Glenavon ‘exceptional’ now
ERO return time
A young principal has been given the ticket to move a lower decile school away from close government monitoring.
Reviewers from the Education Review Office (ERO) were visiting Glenavon School every one to two years.
But the Blockhouse Bay school will now likely have its next review in four to five years, according to its latest review.
The report identifies Glenavon School as a high performing school.
Principal Phil Toomer , now 31, arrived at the school in 2014, when he was 28 years old.
He came from Redoubt North School in Manukau where he was a teacher, deputy principal and acting principal over seven years.
Back then, he had planned to build the Glenavon School in all areas, with student achievement a big focus.
‘‘There is no excuse just because a school is low decile to underachieve,’’ Toomer says.
‘‘I don’t think anyone had an issue with me being young. They were enthusiastic with the change of leadership.’’
Toomer says there are four major contributors to the new status: the staff, board of trustees, students and the community.
One example is introducing Step up the Talk, a programme focused on increasing children’s voice in their learning.
This means there are higher levels of engagement within the classroom, Toomer says.
The school has children of many ethnicities, with Pacific Island students making up more The period between visits for the review officers to visit a school is based on meeting certain criteria. Most schools will get another visit from the office in three years.
To get a four-to-five year review is an ‘‘exceptional standard’’ under the guidelines.
The school must have curriculum consistently effective in promoting student learning – across engagement, progress and achievement.
The ERO website says the school will have ‘‘learners actively engaged in their learning and progressing and achieving very well’’.
It will also have ‘‘Maori learners actively engaged in their learning, progressing and achieving very well and succeeding’’.
If a school has a one to two year return time this is because there is ‘‘concern about the education and safety of students.
Source: Education Review Office website
than 60 per cent of the school’s roll and Maori students numbering 18 per cent of pupils.
‘‘Our community around us is changing and so is the culture of the school,’’ Toomer says.