of Maori students were working below Stanine 3.
The second challenge that needed to be addressed was teacher pedagogy and effective teaching. As part of the BECSi (SENS) classroom observations showed that 5 of the 8 classroom teachers taught in isolation and there was no clear model consistently being used through the school. Professional development based on the “Effective Literacy Handbook” to increase the effectiveness of teacher practice was implemented.
The final challenge was how do our priority learners gain success at Te Awa School? With a school roll of around 150 students, Maori represented over 75% of our school roll and it became evident that these students were our priority learners.
Where to start:
It became very evident that in order to bring around sustainable change at Te Awa School we needed to develop an action plan. The first obstacle we faced was the complexity of our challenges. We needed lift student’s achievement, lift teacher pedagogy, form relationships with our community and remove a vast amount of barriers that are associated with a low decile school in a perceived gang community.
On paper the number of challenges seemed too many and complex to tackle at the same time. The school community needed to see success as soon as possible.
Seeking Allies:
A positive relationship between the principal and the Board Chairperson was essential for Te Awa School to become the best school in Napier. A vision needed to be developed that was attainable and achievable. The Board put out a survey to parents that was based on 3 areas; how well is my child learning, do they have positive relationships and are they safe at school and areas that needed improvement physically at school. The survey produced some interesting results. Parents believed that their child was achieving academically but behaviour was seen as a major concern both in the playground and in class. The survey also identified that parents did not feel welcome in our school or weren't comfortable coming into the school. Te Awa School need a realistic and attainable vision, a vision that everyone believed in. The Board and principal held Cafe styled meetings with parents to open communication and start to build trust within the community. It was from these meetings that the board and senior management staff were able to build up a picture of what the parents really wanted from the school. Parents wanted a safe, happy environment where their child was respected and engaged. Through ongoing consultation the school developed a new vision. KEEN Te Awa Kids, this was an acronym for Knowledgeable students, Enthusiastic learners, Empathetic to others and students that Nurtured their environment. KEEN underpins everything at Te Awa School.
Three Point Attack: Maori Succeeding as Maori, Effective Teaching and School Wide Behaviour
Maori Succeeding as Maori
Schools built in the 1920’s were all built very similar and after the Second World War a standard type of school was built throughout New Zealand known as the Dominion Basic Plan. The plan consisted as a row of north facing classrooms with storerooms between, and a corridor on the south side of the school with cloak and toilets beyond. This was certainly the case with Te Awa School. The front entrance to the school had rows of rose bushes with a single door leading into a corridor of classrooms. A very European looking school that had a large percentage of Maori students. It was fortunate that the school was due to undertake building renovations and there was the opportunity to physically change the school environments. Planning for the reconstruction of classrooms and administration was based on the idea of inviting open spaces, classrooms with large sliding doors that could open out into the corridors and teachers would then invite waiting parents into their classrooms. This was seen as an opportunity to build relationships between parents and to break down teacher autonomy.
The next step was to build a positive school culture where families felt welcome and part of Te Awa School and they wanted to see their child improve in their learning.
Research suggests that effective school-home partnerships would enhance children’s learning at both home and school. Strong school-home links are of particular importance for children whose social class, culture, and/or ethnicity and cultural heritages differ from those. Te Awa School values two-way communication. We provide parents with meaningful information and guidance on ways they can support their children both at school and home. We have built strong relationships with outside agencies, organisations, resources and personnel in the wider community to enhance our students’ educational and social outcomes.
We truly believe that our parents, whanau, and the community are the key players in our student’s education. They play an important role in helping our students feel positive about going to school and in helping teachers better understand the students they are teaching.
We actively promote the belief that parents have an important part to play in keeping their child focused on learning and achievement. This can be done by showing an interest in their children’s learning at Te Awa School, we also promote that there needs to be a balance between learning and leisure time (limiting screen time). While a great majority of parents value education highly and want their child to do well at school, some parents do not feel confident about interacting with the school or confident to support their child’s learning at home. We felt strongly about bridging this barrier and the school employed a Family Home Liaison person whose specific role is to visit families and offer support. Not being a teacher has meant that families feel a little bit more confident with this staff member. Help can be offered with health issues, contact with the food bank and advice in behaviour or the importance of students attending school. Parents have also commented that working with the Family Home Liaison means that they are not taking up valuable teaching time as they felt that was important and has helped to reduce teacher workload.
