St Bernadette's School (Naenae)

Education institution number:

3001

School type:

Full Primary

School gender:

Co-Educational

Definition:

Not Applicable

Total roll:

102

Website:

http://www.stbs.school.nz

Telephone:

04 567 8056

Address:

190 Naenae Road, Naenae, Lower Hutt

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St Bernadette's School (Naenae) - 11/10/2018

11 Oct 2018

School Context

St Bernadette’s School (Naenae) is a state integrated Catholic primary school located in Hutt City. The school caters for a diverse range of students in Years 1 to 8. Of the 130 children enrolled 11% are Māori and 65% are of Pacific heritage. Forty percent of children are funded as English Language Learners (ELLs).

The vision is to promote learners who love learning, live their faith and know God. The values of ‘SHINE - show love and respect for myself, others and the environment, honest and happy, including and caring for others, numerate and literate, encouraging and positive’ - guide school culture and practices.

School targets, to accelerate the progress and achievement of learners at risk of poor learning outcomes, are set annually.

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

achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
progress and achievement in relation to the school targets.

Teachers are involved in a range of professional learning and development through external and internal initiatives to promote positive learner outcomes. The current focus is mathematics.

There have been some changes to staff since the November 2015 ERO report, including the appointment of a deputy principal in 2016.

Longstanding and newly appointed members make up the board of trustees. They have close intergenerational connections with the school.

The school is an active member of the Naenae Kāhui Ako.

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?

Reports from the end of 2017 indicate that most children achieved in reading and mathematics in relation to curriculum expectations. The majority of learners achieved in writing. Achievement for Māori learners is similar to that of their school peers.

Pacific learners’ achievement has remained stable since the previous ERO review, with most achieving in reading and mathematics.

Over time rates of achievement in writing have been declining for Māori and boys, and have been variable for Pacific learners.

Ongoing in-school disparity for boys in reading and mathematics is well known by leaders, teachers and trustees. Urgency is required to strengthen processes that address achievement disparities for boys in writing.

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

Trustees, leaders and teachers have a schoolwide picture of accelerated achievement for target students against curriculum expectations. School reported data in 2017 shows that a small number of students accelerate their learning in reading and mathematics.

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?

A suitable range of systems, processes and strategies are used to identify and monitor individual students at risk of not achieving at expected curriculum levels. Learners with additional needs, including ELL, are supported to progress their learning through appropriate programmes. External expertise appropriately supports this provision.

Student engagement and learning is promoted through well-known learning expectations. The ‘High 5 of Active Learning’ framework provides guidance for students to know about their strengths, progress and next steps, and supports students toward becoming successful life-long learners. Appropriately resourced learning environments effectively support children to participate positively in learning.

The school provides a caring and inclusive community of learning for children. Positive and respectful relationships are fostered across the school through the ‘SHINE’ values and a sense of belonging is promoted. Parents, whānau and community members are welcomed and encouraged to engage in school activities and events. Well considered strategies are implemented to provide opportunities for families to participate in their children’s learning and development at school. A deliberate approach supports effective transition in, through and out of the school.

Building leadership and staff capability is suitably promoted through thoughtful provision of professional development, regular collaborative monitoring meetings and appraisal aligned to school priorities to support student success. Leaders and teachers are improvement focused and take collective responsibility for meeting the needs of diverse learners.

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

Further strengthening school processes and practices is needed to increase rates of achievement and acceleration for improved equity and excellence in student outcomes. Better analysis of achievement data and improved reporting of progress and acceleration for all groups at risk of not achieving are next steps. This should better inform targeted resourcing and teaching for those learners who require acceleration.

Trustees and leaders have identified the need to further improve their response to their learners’ diverse cultures, languages and identities, especially Māori. Whānau and learner voice is valued and sought. Robust analysis of this information is required to inform decision-making to better meet the needs of the students and their families. A key next step is to develop a shared vision of success for Māori, informed by whānau aspirations.

As the curriculum continues to be reviewed, clear guidance for effective teaching practice and expectations of student outcomes is required across all learning areas. The revised curriculum should:

identify effective culturally responsive practices
clearly explain the rationale and educational thinking behind new initiatives
provide expectations for assessment across the school.

