VOGELTOWN SCHOOL - ANALYSIS OF VARIANCES 2015
OBJECTIVE 1LINK TO STRATEGIC GOAL: / Goal 2: “Curriculum programmes are innovative and meet the needs of the children”
ANNUAL OBJECTIVE: / Maths: To complete and embed reviewed mathmatics programme into Vogeltown School. To take part in the AliM (Accelerated learning in maths) programme and embed the programme into everyday teaching.
TARGET FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: / The students in years four to six who are identified as below in maths in Term 12015 will move from below the maths national standard, to at or above the maths standard by Term 4 2015. This target will be measured by the use of maths OTJ’s.
BASELINE DATA: / At the end of 2014 we had:
6% of Y4 boys, 16% of Y4 girls, and 25% of Maori boys below or well below the standard
26% of Y5 boys, 26% Y5 girls, 50% Y5 Maori boys and 33% of Y5 Maori girls below or well below the standard
26% of Y6 boys, 50% of Y6 girls, 50% Maori boys and 75% of Y6 Maori girls below or well below the standard
ACTIONS (What we did) / OUTCOMES (What happened) / REASONS FOR VARIANCE (Why did it happen?) / EVALUATION (Where to next?)
We were part of the MOE funded initiative AliM (accelerating learning in maths) the genesis of which comes from the ideas from a book called ‘In the Fastlane’ where the theory is you can accelerate a childs achievement of 1 years growth through a 15 week intervention.
We organised an SIT team combining our AliM and ALL teachers (4 teachers in total). We organised how this would work at VS after our PD and work with our mentors. We decided, looking at the data and keeping the AliM at the senior school, that our Yr 5 students were the best candidates for this intervention.
Mike George lead the AliM group with initial testing for baseline data and then building a relationship with the kids who were part of this group.
Parents were invited to come and see the programme in action, which some did.
We discussed AliM at our staff meetings – looking at the data, the teachings and learnings from this intervention.
At the end of the intervention a report was produced and presented as part of the AliM final PD session in Wellington by Mike George and Heather Oliver. / Baseline data was collected with initial testing from NUMP testing and OTJ’s for these student from 2014.
The data showed the following:
Gender / Ethinicity / OTJ’14 / OTJ ‘15
F / E / B / At
F / M / B / At
F / E / B / At
F / M / B / At
M / E / B / At
M / M / B / At
M / E / B / At
The OTJ’s were at the end of 2014 and the end of 2015 respectively.
The data shows the students achievement increased one years growth over the 15 week intervention. / The relationship that Mike George developed with the students was a key ingredient in the achievement of these students. They felt safe and secure with Mike and were willing to give everything a go and verbalise their thoughts in front of others.
The small group size was also a reason for such good results. Being able to share teaching with a small number of students gave each student valuable 1:1 time and ‘extra’ tuition to the individual students.
Meeting with the parents of the kids in the group was a positive experience for both Mike and the parents. A good relationship developed.
The kids (and Mike) enjoyed having their own area to learn in. This was a teaching space between classrooms where the kids developed a sense of ownershipand safety.
Lastly, having these sessions at the same time each day. We made sure that this teaching time was never interrupted and thus students learning was continually improving. / We plan (and have been accepted) as a part of Alim 2.
We will continue to monitor the Yr 5 kids as they go on to Yr 6 and target their learning and achievement in maths.
We will continue with small groups, and with the same teacher, as Mike has developed a key set of skills now to help these students and their learning.
We feel we had enough data to initially hep this group, however in 2016 Mike will administer and mark the pre tests himself, as there were some kids who were judged as ‘below’, but in looking deeply, perhaps should have been judged ‘well below’.
In 2016 we will have a pre meeting with parents, as we did in 2015. However we will also have a post AliM meeting with parents as a ‘graduation ceremony’ of sorts.
OBJECTIVE 2
LINK TO STRATEGIC GOAL: / Goal 2: “Curriculum programmes are innovative and meet the needs of the children”
ANNUAL OBJECTIVE: / ACCELERATED LEARNERS: For school leaders to inform the BOT about the effectiveness of strategies to accelerate progress of priority learners.
TARGET FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: / Targeted learners will meet the national standard for their age group by the time they leave Vogeltown School.
BASELINE DATA: / See table:
ACTIONS (What we did) / OUTCOMES (What happened) / REASONS FOR VARIANCE (Why did it happen?) / EVALUATION (Where to next?)
We continued with our Alim and ALL practice which was working so well, and began to push this idea of ‘acceleration’ with the staff. There was always a section at Staff meetings to discuss accelerated learners and any intervention ideas that were really making a difference.
The SIT team met once per term to discuss how to ‘drip feed’ the data and intervention ideals to the staff. This included:
- A powerpoint about the genesis from ‘Learning in the fast lane’.