Being able to dig deeper and get to the heart of what parents wanted will always be seen as a challenge to schools.
Te Awa School uses various strategies to gather information. More formal methods including parental and student survey’s has had limited success, only returning around 50%. A Chocolate fish for every survey returned has seen an increase of returned surveys and it also meant that the students get rewarded for reminding their parents. Another idea raised at our management meeting at the start of the year was that we have posted questions around the corridor or outside classrooms and parents are invited to answer them and post their responses in the available boxes. We could use this information to make adjustments and/or give us some direction. This achieved very little success as it was more about timing for busy parents rushing to either get to work or home to the little ones. With the use of social media now so easily accessible by parents, Facebook has become one of the most popular communication tool. Our school has a main Facebook page that is administered by the principal and this is used mainly for school wide events and publishing of photos or interesting education articles that they may relate to. The most beneficial aspect of Facebook has been teachers creating their own classroom pages and inviting parents to “like” their page. Teachers have been able to use Facebook as a whole class portfolio for parents often demonstrating new learning within the class or a short video demonstrating the weekly Social skill. Videos are also uploaded showing a reading or maths strategies that children may be learning to help at home. Using Facebook has meant that parents can give instant feedback to the teacher and ask questions and parents feel more confident when not communicating face to face. The school is also uses other forms such as a school app to send instant message through to families and a school Twitter account but these have not been as successful as Facebook.
Parent conferences attendance is starting to improve with almost 80% of parents attending (though we have to work hard at it and reschedule - teachers have been known to meet with families in the early morning or late at night). Each child has a minimum of 2 conferences per year and National Standards report go home twice a year. When families come in for a conference children are encouraged to show them their work around the class and school. At the conferences parents are well informed about how well their child is achieving and we do so using language and terms that the families understand. On most occasions the children led these conversations and parents are asked and given opportunities to share their thoughts and give feedback on how well their child is doing. Teachers often use this opportunity to share ideas and/or resources on how they can help out at home. With the restructuring of our reporting system and parents now coming in for 2 conferences a year, parents now feel more comfortable entering the school. We have worked hard at creating an open door school. Conferences are non-threatening and both children and parents enjoy them (most of the time) because they are seeing real progress and enjoyment. Teachers have worked hard to establish good relationships with parents. There are also a number of other school events that teachers use as an opening to reach out to parents and whanau. At the start of the year we have a Family Pool Night where we have the school pool open and provide a BBQ to entertain the children while parents are free to look around the school and meet the teachers.
School events, sports days and gala are now well supported and our school production last year was awesome with a big turnout of parents, grandparents and extended families. In fact we had to run the production over three nights. Our school kapa haka tutor is now supported by 2 parents who come along each Friday to help out with songs and poi and rakau.
Each year we travel to the local Marae and this not only helps children connect with tikanga but it helps to build better relationships with our school’s local kaumatua. In 2014 we held a hui with all our Maori parents as part of the Charter consultation and the number one thing that came out from the hui was that they wanted their child to achieve and were not as concerned with ‘success as Maori’ as data showed our Maori students were doing well. It was a positive meeting with a good tone and a mother who has a long association with the school commented that this was the best school hui ever.
Effective Teaching:
Effective teaching is potentially the largest single school influence on student achievement. Effective teachers have high expectations that all their students will achieve to their potential and are committed to providing a high quality education for all their learners. They treat children and young people as individuals, positively acknowledging their differences and building collaborative learning relationships. Effective teachers are approachable, communicate clearly with parents and whanau, and listen to the aspirations and concerns that parents and whanau have for their children. They are responsive and take appropriate action.
Effective teachers have comprehensive pedagogical and content knowledge of their subject areas and a deep understanding of the learning process. They provide learning-rich programmes that make connections to students’ prior learning and experiences and respond to student’s needs and interests. Effective teachers use a range of assessment data to differentiate the curriculum as needed and engage learners in purposeful learning through a range of media and resources.
Effective teachers provide thoughtful on-going feedback and use strategies that enable students to become self-managing, motivated learners who take responsibility for their learning.