Strengthening knowledge and use of inquiry and evaluation should support the school to more fully understand the impact of the curriculum on student outcomes. Developing a shared understanding of evaluation across all levels of the school, to better determine the effectiveness of actions and strategies, should contribute to ongoing strategic direction and decision making.

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:

the active learning focus and values that nurture learner success and wellbeing
providing an inclusive and caring environment that promotes students’ learning and wellbeing
a culture of collaboration among leaders and teachers to support a collective response to the needs of diverse learners.

Next steps

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

better monitoring and reporting progress and acceleration of all groups at risk of not achieving educational success
documenting the school’s expectations for culturally responsive practices, new initiatives and assessment to ensure shared understanding and further support teaching and learning
knowing the valued outcomes for Māori learners, as determined by parents and whānau, to ensure a culturally responsive curriculum
building schoolwide inquiry and internal evaluation to better determine the effectiveness of programmes and actions on student outcomes.
[ERO will provide an internal evaluation workshop for trustees and senior leaders]

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

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

Alan Wynyard
Director Review and Improvement Services

Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region

11 October 2018

About the school

Location	Lower Hutt
Ministry of Education profile number	3001
School type	Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)
School roll	130
Gender composition	Female 54%, Male 46%
Ethnic composition	Māori 11% Samoan 36% Tokelauan 28% Other ethnic groups 25%
Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)	Yes
Provision of Māori medium education	No
Review team on site	September 2018
Date of this report	11 October 2018
Most recent ERO report(s)	Education Review November 2015 Education Review February 2013 Education Review December 2009

St Bernadette's School (Naenae) - 26/11/2015

26 Nov 2015

Findings

St Bernadette’s Catholic mission of ‘loving our learning, living our faith, knowing our God’ is highly evident throughout the school. Most students achieve well in relation to National Standards in mathematics and reading. Strengthened evaluation practices in the school are needed to develop a more responsive approach to teaching and learning.

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 Bernadette’s School (Naenae) is a state integrated Catholic primary school in Naenae, Hutt City. It has a roll of 126 students from Years 1 to 8. Two-thirds of the students identify as Pacific and seven percent as Māori. The school community is multicultural.

Students come from culturally diverse backgrounds and many have English as a second language. The school has a highly supportive and successful programme to develop the literacy skills of these learners for their active participation in all aspects of learning.

The school’s special Catholic character is reflected and fostered in the curriculum and in positive relationships across the school and its community. The students are confident in who they are and have a strong sense of belonging.

St Bernadette’s is part of the Naenae Learning and Change Network. There has been a collaborative focus on developing students as active learners.

Findings of the 2012 ERO review that have yet to be sufficiently addressed include further developing self-monitoring learners, cultural responsiveness and internal evaluation.

2 Learning

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

Leaders and teachers consider achievement information carefully to group students and promote their progress and achievement. Data reported indicates that the majority of students achieve well in relation to National Standards in reading and mathematics.

Improving students' writing achievement continues to be an area identified for focus in learning programmes. The school reports progress has been made in this area in 2015.

Teachers share strategies and seek guidance from their colleagues to accelerate the learning of students at risk of achieving poor educational outcomes. Extending this approach, both within the school and with other schools, to include discussions for moderation of teacher's overall assessment judgements about students' achievement for the National Standards, should help to develop a more robust approach.

Students participate and learn in a caring, collaborative and inclusive environment. Learning opportunities are focused on and respond to the students’ needs to build literacy capability. Capturing students’ interests and promoting these through inquiry learning should further build positive outcomes for students.

Students with additional and special educational needs are well catered for.

Students are keen to engage, learn, discuss and contribute. Positive, respectful relationships are highly evident in all aspects of school operation. Some students can discuss their learning goals. All should be supported to develop their understanding of what it means and what it looks like to be self-monitoring and self-directing active learners.

Students are confident about asking questions and share their knowledge and understanding with others. Continuing to develop culturally responsive teaching that recognises students' interests, culture, language and identity should help to accelerate progress for those most at risk of not achieving.

