Christchurch Adventist School

Education institution number:
317
School type:
Composite
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
256
Telephone:
Address:

15 Grants Road, Papanui, Christchurch

View on map

Christchurch Adventist School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within ten months of the Education Review Office and Christchurch Adventist School working in Te Ara Huarau, an improvement evaluation approach used in most English Medium State and State Integrated Schools. For more information about Te Ara Huarau see ERO’s website. www.ero.govt.nz

Context 

Christchurch Adventist School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

  • maintain and enhance the special character

  • develop a pedagogical philosophy and framework

  • revise the curriculum so it is locally focused, connected with the curriculum refresh, and implemented in a timely way.

A copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan is available on request from Christchurch Adventist School.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of an aligned approach for designing and delivering learning on student connection and achievement across years 1 to 13.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • to strengthen coherence and continuity in teaching and assessment practices across all year levels

  • a need to support teachers to better meet their students’ increasingly diverse learning needs

  • to align school reviews with national priorities and changes.

The school expects to see:

  • shared understanding and expectations about quality teaching knowledge, practices, and processes

  • an updated school-wide curriculum which is responsive to students’ needs

  • assessment data meaningfully used to identify trends for groups of learners and to track individual student progress and achievement throughout their time in the school.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate the impact on student connection and achievement of an aligned approach for designing and delivering learning across years 1 to 13.

  • Strategic gathering and analysis of individuals’ achievement data to know each learner well, identify their needs, and plan to address them which can be leveraged to identify wider trends.

  • Targeted and responsive professional learning which is supporting teacher collaboration, growth in practices, and curriculum development.

  • Participation in the Christian Education Network Community of Learning Kāhui Ako, which has a shared goal to localise curriculum and teach accurate historical narratives, informs this goal.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • building knowledge and understanding of meaningful evaluation to identify strengths and areas for improvement

  • revising its curriculum so it is localised, incorporates mātauranga Māori and quality teaching practices, and is connected with the national curriculum refresh

  • using assessment tools more consistently across the school, from years 1 to 13, to track equity and excellence of individuals and cohorts.

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. ERO will support the school in reporting their progress to the community. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

17 July 2023 

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement.  educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Christchurch Adventist School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of March 2023, the Christchurch Adventist School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Actions for Compliance

ERO has identified the following area of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

  • the school needed to check a primary identity document and a secondary identity document, required for safety checking of workforce.
    [Children’s Act 2014]

The board has since addressed the area of non-compliance identified.

Further Information

For further information please contact Christchurch Adventist School Board.

The next School Board assurance that it is meeting regulatory and legislative requirements will be reported, along with the Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report, within three years.

Information on ERO’s role and process in this review can be found on the Education Review Office website.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

17 July 2023 

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Christchurch Adventist School

Provision for International Students Report

Background

The Education Review Office reviews schools that are signatories to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Findings

The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code and has completed an annual self-review of its implementation of the Code.

At the time of this report there was one international student attending the school.

The school has established processes for reviewing its provision for international students and compliance with the Code. Academic tracking and monitoring systems are effective. Students are carefully guided to make appropriate choices for their pathways and supported to succeed academically. The principal serves as the International Student Director. As a result, school governance and leadership has informed oversight of student wellbeing, learning and engagement.

Evidence shows that thoughtful processes and practices support students to settle into the school, develop a sense of belonging, and to be active participants in school life.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

17 July 2023 

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Christchurch Adventist School - 07/10/2019

School Context

Christchurch Adventist School is in central Christchurch and caters for Years 1 to 13. The junior school caters for learners in Years 1 to 8. The school roll is 249 students from a range of diverse cultures.

The vision, to ‘provide Christ-centred education growing life-long learners, who are equipped to serve Christ beyond our one hallway in an increasingly diverse world’, reflects the special character of the school. The values of haepapa (responsibility), whakaute (respect), pono (integrity), and kairangi (excellence) underpin its vision.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:

  • school leaver qualifications

  • achievement in relation to school assessment guidelines

  • achievement within the New Zealand Qualifications Framework

  • valued outcomes related to the special character of the school

  • progress of students who receive learning support (including English language learners).

The school has taken part in a Ministry of Education funded programme in the last three years for literacy development.

Since the 2016 ERO review the board has had a mix of experienced and new trustees. At the time of the review there was an acting principal leading the school. There have been several changes in teaching staff.

The school is a member of the Christian Education Network Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako.

Evaluation Findings

1 Equity and excellence – achievement of valued outcomes for students

1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?

Senior school data for 2016-2018 shows consistently high levels of achievement in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) for levels 1-3, University Entrance, and literacy and numeracy. Endorsements for students achieving excellence and merit is more variable with high levels of excellence and merits achieved at NCEA Level 1. NCEA Level 2 results show increased endorsements with excellence. Achievement of excellences at NCEA Level 3 have been lower.

