1 Context
St Peter Chanel Catholic School is located in the suburb of Te Rapa in Hamilton. It is an integrated full primary school catering for children in Years 1 to 8. The current roll is 305 of which 27 are Māori, and 27 are of Pacific Island heritage. The principal and board chair are long-serving and the recently elected board consists of a mixture of experienced and new trustees.
2 Equity and excellence
The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are for them to receive a comprehensive education with a special emphasis on their Catholic faith. The school aims for all children to love and respect God, self and others and to promote the values of responsibility, perseverance, honesty, team work and positivity.
The school’s achievement information shows that from 2014 to 2015, there was an increase in overall achievement of Māori in reading, writing and mathematics. The 2016 interim data indicates an upward trend continues. In comparison to all other children in the school, the overall achievement of Māori in reading, writing and mathematics is the same or better.
The school's achievement information for Pasifika children shows that from 2014 to 2015 there was an increase in the number of children who achieved National Standards in mathematics and writing. Reading achievement data remained the same. In 2016 the number of Pasifika students attending the school increased by one third and nearly all are English language learners. The school is able to show that a significant number of these students are making progress in reading and mathematics, and some in writing.
The school reports that achievement information for all other children from 2014 to 2015 is tracking upwards and above national comparisons in reading and mathematics and similar in writing. The 2016 interim data shows similar trends.
Teachers work collaboratively using a range of evidence and their professional knowledge to make sound overall judgements about children's achievement levels in relation to the National Standards.
Since the last ERO evaluation the school has taken the following actions to improve outcomes for children:
- developed a distributive leadership model to build teacher capabilities
- strengthen the validity and reliability of assessment data
- external and internal professional development
- collaborating with an extensive range of support services to ensure all students needing acceleration are catered for.
3 Accelerating achievement
How effectively does this school respond to Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?
The school effectively responds to Māori children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.
In 2016, the system for effectively identifying Māori children at risk of not achieving equitable outcomes have been improved. There has been effective professional development to strengthen assessment practice. A broad range of assessment information is used to make overall teacher judgements in relation to National Standards. There are processes for moderation with ongoing professional discussions on evidence. Teachers have a shared understanding of learning progressions to identify specific individual students' needs and next steps.
The school is now taking a more evidence-based approach to Māori children whose progress and achievement need acceleration. Targeted Māori children have individual learning plans that use baseline data, learning intentions and specific teaching strategies. Teachers have regular meetings about target children to discuss strategies used to engage and progress their learning and to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching. Teachers have focussed on strategies which empower children to take more responsibility for their own learning, and this is having a positive impact on student achievement.
In 2016, of the small number of Māori children identified as at risk of underachieving in reading writing and maths, half have made accelerated progress.
How effectively does this school respond to other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?
The school is effectively responding to Pasifika children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.
The special education needs coordinator (SENCO) has the additional role coordinating the programmes for children with English as a second language (ESL). She has implemented effective systems that identify Pasifika children at risk of not achieving equitable outcomes and those who are ESL students. The SENCO works collaboratively with teachers and teacher aides to provide early intervention and ESL programmes to support the classroom learning. These programmes provide effective literacy support by working with children to help build their understandings of new concepts, vocabulary and prior knowledge so they can engage in the classroom activities with confidence. Teachers are using more culturally appropriate texts and working in partnership with families on ways that they can support their child's learning at home. This is having a positive impact on their achievement. Of the 15 Pasifika students that are English language learners and are identified as below National Standards, half have made accelerated progress in reading and mathematics. Some have made accelerated progress in writing and this is an ongoing focus area for improvement to reduce the significant difference between Pasifika children and others.
The school is effectively responding to other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.
Teachers use the same effective systems it uses with Māori and Pasifika students to identify other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration and this includes a significant number of Filipino students. Teachers are now more accountable for the accelerated progress of students identified as at risk of not achieving National Standards. All target students have an individual learning plan that recognises the student's needs and strengths, and the intentional teaching strategies to help accelerate each child's learning. The learning plans are also shared with parents to help reinforce learning at home. The next step is for school leaders is to embed these effective systems and monitor the quality and consistency of information provided across the school.
