Less than four months after an unfavourable Education Review Office (ERO) report on the Taieri Beach School, 15 of the 16 areas had been brought up to compliance standard, the High Court at Christchurch heard yesterday.
Christopher Rowe, a senior Dunedin-based review officer, said he was an independent member of the team which conducted a follow-up review to the unfavourable October 1993 report.
They went to the school early in February 1994, and investigated each of the 16 matters at issue.
They concluded that in 15 of the 16 areas there had been a "substantial shift" and a significant improvement in performance, Mr Rowe said.
He dealt with Robin Bain, the principal, and discussed matters with him and the pupils.
There were no issues. Mr Bain was co-operative.
He was not stressed and seemed "quite proud" of the changes he and his staff had made during the short period of time since the adverse report.
The defence argue Mr Bain was clinically depressed and was an inadequate and ineffective principal.
Mr Rowe said he was aware from a news clipping Taieri Beach School was "very much at the leading edge of information technology".
Mr Bain showed them the computers connecting the school to schools in other parts of the world.
It was "quite remarkable" for a small country school, Mr Rowe said.
He was the last witness to give evidence yesterday and the final hour of the sitting was taken up with the reading of David Bain's evidence from his first trial in 1995.
Justice Panckhurst will continue reading the transcript today and the Crown will then call the last of its witnesses.
It is not yet clear how soon the defence will begin calling its witnesses and whether Bain will give evidence.