This is research that that holds no prejudices, it is proven to be the axis of all learning no matter the ethnic makeup, socio-economic carry in or the level in which the learning is occurring. For us this was a big task, how do you fulfil this?
It was imperative we did this a collaborative team, working with everyone who had a vested interest, parents, whanau, outside agencies, including CYFS, hospital boards, MOE, and school Board of trustees and whole staff, this included teacher aides and caretakers. As the saying goes it takes a village to raise a child, and we need to raise the child academically but also to raise their self-worth which in turn reflects on their learning. So we were tackling the cycle of effective learning.
Teaching requires passion, passion requires knowledge and knowhow. They work hand in hand. We had passion, though at times, it became hard to see due to being overwhelmed with the higher and higher demands of the profession. We, the management and BOT, as good employers needed to provide the vehicle for knowledge. In 2009 the opportunity came about to be part of the Ministry of Education’s “Building Evaluative Capability in School Improvement” initiative named “Strengthening Education in Napier South” or SENS. This became our … vehicle, as is often the case with a new Principal, staff can be a little apprehensive of what may change and or what may be thrown out. Te Awa was no different. This initiative provided a way to undergo effective practice development in a way that wasn't being dictated by the “new Principal” but by a MOE cluster under BECSI.
SENS was based on the “Effective Literacy Handbook” and addressed teacher pedagogy and effective teaching. It looked at best practice as well as gave teachers the new knowledge to be empowered in the classroom.
What did we know and how did this relate to SENS
An effective teacher demonstrates a caring attitude. Even teachers who love their job can struggle in this area, not because they don’t care, but because they get caught up so much in the day to day routine of teaching that they can forget that their students have lives outside of school. Taking the time to get to know a student on a personal level takes a lot of time and dedication. With a roll of 75% Maori we knew from experience that when you visit the Marae or liaise with whanau the first thing you do is introduce yourself, where you come from and who you whanau is. This breaks down the barriers, you give of yourself before you ask of them. At Te Awa School we start every term off with the unit “Ko Au” getting to know ourselves, each other and our school. This becomes a time when we talk about expectations we have of ourselves, each other and our school wide expectations, this is what has helped to create a positive learning environment and a climate of high trust and collaboration. An effective teacher can relate to his or her students. The best teachers work hard to figure out how to relate to each of their students. Common interest can be hard to find, but exceptional teachers will find a way to connect with their students. The response you get from the children after making connections becomes invaluable when it comes down to then challenging them, you have a relationship therefore they trust you and believe you are doing the best for them and in turn they become successful members of our wider community.
An effective teacher loves to teach. The single most important quality that every teacher should possess is a love and passion for teaching young people. Unfortunately, there are teachers who do not love what they do. This can be brought on by a number of things and at Te Awa School we experienced some of those. Teaching has become harder with more pressures and more paperwork, you can no longer just do what you did last year at the same time because it was easy. This single factor can destroy a teacher’s effectiveness quicker than anything else. Teachers who do not enjoy their job cannot possibly be effective day in and day out. There are too many discouraging factors associated with teaching that is difficult enough on a teacher who absolutely loves what they do, much less on one who doesn’t have the drive, passion, or enthusiasm for it. Your focus was now more so than ever teaching every single one of you children as an individual.
An effective teacher is willing to think outside the box. There is no one set cookie cutter way to teach. A cookie cutter approach would likely be boring for both teachers and students. What makes teaching so exciting is that kids learn differently, and we have to find and utilize different strategies and differentiated learning to reach every student. What works for one student, will not work for every student. Teachers have to be willing to be creative and adaptive in their lessons, thinking outside the box on a continual basis. If you try to teach every concept in the same manner, there will be students who miss out on key factors because they aren’t wired to learn that way.For some teachers this was unfathomable and provided a lot of stress and for some it became too difficult and they decided to leave the profession. On top of that, kids are smarter than what we give them credit for. They will spot a fake sooner than anyone and thus destroy any credibility that the teacher may have. For those who stuck it out, we needed to provide exceptional networks of collegiality, through teaching staff, support staff and the support of the Board of Trustees through to outside agencies and experts within the field. We took a no one left behind approach to teacher efficacy.
An effective teacher is an excellent communicator. To be the best possible teacher you must be an effective communicator. However, in this area you are not just limited to being a skilled communicator to your students although that is a must. You must also be a strong communicator with parents of your students as well as your faculty/staff team within your building. If you have a difficulty communicating with any of these three groups, then you limit your overall effectiveness as a teacher.