Trustees have received collated data from the principal that shows school-wide achievement for all children including gender and ethnic groups over the past three years. They set charter targets that are focussed on progressing the achievement of children in the below categories of National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. The next step is for more specific targets that address disparities between cohorts of children giving consideration to gender, ethnicity and year groups. It is important for trustees to receive interim reports about how target children are tracking toward National Standards. This is necessary to assist them to plan accordingly and make responsive, well-informed resourcing decisions throughout the year, and establish how effectively the school has been in accelerating the progress for these learners.
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 is placing priority on reviewing its curriculum and further developing it to ensure it is more effectively achieving the vision of greater equitable outcomes for all students.
The special Catholic character is reflected in all aspects of the school's curriculum and practices. Children have a wide range of opportunities to experience success. Children participate and learn in a caring, collaborative, inclusive environment. Trustees work closely with the principal to oversee the generous allocation of resources to support the best spiritual, academic and social outcomes for children.
The highly respected principal continues to provide strong professional leadership for the school community. He has moved to a more distributive leadership style and this has been instrumental in building collective capacity in the teaching staff. There has been a strategic approach to leading learning to build teacher capability. Recent professional development has been highly effective in improving teachers' confidence in assessment literacy, use of the learning progressions, visible learning strategies and formative assessment. This has made a significant impact on teaching and learning, and in developing the collaborative culture of professional learning within the school.
Parents share the school's commitment to the Catholic education philosophy and associated values. They appreciate the learning partnership with the school that provides them with strategies and resources that help support their child's education at home. An open-door policy and strong community networks ensure there are multiple opportunities for parents to be involved at the school.
The school is developing a meaningful partnership with Māori whānau. The next step is for school leaders to develop a strategic plan collaboratively with whānau that reflects their aspirations for language, identity and culture. Within this plan, consideration should be given to building staff capabilities in te reo and tikanga, and for te ao Māori to be integral in all aspects of the school's curriculum.
A similar plan needs to be developed with the Pacific community to promote and value the language and culture of the Pacific Islands. This is likely to support children of Pacific heritage to have their cultural identity affirmed and supported in their education.
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.
Current strengths are:
- stewardship that is focused on student learning, well being, achievement and progress
- leadership of learning that is focused on promoting equitable outcomes for all children
- parents, whānau and the wider community who are involved in school activities and events.
The school now recognises the need to make greater use of comparative data to address disparity and now need to give consideration to:
- setting specific charter targets that identify cohorts of students in need of acceleration
- robust action plans that specifically address these targets
- regularly reporting the progress of target children to the senior leaders and to trustees
- further analysis and interpretation of school-wide achievement information to identify and evaluate the effectiveness of programmes that are making the greatest difference
- a coherent appraisal process and for teacher goals to explicitly link to the charter targets
- developing a strategic plan collaboratively with the Māori and Pacific communities to ensure their aspirations for strengthening language, identity and culture is realised and integral in all aspects of the curriculum.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three 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:
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:
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emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
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physical safety of students
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teacher registration
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processes for appointing staff
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stand down, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
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attendance
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compliance with the provisions of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.
7 Recommendation
ERO recommends that the principal continues to work with trustees, teachers and the school community to address the next steps identified in this ERO report.
Lynda Pura-Watson
Deputy Chief Review Officer
24 November 2016
About the school
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Location
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Hamilton
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Ministry of Education profile number
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1964
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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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305
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Gender composition
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Boys 51% Girls 49%
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Ethnic composition
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Pākehā
Māori
Pacific
South East Asian
Other
Other Asian
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68%
9%
9%
9%
4%
1%
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Review team on site
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September 2016
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Date of this report
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24 November 2016
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review
Education Review
Education Review
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September 2013
November 2010
June 2007
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