Sacred Heart School (Reefton)

School Context

Sacred Heart School (Reefton) is a state integrated Catholic primary school with 39 children in Years 1 to 8.

The special character of the school is supported by its vision statement ‘Setting high expectations and fostering a love of life-long learning, in a caring, respectful Catholic environment’. This is underpinned by the ‘CHOICE Catholic Coaster’ values of students being Capable, Helpful, Organised, Inclusive, Caring and Engaged.

2019 student achievement targets focused on accelerating the learning of students at risk of not achieving in reading, writing and mathematics.

Since the April 2015 ERO review there has been significant roll growth. A number of ongoing changes to leadership and staff have occurred. The current principal started at the school in mid-2019. Experienced and newly elected trustees make up the board.

The school is a member of the Mawhera Kāhui Ako|Community of Learning. Recent professional development has focused on the digital curriculum.

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?

Achievement information for 2017 and 2018 indicates that most students, including Māori students, achieve at or above the school’s curriculum expectations in reading, writing and mathematics.

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

The school is yet to clearly identify and report how well learning is accelerated for students at risk. New processes and systems are being established to show a clearer picture of achievement and progress.

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?

The special Catholic character provides a foundation for building ongoing relationships and support within the school community. Classroom practices, including prayer and devotions, appropriately promote the schoolwide valued outcomes. Respectful relationships are clearly evident.

Well-established classroom routines promote focused learning environments. Students are engaged in their learning and talk confidently about their learning. Teachers use effective strategies to support students’ engagement and learning. Students work collaboratively, responding positively to a range of learning opportunities.

Learners with additional needs are appropriately identified and well supported. The board generously funds resources to assist these children. External expertise supports this provision.

New leadership provides a well-considered and strongly improvement-focused approach. Useful information is being gathered to inform developments going forward.

The board actively represents and serves the school and community in its stewardship role. Trustees bring a range of skills to the board. They demonstrate a strong commitment to the ongoing promotion of the school and the long-term success of learners.

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 recent leadership and staff changes, the school is working towards developing effective systems and processes for sustainable, improvement-focused school operation.

Systems and processes are being established to ensure that achievement information is dependable, consistent and well analysed. This should enable the school to clearly show the progress and achievement of all students and promote acceleration for those students who need it. Tracking and reporting of this during the year should promote a more deliberate and responsive approach to achieving equity and excellence.

The school has identified that its curriculum needs review and development. ERO’s evaluation supports this direction. This revised documentation should better reflect and guide current practice, priorities and initiatives A clearer focus on the local context and the bicultural nature of Aotearoa New Zealand is required. Further consultation with students, families and whānau should inform the curriculum. Ensuring a culturally responsive curriculum for Māori learners should also be clearly articulated, based on a shared vision of success for Māori, as determined by whānau and iwi aspirations..

The new leader is appropriately prioritising actions for improvement and actively gathering a range of useful information to inform decisions. Once processes, systems and initiatives are put in place, developing a shared understanding and use of internal evaluation will be a useful next step. This should better inform all stakeholders about what has the most significant impact on raising achievement and support continued development.

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 Children’s Act 2014.

4 ERO’s Overall Judgement

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Sacred Heart School (Reefton)’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Developing.

ERO’s Framework: Overall Findings and Judgement Tool derived from School Evaluation Indicators: Effective Practice for Improvement and Learner Success is available on ERO’s website.

5 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

• the special Catholic character that provides a foundation for building ongoing relationships that promote student participation and engagement
• well-established classroom routines that promote focused learning
• a well-considered and strongly improvement-focused leadership approach
• trustees who demonstrate a strong commitment to the long-term success of learners.

Next steps

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

• establishing systems and processes to ensure that achievement information is dependable, consistent and well analysed
• reviewing and developing the school’s localised curriculum to better reflect and guide current practice, priorities and initiatives
• developing and using internal evaluation processes to know what has the most significant impact on raising achievement, and to support continued development.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified non-compliance in relation to:

• consultation with the school community regarding the health curriculum.

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

1. 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]

Areas for improved compliance practice

To improve current practice, the board of trustees should strengthen:

• the documentation of hazards
• processes in relation to in-committee minutes.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini

Southern Region

18 December 2019

About the school