St Joseph's School (Pukekohe)

Education institution number:
1497
School type:
Contributing
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
246
Telephone:
Address:

94 Seddon Street, Pukekohe

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St Joseph's School (Pukekohe)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 14 months of the Education Review Office and St Joseph’s School (Pukekohe) 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 (Pukekohe) is a state integrated school with special Catholic Character.  It provides education for learners in years 1-8. The school’s vision is ‘Excellent Education befitting our Catholic Character’. The school values To Love- Aroha, To Learn- Ako, To Lead- Ārahi, are encompassed in the school’s commitment ‘to be in right relationship with God, with ourselves and others, and with creation’.

St Joseph’s School (Pukekohe) strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • Hauora

  • Capability

  • Agency

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the extent to which the learning environment promotes and enables learner agency and improves outcomes for all learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • the school’s strategic goal for capability is the delivery of quality education that is future focused, reflects teaching as inquiry and encompasses learner agency

  • teachers and leaders have been strengthening teacher and learner assessment capability and agency for improved learner outcomes

  • whānau, learners and teachers are sharing their knowledge of learner agency to engage in productive learning conversations.

The school expects to see equitable and excellent outcomes for all learners whose progress and achievement is enhanced by their assessment capability and agency for learning. Teachers and learners will share clear expectations for student-led learning, self-efficacy, growth mind-set and engagement.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the extent to which the learning environment promotes and enables agency, and improved outcomes for all learners:

  • teachers and leaders work collaboratively to design a responsive curriculum which realises learner and community needs and aspirations

  • culturally responsive teaching contributes to professional relationships focused on the progress, achievement and wellbeing of learners

  • teachers and leaders engage with and use purposeful evaluation as a resource for improvement and innovation.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • strengthening teachers’ use of appropriate assessment that informs individual learning requirements and supports learner agency

  • further developing curriculum design that builds on best practice in learner agency, and is implemented effectively across the school

  • continued collaborative and culturally responsive teaching and learning approaches that nurture and support hauora and agency.

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

St Joseph's School (Pukekohe)

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of May 2022, the St Joseph’s School (Pukekohe) 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 (Pukekohe), 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

St Joseph's School (Pukekohe)

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.

No international students were enrolled at the time of the ERO review.

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

St Joseph's School (Pukekohe) - 05/09/2016

1 Context

St Joseph's School (Pukekohe) caters for a diverse community of children from Year 1 to Year 8. Māori children make up 12 percent of the school roll with seven percent of the roll being Tongan, six percent Samoan and five percent from Kiribati. Many children are learning English as their second Language.

The board of trustees is committed to providing an environment that promotes children's progress and achievement. Children work in modern learning environments and have opportunities to bring their own digital devices. The school is part of the South Auckland Catholic Schools community of learning (CoL) which is currently being established.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are encompassed in the statement 'Excellent Education befitting our Catholic Character' and in the vision 'To be in the right relationship with God, with ourselves and others, and with the environment/creation.' Leaders have developed the mission statement, vision and valued outcomes in collaboration with their community. These aims are actively promoted by staff and understood by children.

The school’s achievement information shows that over the last four years National Standards achievement for Māori children, has been variable. The Public Achievement Information (PAI) shows that there has been an increase in the percentage of Māori children achieving the National Standards levels in reading and a decrease in the percentages in writing and mathematics. The information for Pacific children shows an increase in percentages of children achieving the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Other children have maintained the same pattern of achievement since 2012 with most of them achieving in all areas of the National Standards. Overall levels of achievement in mathematics and reading for the past three years are consistently above 80%. Achievement in writing is improving though it remains a little lower than reading and mathematics.

Over the last four years there has been some disparity between Maori and non-Māori children's achievement in all of the National Standards. Disparity between Pacific children and their non-Pacific peers was decreasing overtime but is showing a slight increase with the 2015 reading and mathematics National Standards results. There is also a pattern of decreasing disparity between Māori, Pacific and other children's achievement as they move through the school.

Teachers use several strategies to ensure robustness with teacher overall achievement judgements including the Ministry of Education (MoE) Progress and Consistency Tool.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has participated in professional learning (PLD) related to the school's strategic goals and focused on embedding and ensuring sustainability of new teaching practices. Trustees have made deliberate resourcing decisions based on the PLD, including the ongoing resourcing for modern learning practices and environments. Senior leaders have begun implementing a culturally responsive curriculum. The principal has focused on increasing the usefulness of teacher performance management systems. These developments have been focused on accelerating the progress of those children at risk of not achieving equitable outcomes.

3 Accelerating achievement

How effectively does this school respond to Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

The school responds very effectively to Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. As a result, numbers of Māori children whose learning has been accelerated have increased. 2015 school achievement information shows that by Year 8 all Māori children are either at or above all the National Standards.

Teachers use a wide variety of approaches to identify the skills and knowledge and any learning barriers that children have, prior to entering school. This information is used to develop support systems so that learning begins from day one. Accelerated progress has been achieved through both in-class and out of class interventions. Methods include strengthening home/school partnerships, raising children's ability to monitor their own progress, and encouraging children to bring their own digital devices. Teachers focus on implementing a culturally responsive curriculum and senior leaders agree that this is an area that could be further enhanced.

The board uses achievement information well to set appropriate long term and short term school-wide goals. These goals focus on continuing to raise Māori and Pacific children's National Standards achievement.