Most students in Years 9 and 10 achieve at expected curriculum levels in literacy and maths. As achievement information for Years 9 and 10 is presented on an individual basis the school was unable to show patterns and trends of achievement over time.

In the junior school, over the last three years, the majority of students have been achieving at expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics. In 2018 there has been a downward trend in writing, and disparity for girls in reading and mathematics.

1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?

The school effectively accelerates the progress of those Māori and others students who need this.

Processes to identify, track and support students at risk of not achieving are well embedded. The school has implemented a range of programmes aimed at accelerating learning for those who need this.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence – processes and practices

2.1 What school processes and practices are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

Students participate and learn in collaborative inclusive learning communities. Relationships are respectful and productive. Difference and diversity are valued (whakaute). This is evident in the teaching, modelling and celebration of the special character, goals and values which are integrated through all aspects of school life (manaaki). Leaders, teachers and trustees actively include students, parents and whānau, and the Adventist church community in reciprocal and collaborative learning-centred relationships.

Leadership collaboratively develops and pursues the school’s vision, goals and targets for equity and excellence. Leaders ensure an orderly and supportive environment is in place that is conducive to student learning and wellbeing. Teaching programmes are structured so that students have maximum opportunity to learn and achieve at or above the appropriate standard.

Students have effective, sufficient and equitable opportunities to learn. They provide useful feedback to teachers about their learning experiences. Where their culture/first language differs from the culture/language of instruction they are well supported to access additional support for learning. Senior students are well supported in developing their further education and/or career pathways.

Assessment activities provide meaningful evidence of achievement and progress and a basis for determining next learning steps. Appropriate tools and methods are used to gather, store and retrieve a range of reliable student learning information.

The board actively represents and serves the school and education community in its stewardship role. Student learning, wellbeing, achievement and progress are trustees’ core concerns. They scrutinise the effectiveness of the school in achieving valued student outcomes which reflect the special character of the school.

2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

ERO has identified, and the school agrees, that trustees, leaders and teachers need to continue to develop:

  • strategies for raising achievement in writing and overall NCEA endorsements by strengthening the literacy strategy
  • the school’s Māori action plan to ensure culturally responsive practice is evident in curriculum planning and evaluation
  • the appraisal policy to ensure it reflects current practice
  • processes to collate Years 9 and 10 achievement data to identify trends and patterns over time.

Trustees, leaders and teachers need to continue to strengthen internal evaluation practices. This includes:

  • measuring and reporting on progress in achieving the annual and strategic goals
  • ensuring teaching as inquiry is aligned to strategic goals
  • including student feedback about the impact of programmes on their learning.

3 Other Matters

Provision for international students

The School is a signatory to The Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 (the Code) established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code. The school’s processes for reviewing compliance against the code are well documented and lead to change where needed. Students receive a welcoming and personalised introduction to the school and the community. Valued outcomes for international students include instruction aligned to the special character of the school, academic and language learning.

At the time of this review, there were two international students attending the school.

4 Board Assurance on Legal Requirements

Before the review, the board and principal of the school completed the ERO board assurance statement and self-audit checklists. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legislative obligations related to the following:

  • board administration
  • curriculum
  • management of health, safety and welfare
  • personnel management
  • finance
  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
  • physical safety of students
  • teacher registration and certification
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand down, suspension, expulsion and exclusion of students
  • attendance
  • school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Children’s Act 2014.

5 ERO’s Overall Judgement

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Christchurch Adventist School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Well placed.

ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance is available on ERO’s website.

6 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

  • the positive culture for learning and wellbeing that supports students to learn
  • leadership that collaboratively develops and pursues the school’s vision, goals and targets for equity and excellence
  • a board that actively represents and serves the school and education community in its stewardship role.

Next steps

For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:

  • strengthening the implementation of the literacy strategy to raise achievement in this area
  • further developing the school’s Māori action plan to ensure culturally responsive practice is evident in curriculum planning and evaluation
  • building evaluation capability to provide specific information about the impact of learning programmes and targeted actions to raise student achievement.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

7 October 2019

About the school

Location

Christchurch

Ministry of Education profile number

317

School type

Composite (Years 1 to13)

School roll

249

Gender composition

Male 51%, Female 49%

Ethnic composition

Māori 7%

NZ European/Pākeha 22%

Pacific 20%

Asian 25%

Latin American 8%

Other 18%

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)

No

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

July 2019

Date of this report

7 October 2019

Most recent ERO reports

Education Review June 2016

Education Review December 2012

Education Review October 2008