School Context
Christ the King School (Burnside) is a Year 1 to 8 urban Catholic school in Christchurch. It has a roll of 344 students. Since the 2015 ERO review the school’s roll has become more diverse.
The school motto is ‘Kei te hiki tatou hai angitu/We are stepping up for success’. Its vision is for students to be confident, connected, actively involved, life-long learners. The school’s values and the key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum are embedded within the vision. The vision has been expanded to show students how it can be enacted by them.
To support the school’s motto and vision, current strategic goals and targets include:
- maintaining the special character of the school
- improving student outcomes
- building teacher knowledge of te reo and tikanga Māori
- within the Kāhui Ako, improving educational opportunities and outcomes for all learners in the community.
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 for literacy and mathematics
- outcomes related to engagement, wellbeing for success, and student identity and culture.
Over the past three years the school has taken part in professional learning and development (PLD) to improve student outcomes in mathematics and writing, and increase teachers’ awareness of a culturally responsive learning environment, with a particular focus on Māori culture.
Since the 2015 ERO review the school has had extensive developments in the outdoor play areas.
Christ the King School (Burnside) is an active member of the Waimairi-iri Kāhui Ako|Community of Learning.
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 is moving positively towards equity and excellence for all its students.
Achievement reports from the past three years to the board show:
- most students achieved at or above the school’s expectations in reading, writing and mathematics
- similar levels of achievement for boys and girls
- significant improvement in achievement levels for Asian students in 2018
- Māori students achieved at similar levels to their peers
- that by Year 8, almost all students achieve at their expected levels in reading, writing and mathematics
- almost all students are highly engaged in their learning, feel safe and that their culture is valued and respected at school.
1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those students who need this?
The school is accelerating the learning for targeted students increasingly well.
Rates of accelerated progress have been variable over the past three years. However, 2018 reports show improved rates of progress for most targeted learners in literacy and mathematics. Interim data for 2019 indicates this level of success is continuing.
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 school continues to provide high-quality conditions for student learning.
An inclusive culture characterised by care, respect, relational trust and shared Catholic faith is in place. Agreed values are well integrated in the school curriculum and highly evident throughout the environment. The languages, cultures and identities of students are increasingly reflected within practices and programmes. Leadership opportunities in the senior classes link well to the values and special character, and model good citizenship.
The rich curriculum makes good use of external and parental expertise to strengthen and extend the learning students experience. Effective connections within the Kāhui Ako provide opportunities for leaders and teachers to share ideas about practices and participate in professional learning.
Students benefit from effective teaching. Teachers effectively respond to the assessment data of individual students. There is schoolwide use of well-founded teaching strategies which are carefully monitored to ensure their consistent and ongoing implementation. The rigorous appraisal and teacher-inquiry processes are highly focused on improving student outcomes. Students are grouped in a variety of ways to best suit their learning needs, abilities and interests. Purposeful teaching and support from school leaders successfully enable effective teaching and learning.
Leaders design, resource and implement targeted actions with a focus on improving both student outcomes and the school’s capacity for equity. The board resources additional hours for teaching, appropriate professional learning and development, and suitable teaching and learning tools. Teachers and leaders have a strong sense of collective responsibility for all students. Achievement issues are identified early and addressed quickly with all teachers contributing to improvement strategies. Genuine learning partnerships with parents increase learning opportunities at home and at school. These are key contributors to ensuring all students have equitable opportunities to learn.
2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?
For the community to have a greater understanding of how well students are progressing, leaders should report schoolwide information on:
- the rates of progress of all students to better identify if sufficient progress has been made and sustained
- other areas of student development that are important at Christ the King School.
Leaders and teachers need to continue to strengthen processes for evaluating the impact teaching programmes are having on student outcomes. Closer scrutiny of schoolwide and cohort learning data should provide a sound foundation for knowing what is going well and what needs further improvement within teaching and learning programmes.
3 Other Matters
Provision for international students
The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. 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.
The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the code.
4 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.
5 ERO’s Overall Judgement
On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Christ the King School (Burnside)’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Strong.
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.
6 Going forward
Key strengths of the school
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
- its well developed and highly evident Catholic values contributing to a strong school community
- teaching and learning programmes that sustain very good levels of achievement overall in core learning areas
- the processes to gather comprehensive learning information about all students individually
- a staff that is collaborative and improvement-focused.
Next steps
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:
- analysing data already available in the school to know about the levels of schoolwide achievement and rates of progress in the areas of student development that are important at Christ the King School
- scrutinising learning information to know what is going well and what needs further improvement within teaching and learning programmes.
Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services
Southern Southern Region
18 February 2020
About the school
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Location
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Christchurch
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Ministry of Education profile number
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3316
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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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344
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Gender composition
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Girls 52% Boys 48%
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Ethnic composition
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Māori 8%
NZ European/Pākehā 59%
Pacific 2%
Asian 26%
Other ethnic groups 5%
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Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)
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Yes
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Provision of Māori medium education
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No
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Review team on site
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November 2019
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Date of this report
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18 February 2020
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Most recent ERO reports
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Education Review October 2015
Education Review September 2012
Education Review July 2008
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