An effective teacher is proactive rather than reactive. This can be one of most difficult aspects for a teacher to conquer. Intense planning and organization can ultimately make the job all the more less difficult. Teachers who plan ahead, looking for aspects that they might have issues with, and proactively looking for solutions to solve those problems will have less stress on them, than those teachers who wait until a problem arises and then tries to address it. Being proactive does not replace being adaptive. No matter how well you plan, there will be surprises. However, being proactive can cut down on these surprises tremendously, thus making you more effective overall.
An effective teacher strives to be better. A teacher who has grown complacent in what they do is the most ineffective kind of teacher. Any teacher who is not looking for new and better teaching strategies isn’t being an effective teacher. No matter how long you have taught, you should always want to grow as a teacher. Every year there is new research, new technology, and new educational tools that could help engage students better. Seek out professional development opportunities and try to apply something new to your class every year.
An effective teacher uses a variety of technology in their lessons. Like it or not we are in the 21st century, and this generation of students was born in the digital age. These students have been bombarded by technological advances unlike any other generation. They have embraced it, and if we as teachers do not, then we are falling behind. This is not to say that we should eliminate textbooks and books completely, but effective teachers are not afraid to implement other forms of technology within their lessons.
An effective teacher challenges their students. The most effective teachers, are often the ones that many students think are the most difficult. This is because they challenge their students and push them harder than the average teacher does. These are the teachers who are often students’ least favourite teachers at the time, but then later on in life they are the ones that we all remember and want to thank, because of how well they prepared us for life after our time with them. Being an effective teacher does not mean you are easy. It means that you challenge every one of your students and maximize your time with them so that they learn more than they ever thought they could learn.
An effective teacher understands the content that they teach and knows how to explain that content in a manner that their students understand. There are teachers who do not know the content well enough to effectively teach it. There are teachers who are truly experts on the content, but struggle to effectively explain it to their students. The highly effective teacher both understands the content and explains it on level. This can be a difficult skill to accomplish, but the teachers who can, maximize their effectiveness as a teacher.
Self-review at Te Awa School involves teachers reflecting on their practice and the impact that their teaching is having on student achievement. This ‘teaching as inquiry’ approach helps teachers to change their teaching practice to meet the needs of all their students. On-going data-gathering provides information to assist in monitoring student engagement, progress and achievement, adapting learning programmes and strategies and identifying students who need further challenge or additional support. Reflection also helps teachers design focused personal goals and select relevant professional learning to achieve these goals. Critically reflective teachers keep up to date with research, including conducting small research projects of their own (such as action research) and constantly evaluate their own teaching against models of good practice.
Teachers at Te Awa School set and share high expectations for student learning. There is an expectation from all teachers that all children will achieve and succeed and reach and surpass their potential. Teachers plan and implement learning programmes that promote students strengths and address their weaknesses. All students set goals relating to reading, writing and maths. Teacher's guide and provide multiple opportunities for children to work towards and through their goals (Stepping Stones- math progression, Paving Stones- reading progressions and Cobble Stones-writing progressions). Each child has learning conferences with their teacher throughout the year and this is where expectations and future areas to work on are discussed. Target plans are designed by teachers that focus on children who are below the standard or borderline with the standard.
Teachers at Te Awa School promote student learning in their practice highly effectively. All teachers are trained and qualified and receive regular and quality professional development. All teachers undergo a yearly attestation of teaching practice that involves a self-reflection. Teachers are involved in their own inquiries that focus on target students in their classroom for literacy and numeracy. Teachers consistently share and discuss their target students. They question, critique and offer different points of view. As a staff we consistently read and share best practice. We keep up with latest research and find ways to implement them in our practice. We are discussing and trying ways to bring some of these features into our curriculum. We are also exploring we have been using the Effective Literacy Practice Handbooks and looking at the DAT’s and focusing on strategies that have the biggest impact on our students learning. We are looking at ways where we can improve what we already do and make it a feature of our school. We value and constantly review our deliberate acts of teaching and/or effective pedagogy of teaching. We realise these are the cornerstone of what we do and our foundations so it is important that these are solid. Formative or live assessment is also a strength of Te Awa and we are beginning to assist students to understand more about their learning. We have worked hard and continue to work hard to ensure our children can talk about their own learning and achievements and their next steps for learning
Teachers use a variety of data to inform, give direction, measure progress and provide direction. We have refined our overall teacher judgements and our moderation processes. We collect data from a variety of sources and teachers use that data as evidence and next learning steps.
