St Joseph's School (Oamaru)

St Joseph's School (Oamaru)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 15 months of the Education Review Office and St Joseph’s School Oamaru 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 

St Joseph’s School Oamaru is a Catholic integrated school for students in Years 1 to 8. The school’s vision for all students is that they become lifelong learners in the Catholic faith. The school curriculum is designed to promote the values of reverence, resilience, relationships and respect and the related learning capabilities of meaning making, critical inquiry, perspective taking and taking action.  At the time of this report the school was in the process of recruiting a new principal.

The school  strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • developing a sense of pride and purpose in the school’s Catholic community

  • developing structured explicit teaching to support student learning and achievement in literacy and mathematics

  • ongoing development of the school’s authentic, bicultural local curriculum.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on St Joseph’s School Oamaru’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively structured explicit teaching is supporting all students to make progress and achieve in literacy.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • the school has identified a trend of declining achievement in literacy over recent years and wants to address this

  • the school wants to support equitable achievement for all students, including the significant number of English language learners on the school roll

  • teachers are engaged in professional learning programmes linked to the teaching and assessment of literacy.

The school expects to see students:

  • make expected rates of progress in literacy learning

  • be knowledgeable about their literacy learning goals, progress and what they need to do to improve

  • have relevant, engaging and culturally responsive opportunities to learn and practice their literacy skills across the school curriculum

  • experience consistent, clear expectations and approaches to literacy teaching and learning across classes.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to improve literacy learning outcomes for students:

  • mana-enhancing relationships with teachers, students, families and whānau underpinned by the school’s special character vision and values

  • leaders and teachers who are collaborating to develop and embed shared expectations for effective literacy teaching

  • inclusive school culture which values and celebrates the culture, identity and languages of all students.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • professional development on explicit teaching of literacy at all levels

  • strengthening literacy assessment practices to ensure it is consistent and reliable across the school and used effectively to support targeted teaching

  • individual and collaborative teacher inquiry into the effectiveness of teaching on raising student achievement in literacy

  • ensuring students’ literacy learning is supported by a culturally responsive curriculum

  • partnerships with families and whānau to support literacy learning at school and at home.

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

28 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

St Joseph's School (Oamaru)

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of March 2022, the St Joseph’s School Oamaru 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

Further Information

For further information please contact St Joseph’s School Oamaru, 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

28 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

St Joseph's School (Oamaru) - 23/05/2018

School Context

St Joseph’s School (Oamaru) provides education for 189 students from Years 1 to 8 in Oamaru. It is the only special character Catholic primary school in North Otago.

The school’s vision is for children to, ‘reach for the stars as lifelong learners in the Catholic faith’. The values are respect, resilience, reverence and relationships. The valued outcomes for children’s success include:

  • ensuring the Catholic character leads and enriches all aspects of school life
  • continuing to practise and grow high quality religious education
  • ensuring every child is engaged and empowered in deep learning for success
  • supporting all children to achieve with pride in their unique cultures and identities.

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

  • achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
  • achievement in other curriculum areas, including science
  • whole school improvement in engagement and wellbeing.

The school has a diverse community, including eleven cultural and ethnic groups. This community is part of the local Catholic parish.

Since the last ERO review in 2013 there have been significant changes in teaching personnel and the appointment of a new principal.

The school is a member of the Whitestone Kāhui Ako| Community of Learning.

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?

For most of its students the school is effectively achieving equitable and excellent outcomes.

School information for the last four years shows:

  • most students, including Māori students, achieved well in reading and mathematics 
  • the majority of students achieved well in writing
  • there is disparity for boys in reading and writing
  • declining achievement for Pacific children in reading, writing and mathematics.

The school has high expectations that every child will achieve success.

Children with additional learning needs are well supported to make progress.

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

The school is effective in accelerating the progress of almost all children in reading and writing. Most of the children in the target group made accelerated progress in mathematics in 2017.

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?

The school’s close links with the local community and parish have ensured that the special Catholic character is embedded and central to the school’s purpose. The school’s processes and practices within this relationship enable it to make a strong commitment to equity and excellence for all children.

School leaders have effective systems for identifying, monitoring and tracking students’ learning, progress and achievement over time. They provide a defined framework with clear guidelines for teaching and learning. Teachers know the children well.

Leaders and teachers have a strong, holistic approach to the learning and wellbeing needs of children. Children experience a broad range of learning opportunities which embrace aspects of their identity, language and culture.

The school has a clear, coherent strategic direction with identified priorities. Trustees and leaders have responded well to the recommendations of the 2013 ERO report. This has included:

  • developing a digital curriculum with learning progressions
  • developing  whole-school guidelines for teaching
  • promoting an open, seamless educational environment.

