Findings
St Joseph’s Catholic School (Morrinsville) ensures its Catholic character is central to school operations and culture. The school’s curriculum values of faith, respect, integrity and care contribute to a calm and settled environment for learning. Students have a strong sense of belonging and experience high levels of respect and teacher support.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.
1 Context
What are the important features of this school that have an impact on student learning?
St Joseph’s Catholic School in Morrinsville provides Catholic education for students from Years 1 to 8. The school was founded under the charism of the Sisters of St Joseph’s and the school’s mission statement is ‘Always Faithful to the Teachings of Jesus Christ’. Teachers, students and their families benefit from the school’s strong relationship with the parish.
The school’s Catholic character is central to all school operations. The school’s curriculum values of faith (whakapono), respect (whakaute), integrity (ngakaupono) and care (manaaki) contribute to a calm and settled environment for learning. Priority is placed on nurturing students’ spiritual, intellectual, emotional, social, and physical wellbeing. Students learn in attractively presented and well-maintained buildings, grounds and facilities.
The school has a positive reporting history with ERO and the principal and staff have responded well to the areas for development identified in the 2012 ERO report. Since then the school roll has increased to 227. The senior leadership team has been restructured and an existing teacher has been appointed in the deputy principal role. Many long serving staff still remain.
The board of trustees is made up of both new and experienced trustees. They continue to be supportive of the principal and staff. Teachers have had access to relevant professional development in areas related to the school’s strategic goals.
The principal and leadership team are focused on putting students at the forefront of decision making. The school continues to enjoy a high level of support from its families, parish and school community. An active parent group works closely with the board to fundraise for curriculum resources.
2 Learning
How well does this school use achievement information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement?
The school makes good use of student achievement information to promote learning. In 2014, a significant majority of students including Māori, achieved at and above the National Standards in reading and mathematics. Slightly lower levels of achievement were noted in writing.
The school leaders have developed a useful range of assessment processes that guide teachers to collect relevant information about student learning, especially in reading, writing and mathematics. The principal and senior leaders gather school-wide achievement information and use this to monitor the progress of groups of students, and to report progress and achievement to the board of trustees and community. Leaders also make good use of this data to identify students who require additional support or extension programmes. School leaders and teachers are continuing to develop processes to support teachers to make overall judgements in relation to the National Standards.
Trustees are well-informed about student achievement and use this information to set meaningful achievement targets in the schools charter and to inform their decision-making about resourcing and staffing.
Teachers use achievement data to group students for instruction and to monitor progress of individuals and groups. Most teachers are developing learning progressions that effectively support students to identify and monitor their learning, progress and achievement. Students set learning goals each term in collaboration with teachers and parents, and were familiar with their learning goals and their next steps to achieve them.
Parents are well informed about their children’s achievement and progress. They receive comprehensive written reports, opportunities to attend parent/teacher interviews and enjoy informal discussions with teachers about their children’s successes and challenges. The school has established many ways to effectively communicate with families and invite their contributions to their child’s learning.
3 Curriculum
How effectively does this school’s curriculum promote and support student learning?
The school’s curriculum effectively promotes student learning. High priority is placed on literacy, mathematics and the Catholic character. Features of the curriculum include:
- opportunities for students to develop their leadership skills
- use of real-life experiences that engage students in their learning
- student involvement in an extensive variety of sporting and cultural experiences, as well as the performing arts, camps and educational trips
- increased access to computer technologies as a tool for learning.
A notable strength of the school’s curriculum is the meaningful partnership between the school and parish communities. Students participate in regular masses and celebrations. They are learning about service to others and the values of diversity, social justice and fairness.
Students have a strong sense of belonging and experience high levels of respect from teachers. They develop positive, trusting and caring relationships with leaders, teachers and other school staff. There are many opportunities for community members to participate and contribute their knowledge and expertise to enrich student learning.
Teachers have high expectations and believe that students are all capable of achieving. They use a wide range of effective teaching strategies that support and extend students’ engagement. Students enjoy learning in attractively presented environments that recognise and celebrate their creativity and learning.
To further develop the school’s curriculum and promote consistent high quality teaching, leaders now need to give priority to:
- developing a shared and agreed approach to what high quality teaching practices will look like across the school for promoting student learning at St Joseph’s
- clear learning pathways and progressions particularly in reading, writing, oral language and te reo and tikanga Māori practices to guide teaching practice.
Further developing these areas should support the school to build on their learning culture and direction.
How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?
Maori students’ sense of identity and belonging is effectively supported and nurtured within the Religious Education programme that is inclusive of tikanga and te reo Māori learning. Students enjoy positive and trusting relationships with teachers and their peers within the school. The school has regular hui with Māori whānau to seek their aspirations for children’s learning.
The school has employed a specialist kaiawhina to run the kapa haka group that is well attended by a high number of students. She provides the school with guidance around tikanga and te reo Māori.
To further promote students’ language, culture and identity, the next steps are to:
- strengthening partnership with local iwi
- incorporate local Maori history and places of importance into the school curriculum
- to further promote success for Maori as Maori
- develop a strategy to implement a te reo Māori programme that is sequential and ongoing.
4 Sustainable Performance
How well placed is the school to sustain and improve its performance?
Trustees are knowledgeable about their roles and responsibilities. They have close links with the community and parish and strongly support the schools special character. Trustees work closely with the principal and are supportive of school improvement and ongoing development.
The principal keeps the board and school community well informed about student’s successes and school events. He has undertaken some reviews and consulted with the community on the future direction of the school. He has also built useful partnerships with local schools, early childhood centres and the parish. The principal is well supported by the knowledgeable deputy and assistant principals. Together they have a clear focus on providing positive outcomes for students learning and wellbeing.
The principal and school leaders have reviewed teacher appraisal process and implemented a system that supports teachers to reflect on the effectiveness of their practice.
The deputy principal implements appraisal for teachers and provides them with regular and useful feedback about their teaching practice, which includes students’ perspectives about what helps them learn. School leaders intend to further develop these processes to focus on students at risk of not achieving positive outcomes and to evaluate how well these students are supported in classroom programmes.
The principal has undertaken some useful self review that leads to improvements. This includes accessing external review to contribute to strategic decision making and ongoing school development. Trustees undertake regular review of school policies and processes. The next step is for the board and principal to continue developing self- review processes to enable them to continue to evaluate the effectiveness of key aspects of school operations and initiatives.
Board assurance on legal requirements
Before the review, the board of trustees 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:
- board administration
- curriculum
- management of health, safety and welfare
- personnel management
- financial management
- asset management.
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:
- emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
- physical safety of students
- teacher registration
- processes for appointing staff
- stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
- attendance.
Conclusion
St Joseph’s Catholic School (Morrinsville) ensures its Catholic character is central to school operations and culture. The school’s curriculum values of faith, respect, integrity and care contribute to a calm and settled environment for learning. Students have a strong sense of belonging and experience high levels of respect and teacher support.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.
Graham Randell
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern
9 October 2015
About the School
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Location
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Morrinsville, Waikato
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Ministry of Education profile number
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1949
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School type
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Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)
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School roll
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227
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Gender composition
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Boys 50%
Girls 50%
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Ethnic composition
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Pākehā 77%
Māori 7%
Filipino 4%
Indian 2%
Samoan 1%
Other 9%
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Review team on site
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August 2015
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Date of this report
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9 October 2015
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review October 2012
Education Review December 2009
Education Review November 2006
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