Charter
School Charter 2008
1. INTRODUCTION
Wainuiomata Primary School’s Vision and Values Statements reflect the aspirations of staff, Board of Trustees, parents and caregivers, for the children who go to Wainuiomata Primary School.
In order to reflect our vision and values the school aims to:
· Identify children’s individual needs and provide varied programmes that will meet these individual needs and encourage success for each child.
· Honour our obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi by recognising the unique position of Māori.
· Promote increased participation and success of Māori through the advancement of Māori education initiatives, consistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. · Encourage a strong sense of self-discipline in each child and a desire to learn.
· Provide a safe, secure and harmonious environment.
· Recognise and utilise staff strengths.
· Promote inclusive, non-sexist, culturally sensitive attitudes and practices.
School Description
Wainuiomata Primary School was founded in 1857 and is situated at the south end of the Wainuiomata Valley. In 2002, as the result of an Area Review by the Ministry of Education, the school merged with a neighbouring School, Wood Hatton. Wainuiomata Primary has a student roll of over 350 with an ethnic composition of European (60%), Māori (31%), Pacific Island (7%) and Asian (2%).
Our school community is both suburban and rural. The school community values the importance of good communication between the various groups that make up our school – children, parents/caregivers, Board of Trustees, leadership, teachers and support staff. We recognise that good communication enhances teaching and learning and helps build positive, collaborative relationships between home and school.
Wainuiomata Primary School is a U5, Decile 4 contributing school catering for students from Years 1 to 6. Students are provided with an emotionally supportive environment. We aim to create a climate of support and respect for individual and cultural differences.
Features of our school that assist us to do the above are:
· School wide data gathering systems that give a clear picture of our students` achievement, particularly in literacy and numeracy
· Identifying areas of need through school wide data systems and establishing programmes to target these areas
· Commitment to the best possible achievement for individual students
· Creating a climate of support for individual students and recognising their strengths and needs
· Professional development, and individual learning pathways for teachers, in effective teaching practice
· Emphasis on literacy and numeracy and effective practice in classroom programmes
· Reading Recovery programmes
· Learning assistance programmes that target areas of need
· Teaching programmes that extend our able students
· The use of Information and Communication Technology to support teaching and learning
· The school’s cultural mix reflected in programmes and events
· The delivery of Kapa Haka and Tikanga Māori programmes
· Regular consultation with and reporting to parents and caregivers
2. STRATEGIC SECTION
Our current school wide data is informing us that while most of our students are achieving as well or better than our school expectations, some are not.
We have identified the following areas for improvement:
· Achievement in numeracy
· Achievement in literacy
Our community consultation processes concur with these areas.
The school intends to pursue the following strategic goals over the next 3-5 years:
· Improve student achievement in numeracy
· Improve student achievement in reading
· Improve student achievement in writing
· Improve teacher content knowledge in literacy and numeracy
· Improve transfer of understanding of literacy and numeracy pedagogy to practice
· Improve teacher practice across all curricula
· Improve leadership practice throughout the school
· Continue to develop our school as a Professional Learning Community.
These goals are consistent with the national focus in improving literacy and numeracy outcomes and with the Board’s expectations of student achievement, and teacher effectiveness.
Achievement towards these goals will be reflected by more of our students meeting the following achievement goals.
Numeracy
· Developing mastery of basic mathematical facts to a level appropriate to their age and potential
· Developing mathematical knowledge and a range of strategies to solve mathematical problems and applying these to every day life
Reading
· Achieving at or above the national norm in all aspects of reading
· Reading a variety of texts with understanding and enjoyment
· Demonstrating a positive attitude to reading
Writing
· Developing the skills necessary to write confidently and effectively in a variety of text types
· Developing mastery of the writing process over time
· Applying the skills of the writing process to all aspects of their written work.
Focussed school-wide professional development and the building of a culture of enquiry and reflection will help teachers meet the following outcomes:
· Improved teacher content knowledge in literacy and numeracy
· Improved transfer of understandings of literacy and numeracy pedagogy to practice
· Transference of effective practice to all areas of teaching
· Improved student achievement in numeracy and literacy
· Improved leadership practice across the school.
The reading, writing and mathematical benchmarks are recorded in the school’s achievement statement which is the Board’s expectations of student achievement.These strategic goals fit in with the school’s long-term curriculum development priorities, which are:
2008
· Major Focus – Numeracy, Literacy
· Minor Focus – ICT, Gifted and Talented, Maori and Pacific Islands student achievement, social skills
2009
· Major Focus – Numeracy, Literacy
2010
· Major Focus - Literacy, Numeracy
· Minor Focus - ICT, The Arts, PE and Health.
Our full strategic plan provides the detail.
The Board will budget prudently so that meaningful work in these areas that improves student achievement can be carried out. The school budget will cater for work to be planned and implemented in these areas. Expenditure will be monitored and controlled to ensure our budget allows us to pursue the strategic goals. Financial performance in this area will be consistent with school policy and procedure statements and will be regularly reported to the Board.
A core element of the process of curriculum development and improving student achievement is the ongoing provision of a safe and healthy learning environment; a priority that the Board takes seriously in it’s planning and budgeting. This priority is detailed in our full strategic plan and in our 10 year property and maintenance plan.Our 10 year property and maintenance plan is updated annually and also outlines how the Board maintains a safe and healthy learning environment.