The school leadership group is improvement and future focused, with sound systems for ongoing internal evaluation of practices for learning and achievement. The board proactively supports teaching and learning. Trustees are knowledgeable and enquiring. They prioritise student learning, wellbeing, achievement and progress. Trustees support a range of community resources and personnel to enhance outcomes for children.

School leaders are systematically building the collective capacity of teachers to sustain quality practices and outcomes. They use the individual strengths of teachers who work collaboratively in teams to benefit children’s learning. There is a culture of reflection where leaders and teachers are willing to make informed changes to promote better outcomes for children.

Communication systems have improved. Leaders have a clear vision for ongoing improvement and have consulted widely. They are very responsive to formal and informal feedback to enhance equity and excellence.

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

The curriculum needs further development to ensure that children have sufficient opportunity to learn within the unique local and national environment which reflects Aotearoa/New Zealand’s bicultural heritage.

A next step for leaders and teachers is to further develop the curriculum to:

  • reflect more localised content
  • include te ao Māori more explicitly
  • ensure that documentation for all learning areas is consistent
  • broaden opportunities for learning extension
  • continue developing spirals of inquiry.

Teachers and leaders need to further develop consistency of teaching and evaluation practices, including appraisal, in order to sustain equity and excellence.

3 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 Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

  • partnerships with  parents and the local Catholic parish that strengthens children’s character values and wellbeing
  • a collaborative  and inclusive culture that builds relational trust and maintains high expectations for learner success
  • achieving outcomes for children that show consistently good levels of achievement for most groups of learners in the school.

Next steps

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

  • developing a broader curriculum that strengthens local and unique features, including te ao Māori, and appropriate opportunities for all learners
  • further strengthening professional capability and capacity that supports ongoing equity and excellence. 

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in three years.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern

Te Waipounamu - Southern Region

23 May 2018

About the school

Location

(Oamaru)

Ministry of Education profile number

3825

School type

State Integrated Catholic Years 1-8

School roll

189

Gender composition

Boys 49% : Girls 51%

Ethnic composition

Māori  6%

Pākehā   60%

Other ethnicities 34%

Review team on site

March 2018

Date of this report

23 May 2018

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review   August 2013

Education Review   March 2010

Education Review   October 2006

Education Review   June 2003

St Joseph's School (Oamaru) - 20/08/2013

1 Context

What are the important features of this school that have an impact on student learning?

The dominant feature of the school that impacts on students’ learning is its special Catholic character. This is clearly stated in the school's vision, is well understood by students and is shown by the emphasis on the school family. All students benefit from the very strong links to the local parish and the strength of school support for Māori, Pacific and Filipino cultures. The special character shows up in classrooms in a wide variety of ways, including aspects of language programmes, music, art and social skills. It also underpins how all adults and students interact and support each other.

The board and staff believe that this is a high performing school and set expectations for students to be successful. These expectations are part of the school’s vision and are well understood by students. The expectation is that all students will learn and that the school will make this happen through religious observations and teachings, classroom programmes, and cultural and sporting activities. The parish and parents play an important part in supporting learning in all these areas.

The culture of the school is one where there are high levels of respect and trust between students and adults. It is a safe, supportive learning environment where risk taking is encouraged. The collegiality of all staff leads to sharing of knowledge and skills for the benefit of all students. The strong culture of critical reflection and self review, together with a targeted approach to developments that focus on raising levels of student achievement, all play their part in promoting student achievement.

Student leadership is valued at all levels of the school. All students take leadership roles in special character celebrations. Senior students help younger students in many ways, including some Year 7 students linking up with local childcare centres to help four-year-olds with the move to primary school. Former students now at secondary school return to this school to help support cultural activities. These examples help students see themselves as part of a wider community where they can contribute through a wide variety of leadership roles.

2 Learning

How well does this school use achievement information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement?

Achievement information is used very effectively to enhance students’ learning and ensure that all students are, in the words of the school’s vision, “reaching for the stars”. The available information is comprehensive and of consistently good quality. Students, including Māori and Pacific, generally achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics, and most meet or exceed National Standards expectations.

Strengths

Students benefit from the way the information is used to:

  • measure progress and track their success over time
  • identify target students, develop support systems for them and ensure that they make good progress
  • engage them in learning conversations with their teachers to ensure that students are knowledgeable about their achievement and what they have to improve on.

Teachers make good use of learning information to:

  • provide effective school-wide strategies to address the needs of all students
  • group students based on their learning needs and plan programmes to address these needs, including extensive support for students who need assistance learning English
  • inform learning conversations with students about what to do to improve in aspects of their learning
  • share significant information on targeted students to ensure all teachers are well informed about the progress and needs of these students
  • improve their own teaching practices through teaching as inquiry.