From the data teachers collect we use these to identify areas of strength and weaknesses. We use these to set goals, organise learning experiences that will interest and challenge the students. As a result of data collected, children may be targeted where their needs are identified and next steps.
Teachers are highly reflective and complete reflections on target groups and these are at the core of all teachers’ discussions.
We communicate regularly with parents about progress and show children’s evidence of progress to back up our judgements.
Children who have learning needs or are not achieving at the required standard are identified on teachers classroom descriptions. They are catered for and their needs and goals are work on in the class environment. The teacher is the expert so they use their knowledge, skills, judgement and experience to engage their children in challenging, worthwhile and purposeful activities that should accelerate their learning.
As a school all teachers are well aware of our children who are not meeting the standard. We all work closely to discuss what is happening and what could happen in the future. Teacher inquiries are aimed at these children who are not reaching the standard. We also run (when feasible) acceleration groups where small groups of children will receive a boost over a short period of time. We all work together and work hard on developing that child or those children in all ways not just academically. We put a lot of emphasis on our KEEN values and Social Skills program aimed at developing better children
The relationships at Te Awa School are strong, productive and respectful between teachers and students and students themselves. Children from all cultures get on well and children of different abilities also get on well. Children are treated as individuals and all children get the same opportunities to share and shine.
School Wide Behaviour:
Current behaviour research (PB4L) states that an effective school culture is one in which practice nurtures potential and fosters success for all. Boundaries are understood and agreed on by everyone. A supportive and safe school culture is important so students and their families feel accepted and have a sense of belonging. It also builds respectful relationships that foster self-esteem and contribute to student engagement and achievement.
The Treaty of Waitangi provides a rationale for building a school culture that acknowledges kaupapa Māori and promotes te reo and tīkanga Māori. Student achievement is affected by the degree to which a student’s culture is recognised and respected by the school and by the degree to which there is a strong connection between the culture of the community and whanau and the values of the school. Schools also need to recognise and accept the multicultural nature of New Zealand’s population and the diverse heritages and traditions of its students. Students are able to excel and successfully realise their cultural distinctiveness and potential.
An effective school culture is one that is safe and well-organised with expectations for behaviour that allow teachers to focus on their teaching and students on their learning. It promotes student well-being, encourages participation and enables resilience to develop.
There is a direct link between success in school and the school environment in which the learning takes place. Students are more able and more motivated to do well in schools that have a positive school culture and in which they feel safe and supported.
The physical environment reflects school values and the cultures of the student population. Buildings and facilities are easy to access, especially for students, staff, parents and visitors with disabilities. The school has policies and procedures in place to promote health and safety and to address any areas of concern, such as bullying and harassment.
We know that students are more likely to attend and achieve at school if they feel accepted, valued, respected and included. Schools should promote positive relationships between and amongst students, staff, and parents. Anti-bullying strategies and programs that develop social and emotional skills can help nurture a safe, caring and connected school environment. Positive relationships with parents can also assist in supporting their children’s attendance at school.
The starting point was to encourage positive and respectful relationships between the staff. The students at Te Awa School needed firstly to see that staff held each other in high respect and at the same time supported each other. This meant staff were the role models, promoted the use of manners and offered support to each other. At times these needed to be staged so that our students were able to see this. Classroom teacher would swop classes after lunch and read their favourite book to the children to demonstrate that our classes were shared. We also organised sport events between the parents and teachers at lunchtime to show students how to win and loose with parents in on the act. Our KEEN moto was presented through school photos where the staff were paired up and had to demonstrate our vision of being Knowledgeable, Enthusiastic, Empathetic and Nurturing. We then asked our students to decide on which pair of teachers were able to relay the message the best. An award was handed out at assembly.
