Kia ora koutou,

Spring is right around the corner, which is exciting, and our students have been enjoying the lunchtime sunshine.

During our recent Board of Trustees meeting, the senior leadership team updated the Board on our School Mid-Year Data. This report outlines our progress toward the targets we've set.

The Mid-Year Data report consolidates information about student achievement in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics, projecting student progress towards meeting the end-of-year Curriculum Expectations.

Teachers gather this data by conducting an Overall Teacher Judgement, which assesses students' current curriculum levels. This judgement considers various assessment data to determine the appropriate Curriculum Level for each student. It also helps gauge whether students are on track to meet the End-of-Year Curriculum Expectations.

Here are the key points from our Mid-Year Data:

Reading 85% of children are predicted to meet or exceed the end-of-year expectation. 

• 12% currently are expected to exceed the end-of-year expectation. 
• 73% are on track to succeed
• 12% are being monitored as there is a chance they will not meet the end-of-year expectations
• 4% require intervention and are unlikely to meet the end-of-year expectation. 

Writing 80% of children are predicted to meet or exceed the end-of-year expectation. 

• 3% currently are expected to exceed the end-of-year expectation. 
• 77% are on track to succeed
• 15% are being monitored as there is a chance they will not meet the end-of-year expectations
• 5% require intervention and are unlikely to meet the end-of-year expectation. 

Mathematics 84% of children are predicted to meet or exceed the end-of-year expectation. 

• 4% currently are expected to exceed the end-of-year expectation. 
• 80% are on track to succeed
• 11% are being monitored as there is a chance they will not meet the end-of-year expectations
• 5% require intervention and are unlikely to meet the end-of-year expectations. 

Our school has systems in place aimed to help identify students at risk of not achieving the end-of-year expectations and those who will require intervention in order to make accelerated progress towards their goals. As part of this process, teachers explore potential learning or behavioural barriers or obstacles preventing students from reaching their goals and then look at ways they can support them within the available resources.

Here are some examples of our approach:

Intervention Register: 

We maintain a school-wide register of students at risk of not achieving the Curriculum Expectations or children who require intervention as they need to make more than one year's progress within a year to try and catch up. We closely track their progress over multiple years. 

For those needing intervention, we delve deeper into possible reasons that could be affecting their learning. We consider factors like attendance and potential special learning needs. We involve external agencies if necessary. We also prioritise these students for extra support, such as teacher aides and have a number of small group interventions in place.

Target Action Plans: 

Our teachers collaboratively create Target Learner Action Plans. They focus on specific students, designing adaptations to the learning programs that cater to diverse needs. They look at aspects such as research, professional development opportunities and proven strategies to help students meet their goals. This process of teachers working together helps to build overall teacher capability in creating programmes that support and challenge all students. 

Teachers also utilise having more than one teacher in a class to group students based on their needs to help personalise the learning the best they can. This differentiated learning benefits all as they are taught closer to their achievement level, rather than solely based on their age/ year level. 

SENCO and Learning Support Coordinator: 

Our Special Needs Coordinator assists families in identifying potential learning barriers. They connect families with relevant external agencies if needed. Additionally, our Learning Support Coordinator collaborates with teachers to provide in-class support and works with small groups outside the regular class programme as well. 

Partnerships with Whaanau:

Whaanau play an important role in accelerating progress with learners. Our teachers make contact with parents of children who they have identified as needing to make accelerated progress, outlining why they are a target learner, the interventions taking place at school and how the parents can help at home. Our Term 1 Teacher/ Whaanau catch ups’ are also a good time to have these conversations and set goals for the year, as well invitations for follow up conversations after the Mid- Year Student-Led Conferences. Attendance plays an important role in a child’s ability to access the learning, so we communicate with families each term when their child’s attendance has dropped into a moderate or chronic level of absenteeism. 

The teachers will complete another process of pulling together a range of assessment data to make an Overall Teacher Judgement of each child’s best fit curriculum level, which will be reflected on your child’s end of year school report. 

On another note, last week our Sports Camp students enjoyed their week long Sports camp. It was an awesome opportunity for them to participate in a range of different sports and have the added dynamic of a camp with 10 other schools. Thank you to Jenna Mateni and Phil Greig for the organisation of this event. Both teachers supported our representatives for the duration of the camp. We value the commitment and dedication of our teachers, who commit to long days and spending a week away from their families. We also had three amazing parents attend, Roydon Barnes, Damon Lemon and Rachele Dinsdale. They were a massive support to the teachers and the students. We also had plenty of parents volunteer for transport as well, so thank you to you all. Finally, thanks again to all our Sports Camp Sponsors, the students looked very neat in their Sports Camp uniforms. 

Ngaa mihi,

Nyree Olliver