Lake Taupo Christian School

School Context

Lake Taupo Christian School is a state integrated, inter-denominational school situated in Taupo. It caters for students from Years 1 to 15. The current roll of 103 includes 42 who identify as Māori and a number of students from other ethnicities.

Since the 2014 ERO review, there has been a new chairperson appointed to the board of trustees. The board and principal work closely with the proprietors trust board.

(NZC) The mission statement for Lake Taupo Christian School is toprovide excellence in education and inspire Christian character, empowering students to develop their potential and fulfil their God-ordained destiny.The focus for the junior school, new entrants to Year 6, is building firm foundations. For the middle school, Years 7 to 10, it is to discover and develop the talents and abilities that God has given to the individual students. The focus for the senior school, Years 11 and above, is for students finishing well and preparing students for the transition from school to work or tertiary study. The school is required to follow theNew Zealand Curriculum,which it implements alongside the Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) curriculum.The school aims to deliver an individualised programme for all students through Packet of Accelerated Christian Education (PACE) assessments.

Students are able to undertake National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) units of study at the adjacent state secondary school, and also through Gateway and via correspondence. In 2017 two students completed NCEA qualifications.

Lake Taupo Christian School is a member of the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Christian non-denominational Community of Learning | Kāhui Ako.

Areas for development identified in the 2014 ERO report in relation to self review and appraisal have not been fully addressed by the school. Consultation with students and parents around the effectiveness of teaching programmes, appraisal and ‘teaching as inquiry’ to reflect on the effectiveness of teaching and learning, continue to be areas needing to be improved.

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

• achievement in relation to the ACE programme.

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?

The school is yet to achieve equitable and excellent outcomes for all students.

Girls and boys are achieving at comparable levels in Years 1 to 8 in reading and mathematics. There is significant gender disparity in writing for boys. The school has significant work to do to achieve excellent outcomes for students in Years 9 to 15.

While achievement levels for Māori students in reading, writing and mathematics are comparable with their Pākehā peers, overall achievement levels across the school are low.

The school reports that in Years 1 to 3 most students are achieving the benchmark in mathematics and English in realtion to PACE. It also reports a marked decline in achievement in subsequent years. Approximately half of students in Years 4 to 15, met the PACE benchmark in English and mathematics in 2017.

The school’s analysis of variance report to the Ministry of Education, March 2018, states that four of the fifteen Year 11 to 15 students achieved Level 3 ACE, the equivalent of University Entrance, in 2017.

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

The school is yet to analyse achievement information to report rates of progress and acceleration for Māori and other students who need this. Students are closely monitored on the ACE programme and teachers gather individual student data. However, leaders are yet to aggregate this data across syndicates and school-wide to report on rates of expected and accelerated progress for students who are at risk of underachieving.

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?

An individualised approach enables students to learn at their own pace. Teachers work with parents to develop individual learning plans for each student. Goals are set and regularly reviewed. Teacher aide support contributes to close monitoring of each student’s completion through the PACE assessments. Low student-teacher ratios and individualised pathways are responsive to each student’s strengths and aspirations, particularly in the senior school.

The school has an inclusive culture. Students with additional learning needs are well supported through a range of interventions and programmes. The school’s Christian values contribute to respectful relationships between students and adults. Parents and whānau are made welcome in the school and enjoy a high level of involvement in the school community. The school has links with local churches and is involved in service to the local community. The Christian school environment is promoting a strong sense of belonging for students.

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

The school’s curriculum needs to be reviewed, developed and documented. Priority should be placed on a collaborative and inclusive process of review, including the development of clear and agreed expectations for learning and teaching. It is also necessary to also strengthen the documentation of the integration of NZC, giving particular attention to all of the principles. Consistent use of benchmark assessment and learning progressions is required throughout the school to monitor how well students are progressing and accelerating the progress for those who require it.

The management and use of achievement information needs to be improved. Leaders need to aggregate individualised student data so that syndicate and school-wide information on achievement and progress can be analysed and reported. This should enable leaders to better scrutinise this data to show rates of expected and accelerated progress and identify school-wide trends and patterns for groups of learners, including year level, gender and ethnicity. Specific and measurable achievement targets focused on acceleration of at-risk learners need to be developed in the annual plan.

Performance management systems and practices are in urgent need of review and consistent implementation. Policies and procedural guidelines need to be updated for the principal and teachers. The board must ensure that the principal is appraised annually against his performance goals and relevant professional standards of the teaching profession. The process of teaching as inquiry should be more closely aligned to school-wide achievement trends, and targets for students whose learning requires acceleration.

Internal evaluation needs to be systematic and formalised. Currently there are deficiencies in school systems and processes to ensure compliance and the policy review process is not consistently implemented. A process is required to ensure that the renewal of police vetting for support staff is up-to-date. Leaders must ensure that risk assessment practices for excursions outside the school follow process. The board of trustees should now undertake training in internal evaluation. This should enable better informed decision making to improve learning outcomes for all students.

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.

Appraisal audit

In order to improve practice:

• the appraisal policy and process needs to be strengthened to align more closely with the Education Council guidelines and expectations.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified non-compliance in relation to performance management, health and safety, curriculum and assessment.

In order to address this, the board of trustees must:

1. ensure that the principal is annually appraised in accordance with legislative and contractual requirements.
   [Part 31 Education Act 1989; s 77a State Sector Act 1988; Principals Collective Employment Contract; National Administration Guideline 3b]

2. comply fully with legislative requirements to ensure safety of students and employees
   [National Administration Guideline 5c]

3. ensure that curriculum and assessment requirements are fully met
   [National Administration Guideline 1 and 2]

4. comply with the requirement to adopt a statement on the delivery of the health curriculum, at least once in every two years, after consultation with the school community
   [Section 60b Education Act 1989].

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

• individualised pathways for learning that are well tracked and monitored at classroom level

• an inclusive school culture that is based on the Christian values of the school community.

Next steps

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

• informed curriculum review and development to strengthen the alignment and inclusion of the principles and strands of the NZC, alongside ACE

• the development of more robust and transparent systems and practices for effective performance management of staff

• improving the collation and analysis of achievement data so that levels of achievement and rates of progress in relation to NZC curriculum levels are monitored and reported

• internal evaluation processes focused on student outcomes, that are systematic and coherent, leading to informed decision making at all levels of the school community.

Recommendations to other agencies

ERO recommends that the Ministry of Education and/or New Zealand School Trustees Association consider providing support for the school in order to bring about improvement in:

• curriculum development

• internal evaluation.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

ERO intends to carry out a process of ongoing external evaluation to support development over the course of one-to-two years.

Lynda Pura-Watson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Waikato / Bay of Plenty

Te Tai Miringa - Waikato / Bay of Plenty Region

21 June 2018

About the school