Reporting to parents - Patoka School

1. Reporting to parents - Patoka School A community meeting to outline some of the key features of our reporting programme

2. What are the current expectations from the Ministry National Administration Guideline 2 • Each board of trustees, with the principal and teaching staff, is required to: • develop a strategic plan which documents how they are giving effect to the National Education Guidelines through their policies, plans and programmes, including those for curriculum, NgāWhanaketangaRumaki Māori and/or National Standards*, aromatawai and/or assessment, and staff professional development; • maintain an on-going programme of self-review in relation to the above policies, plans and programmes, including evaluation of information on student achievement; and • report to students and their parents on the achievement of individual students, and to the school’s community on the achievement of students as a whole and of groups (identified through NAG 1(c) above) including the achievement of Māori students against the plans and targets referred to in 1(e) above. National Administration Guideline 2a • report to students and their parents on the student’s progress and achievement in relation to NgāWhanaketangaRumaki Māori and/or National Standards. Reporting to parents in plain language in writing must occur at least twice a year;

3. What happens to the data we gather from school? • NAG 2a also asks us to: • report to the Secretary for Education by 1 March school-level data on NgāWhanaketangaRumaki Māori and/or National Standards under four headings: • school strengths and identified areas for improvement; • the basis for identifying areas for improvement; • planned actions for lifting achievement; and • how students are progressing in relation to NgāWhanaketangaRumaki Māori and/or National Standards. • report to the Secretary for Education by 1 March on the numbers and proportions of students achieving Manawa Toa, Manawa Ora, Manawa Āki, Manawa Taki in relation to NgāWhanaketangaRumaki Māori and/or at, above, below or well below National Standards, including by Māori, Pasifika, European/Pākehā, Asian, gender, and by year level. • report the NAG 2A (b) and NAG 2A (c) NgāWhanaketangaRumaki Māori and/or National Standards information in the format prescribed by the Secretary for Education from time to time.

4. What do we do at Patoka School? • At Patoka School we report to parents in the following ways: • Twice a year parents receive a written report in plain language and in relation to the National Standards. Children receive an interim report in Term 2 and a End of Year report in Term 4. • Students completing their 1st, 2nd or 3rd year at school receive a fact sheet that provides details of where they are at in relation to the National Standards. This is presented at the end of the term where their anniversary falls. Parents are invited to meet with the teacher to discuss this information. • Parent interviews are held in Term 1 and Term 3. These are open to all parents. Children’s progress is discussed and goals and next steps established. • An end of Year report goes home to all students. Included in this is a fact sheet that explains where your child is at in relation to the National Standards (Year 1,2 or 3 students may not have the fact sheet included if they have received it during the year)

5. End of Year report form: Levels of achievement are recorded at the end of the year in the boxes at the top of the 3 main sections. Comments and next steps are provided. Teachers also make suggestions about how you can help at home. The back page and front page also provide opportunities for teachers to provide feedback on the topics, key competencies

6. Interim report form: Levels of achievement are not included on this format. Comments and next steps are provided. Teachers also make suggestions about how you can help at home. The interim report does not include comments on the topics or key competencies.

7. The Fact sheet The Fact sheet provides the information that is required of us by the Ministry. It clearly indicates where you child is working at in relation to the National Standards. The Fact sheet is included as an insert into our reports. This allows parents to decide how this information is shared with their children.

8. Suggested changes

9. Changes to the timing of reports for Year 1,2 and 3 children Currently, children in Year 1,2 and 3 receive a fact sheet after their anniversary (i.e 1,2 or 3 years at school). They all receive an interim report in Term 2 and an end of Year report in Term 4. The proposed change is: • Children in Year 1,2 and 3 will receive their interim report after 6 months at school (to be handed out at the end of the term that the 6 month anniversary falls in). • They will receive their end of year report after completing their full year (to be handed out in the term that this anniversary falls in) • Facts sheets will be included with both reports • Parent interviews for these students will coincide with their reports which will allow the teacher to discuss your child’s progress report with you. Rationale for the change: We want to be able to report accurately on the progress of our junior children and feel that this needs to be done after a full year in each age group. Currently some junior students receive an End of Year report in December and may have only been at school for a term or less. • Note: Year 4 – 8 will remain the same with interview s in Term 1 and 3, and reports in term 2 and 4

10. Change for the senior report. We are going to look at making a small change to the writing level and reading level on the report. Currently your child is given a level for writing. It can be level 1,2,3,4,5 or 6. The proposed change is to break these levels down even further into sub levels. This will provide data that will enable us to look closely at all students, not only those who are below and well below. A future goal is to be able to set a school wide target that focuses on those children who are At the National Standard and are very close to being Above the National Standard. Sub levels will allow us to identify these children more closely.

11. As you can see the levels tend to cross over meaning there is definite scope for children at different year groups to be achieving in the higher levels and same with children working below. It is for this reason that we are looking at defining the levels across 3 sub groups: Beginning Proficient (working at) Advanced (Completing) We feel this will provide more detailed data on the achievement of our students and will lead to us being able to define our targets even more specifically than we already do.