The school celebrates and actively promotes wairua, manaakitanga and aroha as key aspects in the learning-focused relationships. This has a positive effect on the achievement and engagement of the students. Continuing to explore the information shared at key transition phases should help to further individualise a successful learning journey for students.

3 Curriculum

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

Students experience a curriculum that offers them a range of learning choices. Broadening these to develop a more responsive approach that builds on their interests should help to enhance student learning.

The philosophy of ‘loving our learning, living our faith, knowing our God’ is effectively communicated in the delivery of the curriculum.

Students are well supported to access learning. Their identities and family, aiga, whānau and community knowledge, language and culture are represented throughout the curriculum. Continuing to explore effective ways of incorporating these in the delivery of the curriculum should help to personalise the content and improve student learning.

The school has designed an effective teaching profile. This is based on what skills, attributes and knowledge a successful graduating student would need to be a life-long learner. In order to use this profile effectively to build teacher practice, it needs to be explored further and adapted to include deliberate acts of teaching and success criteria. This should enable the school to evaluate how well it is enacting the active learner philosophy.

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

Since the 2013 ERO review, leaders and teachers have focused on promoting te reo Māori throughout the school. They actively model mihi with each other and are developing confidence in using them in public settings.

Leaders and teachers actively promote, and ensure students participate in, opportunities to celebrate te ao Māori. This is an integral part of the life of the school.

Te reo me ngā tikanga Māori are highly evident in the rituals and special character of the school. Continuing to develop their authentic integration in to the school’s curriculum should help to further promote educational success for Māori students, as Māori.

4 Sustainable Performance

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

St Bernadette’s School (Naenae) is well placed to sustain and improve its performance.

Trustees are focused on improving outcomes for students. They understand their roles and responsibilities for governance and promoting student achievement. They receive useful information to inform their understanding of curriculum, programmes and student achievement.

Feedback is actively sought from the community. A wide range of whānau and aiga voice has been gathered to inform the next strategic plan.

The board needs to continue to develop its stewardship role in relation to the progress of students for equity and excellence. Unpacking the strategic goals to clearly identify indicators of success should enable the impact of initiatives to be measured more effectively. This should ensure that targeted approaches to accelerating progress and achievement are specific and more effective in raising outcomes for students.

It is timely, with the development and establishment of a new strategic plan, that review of the policies and procedures is incorporated to ensure they reflect current practice and legislative requirements.

The principal fosters a collaborative staff and school culture. She sets high expectations and is improvement focused. Leadership is distributed across formal and informal roles and emphasises the collective responsibilities of the school community to create conditions in which all students experience success. The next step for leaders is to develop a shared understanding of, and embed, effective evaluation, inquiry and knowledge building schoolwide.

The appraisal system is not adequate and requires urgent attention. A framework that meets legislative obligations, is robust and consistently implemented, is required. This approach should be informed by sound evidence that can be used to target development needs and build effective practice.

Immediate steps to improve the appraisal process are to:

develop evidence-based Practising Teacher Criteria portfolios and ensure teachers understand the sufficiency of information required
extend the use of teacher inquiry to consider impacts on student achievement information
build the evaluative component of the process to identify what specific teaching strategies are having the biggest impact on student learning and progress
include a summative discussion that identifies and records strengths and areas where teachers can improve their practice.

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.

ERO identified that the appraisal system does not comply with the all EDUCANZ reporting obligations.

The board of trustees must develop and implement an appraisal system that promotes high levels of staff performance.[State Sector Act 1998, National Administration Guideline 3a]

Conclusion

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

Joyce Gebbie
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central

26 November 2015

School Statistics

Location	Lower Hutt, Wellington
Ministry of Education profile number	3001
School type	Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)
School roll	126
Gender composition	Female 51% Male 49%
Ethnic composition	Māori Samoan Tokelauan Sudanese Colombian Filipino Other ethnic groups	7% 40% 26% 10% 5% 4% 8%
Review team on site	October 2015
Date of this report	26 November 2015
Most recent ERO report(s)	Education Review Education Review Supplementary Review	February 2013 December 2009 January 2007