- A presentation we had made to the MOE team about what we had done, was also presented to the staff
- We put together data wall charts with each syndicate and this visually helped with our understanding of where the kids were at within our teams.
- We had a targeted group of learners. We met once per term with outside agencies to discuss these students. They were also a part of our Senior Staff meetings each week.
- The targeted learners were reported to the BOT as well as small group intervention we were runnning parallel with the AliM and ALL groups.
The staff are keen to trial this within their own classrooms – we are yet to determine exactly how this will run.
The staff pedagogy is changing as we talk about data more, analyse the data more and become more strategic with where we put our resources and budget.
Syndicate discussions are around the data walls and targeted learners. These discussions lead to improved teaching, acceleration of learners and better results for your students.
In the 14 areas of reading (from Y1 – Y6), the results showed we only went down in 12 out of 72 percentages areas.
In Writing, of the 24 areas our percentages went down in 15 of these areas.
In maths, of the 24 areas we went down in 15 of the percentages.
We had a larger group of Year 1’s in the 2015 data as our roll increased by 40 during the year, and as the Year 0 kids had 40 weeks of schooling. This changes our Yr 1 results quite considerably. / We are going to do AliM 2 and ALL 2 in 2016.
We are also going to continue with the small group of junior learners we were running at the junior parallel to the ALL programme, however this group ran for the full year (see objective 3 report on variance).
We are going to run an AliM programme at the junior school, parallel with the AliM intervention we run at the senior school in 2016. We will be funding this intervention ourselves based on the data and success from AliM 1 in 2015.
We are focusing on reading in 2016 through to 2018 as a staff. New programmes, initiatives.
Vowel sounds are a concern, and reading for meaning. More analysis will come from the testing in Term 1 of 2016.
Teacher inquiry is a focus for 2016. A major component is looking closely at the data to change teaching to help student achievement.
Boys reading again stood out as an area where our OTJ percentages went up in T4 2015.
OBJECTIVE 3
LINK TO STRATEGIC GOAL: / Goal 2: “Curriculum programmes are innovative and meet the needs of the children”
ANNUAL OBJECTIVE: / Reading recovery alternative: to make the best use of resources for at risk readers in the junior school
TARGET FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: / 50% of children who enter reading recovery leave Vogeltown School either before they finish the programme, or shortly after. Since 2008 we have had only one child complete reading recovery and go on to continue all her schooling at Vogeltown.
We are looking for ‘significant progress towards achievement’ of National Standards by these identified kids.
BASELINE DATA: / A group of 14 Yr 2 students were identified In Term 1 of 2015. These students reading levels were between level 8 (yellow 3) and 13 (green 2). These students are between 6 and 7 years of age, which means their reading levels were 1 to 1.5 below their chronological age.
ACTIONS (What we did) / OUTCOMES (What happened) / REASONS FOR VARIANCE (Why did it happen?) / EVALUATION (Where to next?)
We used some of our budget and the TSB literacy grant to pay the salary for our ‘reading recovery alternative’ teacher (RRAT).
The first task was to get the data from the teachers and this was analysed to find which students were 1 to 1.5 below their chronological age.
The intervention was a tier 2 intervention which means they read with our ‘RRAT’ everyday in small groups and with daily analysis from the RRAT.
The strategy and intervention behind this programme came from the ALL and AliM ideals and the ‘Learning in the fastlane’ research and genesis.
Extra PD was provided to the RRAT. PD included:
Yolander Soryl Phonics programme
Learning in the fastlane reading, and PPT
Part of staff meetings where discussion was around the ALL and ALIM interventions.
Our goal for the students on this intervention was to get to level 17 (Turq 1) or better by the end of the year. This would mean the students had been accelerated by one years growth and were now reading at their age equivalent. / The impact of this intervention was excellent, with 7 students making such huge growth and achievement by Term 3 that they were taken off the roll, and 5 new kids added to the group.
2 students left school during the year.
Of the 20 students who were part of the intervention during the year, all 20 made it to level 17 – (their chronological age).
See Data record below (next page): / The impact of the intervention and reasons for such a high achievement were:
- Small group
- Same teacher each day
- A specific space in the junior school for this to happen
- A well trained teacher with lots of strategies and skills
- A teacher who believes in the idea of intense intervention and accleration
- A junior staff who supported the programme
- The BOT support for the budgeting and idea
To continue this intervention in 2016 and to see if the same acceleration can be made with a new group of students.
To continue to use the TSB literacy grant to fund this programme. Our programme has been reviewed as a programme of good practice by the TSB and their advisor.