The school uses learning information effectively to inform trustees, parents and the community about how well students are progressing and achieving. The board uses this information as part of its strategic planning to inform resourcing decisions and to set annual student achievement targets. These targets are specific and based on small groups of students that are currently underachieving.

3 Curriculum

How effectively does this school’s curriculum promote and support student learning?

St Joseph’s School curriculum very effectively promotes and supports student learning.

Strengths

The curriculum design and implementation is strongly linked to the vision of the school. It reflects the faith-based education of the special character school and is responsive to local contexts.

The principal and senior leaders are effective in defining the curriculum and leading change. They provide a coherent, deliberate and sensitive approach to change to ensure that teachers, students and parents have a good understanding of curriculum expectations.

The principal and senior leaders place a strong emphasis on increasing best teaching practices to benefit students. Teachers have successfully undertaken extensive and well-paced professional learning in literacy.

Students' learning is well supported by:

  • very good to high quality teaching
  • close and regular monitoring of programme effectiveness
  • high levels of collaborative planning of programmes
  • consistent approaches to teaching
  • cross-curriculum learning, for example science and literacy.

Teachers plan a range of learning experiences designed to meet the specific needs of all students. They use students as teachers in buddy and peer programmes. Students at all levels of the school are given many opportunities to take leadership roles within the school. They do this with confidence and commitment.

Students benefit from:

  • the focus on the school’s vision and values and the high expectation for their success
  • having choice in their learning and sharing their ideas and opinions
  • programmes that extend their learning.

The school has a significant number of Pacific and Filipino students. The board, principal and teachers are passionate about celebrating diversity and have worked with these groups to build strong links and develop positive relationships. Students’ first languages are acknowledged and encouraged.

Next steps

The principal and senior leaders have identified that work needs to continue with the ongoing development of teaching notes (guidelines) across all curriculum areas. ERO’s findings support this view.

How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?

Māori students experience high levels of success, including against the National Standards. For example, Māori students have significant success in reading, writing and mathematics, with half of the Māori learners currently on the extension register for 2012.

Māori students are very positive and confident and have significant leadership roles in the school. Students told ERO that they feel valued, and their cultural knowledge and skills are respected and used. Their culture is highly visible in the school. The students also appreciate the interest and support from past Māori leaders who are now at the local Catholic secondary school.

Strong role models are used and valued, both from within the school and the local community. There is regular consultation with whānau both formally and informally.

4 Sustainable Performance

How well placed is the school to sustain and improve its performance?

The school is very well placed to sustain and improve its performance. Strengths

School systems, structures and processes are all well established and operate effectively. This includes a comprehensive and well-planned self-review system that drives school improvement in teaching and learning, as well as in the governance of the school.

The board is focused on the importance of student achievement. The school’s charter is a living document that provides clear direction and shows how the strategic plan is to be implemented. Trustees are well informed about student achievement including the achievement of groups of students. Trustees are knowledgeable about their governance roles and have high expectations of themselves in terms of their roles and responsibilities. The board has a planned approach to ensure that it remains representative of the main range of cultures in the school. A specific plan to support Pacific students has recently been developed.

The leadership of the principal and senior managers is highly effective. The principal leads by example and models best practice. Communication is open and regular, ensuring that parents, staff and students are well informed, regularly consulted and their views are highly valued. The principal ensures that she is readily accessible to parents and has a useful system to ensure that any matters discussed are followed up and reported on where needed.

The staff culture is one of cohesion, openness to change and preparedness to trial new ideas. Consequently there are effective working partnerships between trustees, school leaders, teachers and all staff. Teachers nearer the beginning of their careers are proactive and reflective in approach. They are very well supported by their more experienced colleagues. The support that promotes high performance for all teachers is a strength with the emphasis on self reflection and continuous improvement. The school culture is one that is a secure foundation for sustaining and improving performance.

Students ERO spoke to describe the school as a safe place where they feel valued. This is consistent with the information from regular surveys of parents and students.

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.
When is ERO likely to review the school again?

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in four-to-five years.

Graham Randell

National Manager Review Services Southern Region

20 August 2013

About the School

Location

Oamaru

Ministry of Education profile number

3825

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

211

Gender composition

Male: 50% Female: 50%

Ethnic composition

Pākehā

Filipino

Pacific

Māori

European

Other

63%

13%

8%

7%

7%

2%

Special Features

Integrated Catholic School

Review team on site

May 2013

Date of this report

20 August 2013

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

March 2010

October 2006

June 2003