St Pius X School (Titahi Bay)

St Pius X School (Titahi Bay)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within eleven months of the Education Review Office and St Pius X School (Titahi Bay) 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 Pius X School is an integrated Roman Catholic school in Titahi Bay for children in Years 1 to 6. The school’s vision statement states that "We will be Christ-Centred, Forward Thinking, Actively Engaged, Inclusive Learners who live the gospel values of Jesus Christ in all we do here at St Pius X School".

St Pius X School (Titahi Bay)’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • that Gospel values are evident in all that is done

  • that teaching is modern and relevant

  • cultural diversity is reflected and celebrated

  • to build relationships with our community and other schools.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on St Pius X School (Titahi Bay)’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively schoolwide systems and processes build leader and teacher collective capacity through establishing learning partnerships with whānau for improving achievement.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is: 

  • leadership has identified the need to align systems and processes, build on culturally sustainable practices, develop consistent classroom practice and strengthen learning partnerships with whānau to improve learners’ achievement success

  • analysis of learner achievement highlighting how the needs of students working at and below expectations can be met by a strengths-based teaching approach and consistent practices in the teaching of reading and writing.

The school expects to see alignment and strengthening of systems and processes, the building of collective leadership and teacher capacity, curriculum knowledge and effective practice, and the lifting of the achievement of all learners in reading and writing.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to raise achievement through ensuring effective schoolwide systems and processes that build leader and teacher collective capacity through establishing learning partnerships with whānau.

  • An inclusive and culturally diverse school community with clear values that contribute to children’s sense of belonging.

  • Targeted teaching in small group settings that is supporting accelerating learner progress and achievement.

  • Identified evidence and observation-based supports are in place and this is building teacher capability and capacity in reading and writing practices.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • ongoing professional learning to strengthen literacy practices, making use of reading and writing data, curriculum documents, moderation activities and observations to identify areas of focus and effectively raise achievement by responding to individual learning needs

  • working with the community and parents to develop educationally powerful partnerships supportive of all learners.

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

8 August 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 Pius X School (Titahi Bay)

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of November 2022, the St Pius X School (Titahi Bay), School 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

Actions for Compliance

ERO has identified the following area of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

  • the school has not complied 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 91 Education and Training Act 2020].

The board has since taken steps to address the area of non-compliance identified.

Further Information

For further information please contact St Pius X School (Titahi Bay), 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

8 August 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 Pius X School (Titahi Bay) - 25/06/2018

School Context

St Pius X School is an integrated Roman Catholic school in Titahi Bay for children in Years 1 to 6. It draws from a culturally diverse community. Of the 83 children enrolled, 30 identify as Māori and 29 as of Pacific heritage.

The school’s vision statement is ‘with God’s love the family and school work together to help our students shine as life-long learners’. Students of St Pius X School, are expected to uphold the gospel values, as well as the school’s vision of ‘WAKA – Whānau, Atua, Kura and Aroha’. This is underpinned by the values and principles of ‘CREW – Care, Respect, Excellence and Wisdom’.

The school’s focus in 2018 is on raising the achievement of those students below expectations, to be at or above.

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

  • achievement in reading, writing and mathematics in relation to school expectations
  • progress and achievement of the annual achievement targets in relation to raising achievement for Māori girls in writing and Pacific boys in mathematics.

Since the April 2015 ERO report, there have been a significant number of changes to the leadership and teaching team. This included the appointment of a new principal in 2017. Experienced and newly elected members make up the board of trustees. A longstanding member of the board has been appointed to the role as chair.

Since 2015, leaders and teachers have participated in professional learning and development opportunities in the Positive Behaviour for Learning programme (PB4L), science workshops, religious education, literacy and numeracy.

St Pius X School is a member of the Te Puna Mātauranga (Western Porirua) 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?

The school continues to work towards achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students.

Since the previous ERO report, there has been a decline in achievement, with 2017 school achievement information showing this, particularly for Māori students and significantly for students of Pacific heritage.

The 2017 student achievement information indicated that the small majority of children achieved well in reading and mathematics and less than half of all learners achieved well in writing.

The achievement of girls is above that of boys in writing and mathematics. There is disparity for Pacific learners, who achieve below their peers in reading, writing and mathematics.

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

St Pius X School continues to further develop its systems and processes to enable them to better respond to those students whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

There is evidence of acceleration for some students however, this not sufficiently clear for those groups of students in the senior school.

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?

External expertise from the community is valued and used to enrich learning programmes.All learners are given opportunities to participate in learning experiences and community events that reflect Māori and Pacific cultures, languages and identities and the special character of the school.

A clear focus on promoting positive behaviour provides an inclusive environment underpinned by the school’s values. Students enjoy a sense of belonging and connection to the school.Positive relationships are evident between teachers and students. Learning environments are well managed in ways that support participation and engagement.

Parents, whānau and the community are welcomed and involved in school activities as respected and valued participants. A considered approach to engaging and seeking whānau voice appropriately supports the school’s strategic direction.

Children with additional learning needs are well identified and appropriately supported. External agencies are accessed when required.

The board of trustees represents and serves the school and its community to uphold the special character of the school. They have established a clear vision and strategic direction underpinned by the school’s valued outcomes that promote learning opportunities for students.

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

In response to a period of significant leadership and staffing changes, the school needs to give priority to developing and strengthening its systems and processes to better respond to those students whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

Leaders should develop and pursue a small number of targets that focus on accelerating the learning and achievement of those students who are at risk of underachievement.

There is a need to update the curriculum document to reflect school, church and community aspirations. Leaders and teachers should continue to consider how a localised curriculum can be integrated in the learning programmes to promote and celebrate the uniqueness of te ao Māori.

data is required to support leaders and teachers to evaluate what is going well or not, and who for. This should support leaders and trustees to identify effective practices that respond well to those students at risk of underachievement, or areas requiring further improvement.A strategic approach is needed to build leadership and teaching capabilities to promote successful student outcomes. As identified at the previous ERO review, deeper analysis of

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.

In order to improve practice the board should ensure that police vetting is kept up to date for employees and contractors.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

  • clear direction setting by the board of trustees, that promotes the special character of the school

  • pastoral care, that responds to students’ needs and promotes their physical and spiritual wellbeing

  • engaging families and community in the life of the school.

Next steps

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

  • targeted planning to accelerate learning, that better focuses on those groups of students who require their learning and achievement to be accelerated
    [ERO will monitor and discuss progress with the school]

  • curriculum responsiveness, including updating the curriculum document to reflect the uniqueness of the school and better respond to the needs of all students

  • building teacher and leadership capabilities across the school to support improved learner outcomes

  • internal evaluation processes and practices.
    [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.

Patricia Davey

Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)

Te Tai Pokapū - Central Region

25 June 2018

About the school

Location

Titahi Bay

Ministry of Education profile number

3022

School type

Contributing (Years 1 to 6)

School roll

83

Gender composition

Boys 45, Girls 38

Ethnic composition

Māori 30
Pacific 29
Pākehā 19 
Asian 5

Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)

Yes

Review team on site

April 2018

Date of this report

25 June 2018

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review April 2015
Education Review May 2012
Education Review April 2009