Teacher talk also had to change at Te Awa School, deficit talk was eliminated from the staffroom as a rule. Teachers were only allowed to say positive things about their classroom or about particular children. This took time and there were consistent reminders but within a short amount of time we started to notice that there was more positive talk than negative took. Implementing PB4L at Te Awa School was a vehicle to change how we interacted with the students. Data collected from PB4L identified particular behaviours and areas and staff where then able to develop strategies that addressed the identified behaviour. Often it was just having a discussion with the students as to what was happening. Students were able to make suggestions to the PB4L lead team about things they wanted at school or activities during lunchtime. Through discussion teachers were able to listen to the needs of students rather than putting something in place to stop the behaviour.
The PB4L programme also implemented clear and high expectations and students became aware of what was expected throughout the school. These expectations covered classroom behaviour, transitioning around the school, school assembly behaviour and even the expectations of going to the toilet. Setting these KEEN expectations also openens the lines of communication between staff, teachers talked about the successes they had with both behaviour and learning. The school staffroom became a place of celebrating success stories which meant that other teachers heard and were able to reinforce the successes. We made a real fuss of these students and it showed that we really cared about them as individuals and showed students that we cared and loved them. As a staff we celebrated our students coming to school and rewarded high attendance at the end of each term. Overtime we started to see a change in the relationships between students, parents and teachers. As teachers built stronger relationships with students that opened the door to parents being brought in closer. Weekly postcards are sent home to parents saying positive things that their child had done that week. Postcards focussed on positive sharing or helping at school and parents reported back at how excited they were to receive a postcard and how parents praised their child at home. The home and school partnership became closer as parents became more comfortable a ‘real open door’ became evident. Our school staff room became our whanau room where parents started to meet and have a coffee and chat. This became an opportunity for school management to meet and talk to parents and develop relationships.
We have created a positive tone throughout the school and good relationships exist between teachers and students. Learning programmes are interesting and targeted therefore there are very few behaviour problems in classes. There are also very few behaviour problems in the playground. Children know about the expectations of behaviour and also know when they have acted inappropriately. Teachers are also proactive in the sense that they will often contact families if someone seems a bit off. Staff will also have conversations about children and discuss solutions to any problems - we are always aware of how all our children are going, not just the children we teach. This year we have put a great focus on our Social Skills programme. These are examples of meta cognition and/or self-regulation skills. Though we have no firm evidence of this we believe, at this stage, that these are having an effect, not only in terms of achievement but in terms of children’s own self-awareness and ability to be in control of oneself. The PB4L programme has allowed the school to develop action plans to address student behaviour focussing on strategies that allow the student to correct their own error and continue their learning. In class there is lots of sharing and feedback happens in class during Social Skills and as a whole school and that contributes to a positive learning environment. We currently have large numbers in the junior part of the school and while this is great for the future of the school it's important that these junior children are regularly exposed to the wonderful senior students who act as role models for these younger children. One part of the jigsaw puzzle of a positive learning environment is the older students working with the younger students and showing them the way. This happens on a regular basis and contributes to our environment.
Our aim is that all students are full participants in all aspects of school life and while we have a focus on literacy and numeracy we also offer many other opportunities to engage and learn in the other learning areas as well as offering many sporting and cultural activities. In classes we teach to identify needs and we have action plans in place to assist with certain children. We respect all children and we work hard to form respectful relationships with them and their families. This enables us to learn more about them and the fact that we teach them for a long period of time means we do get to know them well. The BOT and staff are also familiar with Ka Hikitia.
The whole school participates in kappa haka and te reo lessons weekly and we ensure that our students are exposed to as many cultural activities as possible. We partake in our local kappa haka festival and ensure that we plan a whole school visit to our local Marae. We have built teacher capability around te reo and tikanga Maori through professional development in level 1 Te Reo Maori through Te Wananga o Aotearoa and actively learning alongside their students in the classroom.
So what changes have we seen at Te Awa School:
Over time we saw Te Awa School become a caring and loving environment where everyone is valued and respected where there is a sense of trust and high expectations for the students and the staff.
Walking into Te Awa School you will sense a difference, a feeling that can't be described on paper. New parents to Te Awa School are often asked why they chose our school and most of their replies are that once they came into the school they could feel that this school was different to the others they have visited.
Our students are happy, caring and loving and have a sense of belonging and love coming to school. Our attendance data shows that for the past three years our attendance rate was above 90% even though we have a transient school community.
