Monday 18th November,
2013
Apiti School recently consulted
with their school community and local community to gain information about how
stakeholders perceived different aspects of the school and its place and
importance within the community.
To those who contributed to the
survey, thank you for your time and willingness to share your views. As part of this process, I was commissioned
by the Board of Trustees to collect, collate, analyse and report back the information
I was given. I was neutral in this role
– I had connections in the past with Mary and Nicki through the Assess to Learn
project and cluster professional development around Teaching as Inquiry. I had some idea of the curriculum delivery
within the school but hadn’t worked in the school as such. My job was to do as outlined above and these
were my findings;
The three biggest groups who
responded to the survey were students, families (with attending students) and
staff members. There were some responses
from families (with non-attending students), the play centre community and
community members but disproportionate to the first three groups.
Those who completed the survey
would be aware that the questions varied in content and premise. The responses
to each question were analysed and trends identified. This process was peer reviewed by my
Director, Mrs Diane Leggett. Four overall trends became evident as I mined
the data. These trends are as follows:
- This is a great school! – Where kids are happy and feel as if their learning needs are being met.
- Community division - There is an undercurrent of division with the school community and into the wider community.
- School Curriculum – There is a varied view on this. Many believe the inquiry based curriculum is effective and of high level – others are unsure of the benefits.
- Reputation – It is the perception of some people within community that the school is not running to its full potential.
To conclude, I hope this has given you an idea as
to where we are at with this process. It
is important that we work through the process systematically and this does take
time. Once again thank you for
contributing to the community survey, it is important that we work through the
evident trends and together build on the positives to continue to grow Apiti
School to ensure it is a asset within your community in the future.
Anna Stephenson
(Dip Tchg, BEd, MEd)
Centre for Educational
Development
Massey University
