St James School (Aranui)

School Context

St James School (Aranui) provides education for students from Years 1 to 6. It is a small, urban, Catholic primary school located in Aranui, Christchurch. It has a current roll of 117 students of whom 51% are Pacific heritage and 24% are Māori.

The school charism comes from the First Sisters of the Congregation of Our Lady of the Missions. The school’s vision is ‘Together in faith, we develop as learners on our pathway to SUCCESS’. The vision is underpinned by the values of:

• respect – whakakoha
• responsibility – tutika
• compassion – aroha
• excellence – kairangatira.

As a consequence of the 2011 earthquake, the school’s classrooms and administration block were completely rebuilt in 2017.

The school has a stable and experienced leadership team. The board is capable and experienced with a mixture of long-serving and new trustees.

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

• student achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
• progress being made by priority students
• students who receive learning support.

The school is an active member of the Christchurch Catholic Kāhui Ako|Community of Learning (CoL).

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 highly effective in achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for students.

The school’s data shows levels of achievement have been trending upwards over the last three years. Almost all students in reading and most students in writing and mathematics have achieved above school’s expectations for 2017. Students who need extra help are supported to accelerate their progress and succeed in their learning.

Students with additional learning needs are planned for individually. They have detailed plans that clearly show achievement of learning goals.

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

The school’s data shows that the school is highly responsive to Māori and other students whose learning needs acceleration. It is effective in accelerating the progress and achievement of students whose learning needs to be accelerated.

Students’ progress and achievement is closely monitored and individual students are provided with increased programmes that best support their particular needs. The school’s information shows rates of progress and acceleration throughout the year for these students.

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 board and leaders have maintained an unrelenting focus on improving outcomes for students. The board and the leadership team work very well together. This has ensured well-considered planning and change management following the relocation and subsequent rebuilding of the school administration block and classrooms in 2017.

Trustees access a range of good quality student data and evaluative information, including the perspective of students, parents, whānau and community, and use this to support:

• identification of priorities and targets based on analysis of trends, patterns and progress
• the making of decisions that will improve student outcomes taking into account evidence about the effectiveness of any proposed approach
• strategic resourcing of strategies directed at improving student outcomes.

The principal and other leaders foster strong collaborative relationships across the school where everyone feels valued. There is astrong focus on the wellbeing of all students and staff. Attention is paid to establishing an orderly and supportive environment that is conducive to students’ learning, wellbeing and achievement.

The curriculum is highly responsive to children, their interests, learning and wellbeing. Students whose culture/first language differs from the culture/language of instruction are well supported to access learning. The school’s vision and values are very evident in all aspects of school life.

Teachers use differentiated learning approaches to engage students and ensure a balance of surface, deep and conceptual learning. They know their students well, cater for individual learning styles, and build on prior knowledge, culture, language and identity of students. Students are the focus of all effective professional learning. Enhancing student outcomes is both the purpose of professional learning and the basis for evaluating its success.

Taking a strengths-based approach, leaders and teachers recognise and affirm the diverse identities, languages and cultures of parents, whānau and the community and actively broker engagement and participation. This is evident in the school motto, ‘Not just a school, but a family’.

Strong connections with external agencies, targeted school programmes and intensive interventions that are focused on equity, are highly evident. Learners with additional needs experience a collaborative wrap-around approach to success across the school.

Assessment activities are inclusive, authentic and fit for purpose. They provide meaningful evidence of achievement and progress and a basis for determining next steps to inform internal evaluation. Leaders and teachers work together coherently, enabling the use of relevant information at student, classroom, teacher and school levels, to promote improvement.

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

The school has identified, and ERO supports the need to extend good practice, already evident in the assessment and monitoring of literacy and numeracy to other areas of the curriculum, and the valued outcomes of the school.

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:

• school systems, processes and practices that are strongly focused on achieving equity and excellence, and accelerating children’s progress
• a well-developed and responsive school curriculum that effectively uses children’s interests, teachers’ skills and knowledge, the environment and wider community to make learning engaging and relevant
• effective processes and practices for internal evaluation that promote high quality learning and teaching.

Next steps

For sustained improvement and future learner success the priority for further development is in:

• extending the good practice already evident in the assessment and monitoring of literacy and numeracy to other areas of the curriculum and the valued outcomes of the school.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in four-to-five years.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review & Improvement Services Southern

13 September 2018

About the school