Te Awa School has unpacked the national Standards document, the Numeracy and literacy learning progressions and have interpreted these into our ‘Reading Paving Stones’,’ Writing Cobblestones’ and ‘Maths Stepping Stones’. This forms our students learning goals and expectations for student achievement. When closely monitored by the teachers they are able to clearly identify the students learning needs, next steps and gaps. Along with in depth professional development focussing on the reading direct act of teaching (Effective Literacy Handbook) the staff have gained the pedagogical knowledge of what teaching strategies make a difference to students learning. Our guided reading lessons focus directly on these specific strategies. We also specifically target students for reading, writing and maths so that identified students make accelerated progress. Student achievement levels for our priority students (Maori Students) has had a significant increase since 2011. Reading data showed that 58% of Maori students were meeting the National Standard compared to 82% of Maori Students achieving at or above the National Standard in 2015. Mathematics data showed that 40% of Maori students were meeting the National Standard compared to 81% of Maori Students achieving at or above the National Standard in 2015. Writing data showed that 42% of Maori students were meeting the National Standard compared to 85% of Maori Students achieving at or above the National Standard in 2015.
Over the last 3 years a significant effort has been put into developing the Te Awa Way. This has been done in consultation with the staff, Board of trustees, whanau and wider community. This has been done through the implementation of PB4L and creating a strong culture around KEEN. The value’s KEEN (Knowledgeable- Ako, Enthusiastic- Whakawhanaungatanga, Empathetic- Aroha and Nurturing- manaakitanga) have been woven into the Te Awa Curriculum. Our curriculum is designed and shaped in three stages, the national curriculum, the school curriculum and the classroom curriculum. The aim of our curriculum within this framework is so that learning and teaching is meaningful and beneficial for our students. The curriculum is underpinned with the principals of having high expectations, effective learning, capable communication and supporting students to achieve regardless of their individual circumstances. The Te Awa way and PB4L have created a culture of pride and identity. Staff, board, whanau and students live and breathe the KEEN Value system. Our curriculum sets high but achievable goals for our students. Their learning pathway has been carefully aligned with the learning progressions and National Standards so that our students can clearly see their next learning step.
PB4L and our schools social skills programme has placed value on relationships. Te Awa School places an emphasis on relationships that are positive and trusting. We promote student wellbeing, creating connections and a sense of belonging to the Te Awa School whanau. The strengths of students and their whanau are valued and used as the basis for promoting students learning and wellbeing. Cohesion across the school with regards to practice, interventions and initiatives contribute to an integrated, joined up, well ‘glued’ and seamless approach to wellbeing.
The Future:
Te Awa School continues to evolve and strive to be the best primary school that it can be. In 2015 Te Awa School become one of 12 schools in New Zealand to adopt an anti-bullying programme that has been developed in Finland. New Zealand has appalling statistics when it comes to bullying and what can happen when bullying is not addressed. Bullying is an issue for all schools, it's a New Zealand problem and KiVa is part of the solution. What we need is action - a deliberate approach to the reduction of bullying incidents. KiVa is evidence-based and has been designed to prevent bullying and to tackle the cases of bullying effectively. Prevention and intervention are both crucial, as no prevention efforts will make bullying disappear on their own.
Schools need effective tools for when a case of bullying comes to light. A key aspect of KiVa is constant monitoring of the situation in our schools.
KiVa has been evaluated in a large randomised controlled trial including 117 intervention schools and 117 control schools. The programme has been shown to reduce both self-and peer-reported bullying and victimisation significantly. It influences multiple forms of victimisation, including verbal, physical, and cyberbullying. In addition, positive effects on school liking, academic motivation and achievement have been reported. KiVa also reduces anxiety and depression and has a positive impact on students' perception of their peer climate. A remarkable 98% of victims involved in discussions with the schools' KiVa teams felt that their situation improved.
Finally, Finnish data from more than 1000 schools that started the implementation of KiVa in autumn 2009 showed that after the first year of implementation, both victimisation and bullying had reduced significantly. The KiVa programme won the European Crime Prevention Award in 2009.
Te Awa is a school that is built on love; the love of our students, the love of teaching, the love of our school whanau and the belief that everyone will succeed.
“Always aim for the moon and if you miss you will still be amongst the stars.”
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