OBJECTIVE 4
LINK TO STRATEGIC GOAL: / Goal 2: “Curriculum programmes are innovative and meet the needs of the children”
ANNUAL OBJECTIVE: / REVIEW: The Arts programme at Vogeltown School
TARGET FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: / As a part of the 2011/2012 community consultation, there was interest from our community about raising the profile of the ‘The Arts’ at Vogeltown School. In 2015 it was planned to to complete a review of the ‘The Arts’ including recommendations as a way forward.
BASELINE DATA: / There was an arts review completed in 2012 – see report below
ACTIONS (What we did) / OUTCOMES (What happened) / REASONS FOR VARIANCE (Why did it happen?) / EVALUATION (Where to next?)
There were no more actions on this in 2015. / N/A / As I took over in Term 2 2015, I was unaware of this second part of the ‘The Arts’ review. The staff, and I were under the impression that the review was completed in 2012 (see report in appendix A) / We need to ask the community and consult with whanau if ‘The Arts’ is still an area of need for review by the school.
OBJECTIVE 5
LINK TO STRATEGIC GOAL: / Goal 2: “Curriculum programmes are innovative and meet the needs of the children”
ANNUAL OBJECTIVE: / REVIEW: External sports offered at Vogeltown School (not internal programmes)
TARGET FOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: / In 2014 feedback was sought about the school sports and a workshop was held to gather feedback. An action was developed and circulated.
The purpose of the commitment in this annual plan is to continue to progress the review of sport and initiate changes and developments as required.
BASELINE DATA: / Summer 2014/2015 saw over 130 children involved in external sports. There were 170 children involved in winter sports.
Summer 2015/16 has seen the inclusion of 155 kids (Indoor Netball 35, Summer Soccer 65, 3 Cricket teams 22, 4 touch teams 33) and 111 in winter sports (Roller Hockey 7, Netball 50, Mini-Ball 24, Basketball 18, Hockey 12).
ACTIONS (What we did) / OUTCOMES (What happened) / REASONS FOR VARIANCE (Why did it happen?) / EVALUATION (Where to next?)
The basis of this objective was completed in 2014/2015 by the ‘sports committee’ at Vogeltown. The notes to complete this analysis came from Margi Betteridge.
We re-vamped the PE shed and did a stock take of the gear we had. Was this enough for the school? Coaches? We also bought new netball posts.
The whole school is doing the Sport Taranaki ‘Skills 4 Life’ offered to schools. This is a fundamental skills programme to help with the basic skills to partake in physical activities (fundamental skills)and an understanding of the strategies to play any physical activity commonly now known as “The Game.”
Kids at Vogeltown are involved in ‘Have a go’ sports – hockey and cricket.
The school newsletter has a section dedicated to the sports at VS. This section ‘the sports desk’ communicates – draws, coach of the month, gear required and any other information related to sports at VS. Margi is in charge of this.
There have been coaching kits and sports gear kits put together for the coaches taking the code. These are stored in the PE shed locked cupboard.
To advertise for coaches as early as we know when the sports area is available. Also advertise for the coaches to be a part of any coaching that is offered through the clubs – a special invitation to coaches in case they miss the chance.
To develop a ‘Vogeltown Fairplay policy’ that all the kids and the parents agree and sign as part of signing up to play in these codes.
Many of the sports on offer at Vogeltown are now offered through the clubs. We will take advantage of this offer as clubs have more access to funding, gear and coaches. Cricket in 2016 will be through Woodleigh and Old Boys (except Kiwi cricket – still organized by VS). Football through Woodleigh and Rangers in 2015-2016.
At the end of the season, we will put together a ‘survey monkey’ (or similar) to canvas the coaches and parents as to how the sports organization was for the parents/caregivers and kids. This feedback will be critical on how we organize the sports at VS in the future. We will also be able to pass on the feedback to the clubs should they want it.
Coaches will be invited to be a part of the ‘Thank You’ morning tea in Term 4. This will be the staff and schools chance to formally thank the coaches and give them a card on behalf of the school. / More gear was ordered for the school (Kiwisport money) and we built a new room within the PE shed for specialist gear for coaching and classroom teaching.
We are going to monitor this throughout 2016. The staff had some PD on TOD with Sport Taranaki and the feedback was excellent. The sessions they have run so far are engaging and exciting for the kids (and staff).
More kids are getting excited about these sports as they see ‘specialists come in show them the skills required to play.
This will continue to be parents first port of call for sports at VS. We are looking at making a ‘sports at VS’ facebook page, but at the moment all updates are on the school facebook page.
The school website should have links to draws etc as well.
This will continue in 2016/2017.
Some coaches are unaware of the help that is on offer for them. Many clubs in New Plymouth offer Level 1 – 5 coaching for people who are keen to learn.
The players and the parents both have a part to play in making sure that we are fair in the way we conduct ourselves on (and off) the field. The way parents/adults role model appropriate behaviour is replicated by kids.