The school continues to implement and monitor the effectiveness of ways to accelerate the progress of Māori children who are at risk of not achieving equitable outcomes. The board and senior leaders acknowledge that offering more opportunities for te reo and tikanga Māori would advantage all children. They also acknowledge the benefit of aligning the goals in Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori learners with the teacher performance management process.

These strategies have resulted in increased numbers of Māori children accelerating their learning.

How effectively does this school respond to other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

The school responds with increasing effectiveness to all children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

The school uses the same strategies, systems and processes as described earlier in this report for Māori students, to respond to children from Pacific nations and other children who are at risk of not achieving equitable outcomes. There is an emphasis on increasing children's engagement in learning through encouraging the use of home languages and increasing their awareness of, and pride in, their own cultural identity.

Senior leaders have recently created a Pacific executive team who will meet regularly to discuss and suggest ways to foster partnerships with Pacific families and to overcome identified issues. The board acknowledges the importance of receiving achievement information differentiated for each Pacific nation.

4 School conditions

How effectively do the school’s curriculum and other organisational processes and practices develop and enact the school’s vision, values, goals and targets for equity and excellence?

The school's curriculum and other organisational processes and practices positively develop and enact the school's vision, values, goals and priorities for equity and excellence.

Children are very engaged in their learning. Teachers emphasise, and children demonstrate skills for self-management. Senior leaders implement consistent teaching and learning approaches that support children to build their independence, knowledge and skills in their learning. Children have effective and equitable opportunities to learn.

Senior leaders continue to implement and monitor the effectiveness of strategies to improve outcomes for children especially those at risk of not reaching their potential. These successful strategies include:

  • school-wide, collective responsibility for the success of all children
  • ongoing, effective teacher professional learning
  • sharing children's learning goals with families
  • close monitoring of children's progress and modification to teaching approaches
  • successful systems for children to transition into, through and out of the school
  • ongoing and regular celebration of academic, cultural and sporting success.

These initiatives have resulted in accelerated learning for children.

The board's decision to resource the school's focus on modern learning practices has resulted in child-centred and child-driven programmes. Children learn and achieve through the breadth and depth of the New Zealand Curriculum. They contribute to the curriculum focus, are challenged to consider issues around the local and wider community, and are supported to research and problem-solve.

Tuakana teina relationships are encouraged and grow children's understanding of other languages and cultures. Senior leaders implement bicultural practices in learning programmes and school routines. The principal is aware of the need to continue to strengthen teachers' confidence in using te reo Māori and other family languages. The board is considering using the Ministry of Education's Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners.

Teachers know each child's knowledge, skills and obstacles to learning. They use analysed results of children's assessments to progress the learning of individuals. The review of teachers' meeting schedules led to an increase in teachers' understanding and wider use of achievement information to monitor children's learning progress.

Parents and whānau are very engaged in their children's learning. Home/school partnerships are valued by both parties and senior leaders and the board continue to consider further ways to strengthen them.

The board has established multiple ways of interacting with families to gather their aspirations for their children, including:

  • performances by Pacific dance groups
  • meeting with whānau and fono and establishing a Pacific executive team
  • regularly reporting to parents both orally and in written form
  • offering parent education workshops.

The school uses evidence-based evaluation very well to monitor the success of initiatives and programmes on outcomes for all children. Internal evaluation systems include the use of a wide variety of community voice to review the effectiveness of school policies and practices. Teachers are becoming more reflective about the impact of their teaching strategies on outcomes for children and appropriately moderating their practices. Senior leaders continue to build teacher capability in 'teaching as inquiry' to promote ongoing improvement for children.

The board of trustees represents and serves the education and school communities very effectively in its stewardship role. There is a wide range of capability, experience and diversity in the board membership. The board is very well informed and makes appropriate resourcing decisions based on the scrutiny of information reported by the principal. Trustees undergo training to enhance their stewardship role and they have good processes to ensure their responsibilities and legislative requirements are met.

5 Going forward

How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?

Leaders and teachers:

  • know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
  • respond effectively to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
  • regularly evaluate how well teaching is working for these children
  • act on what they know works well for each child
  • build teacher capability effectively to achieve equitable outcomes for all children
  • are well placed to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children.

St Joseph's School has effective practices in place in all areas of school operations. There is a culture of continuous improvement at all levels through reflective practice and useful performance management systems. A strong emphasis on children guiding the curriculum and being managers of their own learning is a feature of the school and contributes to accelerated learning.

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

6 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 the following:

  • board administration

  • curriculum

  • management of health, safety and welfare

  • personnel management

  • 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

  • processes for appointing staff

  • stand down, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions

  • attendance

  • compliance with the provisions of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

7 Recommendation

St Joseph's School (Pukekohe) board of trustees and leaders should continue to build on their strong partnerships with whānau and ensure they are reflecting parents' aspirations for their children. They should also continue to build on current effective strategies that support children to become life-long learners. 

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

5 September 2016

About the school

Location

Pukekohe

Ministry of Education profile number

1497

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

392

Gender composition

Boys 52% Girls 48%

Ethnic composition

Māori

Pākehā

Tongan

Filipino

Kiribati

Samoan

Indian

other Pacific

other

12%

55%

7%

6%

5%

5%

3%

4%

3%

Review team on site

June 2016

Date of this report

5 September 2016

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

June 2012

June 2009

January 2006