3. ANNUAL SECTION
The school Annual Plan is a detailed planning document developed to implement strategic planning for 2008.
Annual Plan 2008
Numeracy
Student data gathered in November 2007 tells us the following:
· 49% to 67% of students in years 3, 4, 5 and 6 are achieving at or above their expected level in Basic Facts
· 25% of year 2 students are achieving at or above their expected level in Basic Facts
· asTTle number tests showed us that:
o Our year 4, 5 and 6 mean scores are at or slightly above the national mean
o Assessment data shows that Maori student achievement is below that of NZ European achievement
o The year 4 and 5 ‘tail’ is a little shorter than the national norm and the year 6 ‘tail’ is half the national norm
· All students continued to develop numeracy knowledge.
· Planned observations of teachers shows improvement in three of the five areas of effective teaching practice
· The school continues to build teacher understanding and knowledge of numeracy and the implications this has for numeracy teaching and assessment.
Our targets will aim to raise achievement in numeracy of all children from Y1 to Y6 with specific focus on identified low achieving cohorts.
Reading
Our student data from November 2007 (asTTle, PM Benchmarks, 6 Yr Observational Survey, New Entrants Survey) tells us the following:
· We recorded continued growth in the targeted aspects of reading for all year groups with Maori and non-Maori results similar
· In years 2, 4, 5 and 6 the majority of children (55% or more) are reading at or above their expected level. There has also been a decrease in the percentage of children reading below their expected level
· In year 3, 49% of children are reading at or above their expected level.
· In comparing 2006 data, there has been a positive shift in ALL year levels
· The 6 Year Observational Survey data shows considerable movement in regard to stanines compared to the 2006 New Entrant data
· 2007 New Entrant literacy knowledge data shows that 54% of new entrants are in stanine 1 and 2.
Our targets will aim to lift the achievement of all students with specific focus on the Year 1 and 2 cohorts and on identified low achieving readers in the middle and senior school.
Targets for 2008
Numeracy:
· To lift achievement of basic mathematical facts knowledge throughout the school
· Through a continuing focus in numeracy to raise numeracy achievement levels in all students
· To focus specific attention on low achieving students in all year groups
· To focus specific attention on Maori students
Reading
· To lift the achievements of all students over all aspects of reading
· To lift reading attitudes in all students
· To focus particular attention on the Year 1 and 2 cohorts
· To focus particular attention on low achieving readers, Year 2 to 6
Capital and Maintenance Project
· Continue up-grade of school pool
· Plan and construct sand pits for junior and middle / senior school
· Upgrade existing junior adventure playground
· Up-grade school student toilets
· Upgrade and redevelop school signage
Our 10 Year Property Plan lists our planned maintenance items
Professional Development
· Continued participation in the EHSAS funded Wainuiomata Education Leadership and Learning (WELL) Project – focus on leadership within schools and across the cluster
· On going school wide numeracy and literacy professional learning focussed on content knowledge and effective teaching practice
· On going timetabled staff meetings facilitated by outside experts and school professional leaders
· Resource Teacher of Literacy support for literacy leaders
· Reporting to parents and engaging our various school community groups –effective implementation of all reporting processes
· Targeted ICT professional development for all staff
· Effective practice – individual learning pathways (ILPs) for all teachers
Performance Management
· The school’s policy and procedure statements relating to performance management will be followed. For 2008, classroom observations will be carried out in effective teaching practice and will form part of whole school and individual teacher professional development.
· All support staff will be involved in a performance appraisal process
EEO Obligations
The school’s EEO objectives for 2008 are:
· Board and staff appointments to reflect the cultural and ethnic make up of our school community
· All appointments will enable people to pursue their careers without their chances being reduced by factors that are irrelevant to the requirements under consideration
Finance and Assets
· The school’s 2008 budget details how resources will be allocated to achieve improved student outcomes
· Planned asset expenditure for 2008 is
- Provide $4000 for ICT upgrade
- Upgrade selected computers
- Upgrade ICT and Office photocopiers
- Upgrade Server and Network
- Provide $6500 for mathematics resources
- Provide $3500 for literacy resources
- Provide $3000 for library resources
Health and Safety
· Our Hazard Register lists the hazards we have identified for minimisation and isolation in 2008
· We will continue to develop our social skills programme
· All staff with medical room responsibility will continue to have planned first aid update training every two years
· We will continue to evaluate and develop our school-wide behaviour programmes and provide professional development to staff to implement new policy and procedures.
· Our strategic plan details all health and safety policy review for 2008
Additional Resources for Special Support
· Ongoing Reviewable Resourcing Scheme (ORRS). We will receive approximately $10,000 to support ORRS funded special needs students in our school. This money will be spent on Teacher Aides and specific resources to support learning for these children.
4. PROCEDURAL INFORMATION
The Charter and Targets for 2008 were developed by Board members, parents, teachers and the Principal. They were made available to the school community for comment and then ratified by the staff and Board.
Wainuiomata Primary School’s planning year is from 28 January to 19 December. This year a copy of our updated charter will be lodged with the Ministry of Education by 31 March. A copy of the annual report will be lodged with the Ministry of Education by 31 May of the following year.
