Catholic Cathedral College

Education institution number:
531
School type:
Secondary (Year 7-15)
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
581
Telephone:
Address:

62 Ferry Road, Phillipstown, Christchurch

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Catholic Cathedral College

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Catholic Cathedral College 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 

Catholic Cathedral College is a coeducational, integrated, Years 7 to 13 secondary school. The school’s special character reflects its strong Catholic values. Due to the Christchurch earthquake the school currently shares its location with another school. Plans are in place for Catholic Cathedral College to become the sole occupier of the site.

Catholic Cathedral College’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

  • be part of Church’s mission to provide a Catholic faith environment that enables young people to develop their faith, knowledge, and skills so that they become active and committed members of the Catholic community

  • ensure that Catholic Cathedral College is safe, inclusive, and welcoming place where our ākonga and kaimahi feel they belong and can be fully engaged in their learning

  • develop a culture of constructive self-review and professional teaching practice that enhances the achievement of ākonga and the development of our kaimahi.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Catholic Cathedral College’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the school creates an environment in which students have access to a responsive curriculum that meets all learning needs.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • prioritising equity and excellence and seeking to embed a culture in which staff know their learners and are connected to the community, understanding the needs of learners from an academic, wellbeing and social context

     

  • providing a safe and welcoming environment for learners inclusive of the community’s diverse ethnic backgrounds and respecting the dignity of the person.

The school expects to see students thriving and excelling in the opportunities offered to them at school, graduating from Catholic Cathedral College having developed their faith in God and understanding what their next steps will be to realise their potential.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to create an environment that meets the learning needs of all students:

  • a rich and inclusive school community which celebrates and respects the diversity of its ākonga and kaimahi, drawing these strengths together to enact Catholic values

  • effective and collaborative leadership that continually improves and strengthens the implementation of strategy aligned with the school’s priorities

  • strong partnerships Māori whānau, hapū, iwi, parents and families support and ensures the kaupapa of the school reflects that of tangata whenua

  • meaningful and educationally significant connections with Pacific fono and Filipino pamilya.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • continue to consult and collect information from a range of sources in which ākonga voice is included in evaluating initiatives and future plans

  • utilise ‘Positive Behaviour for Learning’ strategies to support evidence-based interventions aligning with the school's values of manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, whakapono and panekiretanga

  • shared professional development for kaimahi on engaging and inclusive culturally responsive practices.

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.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

21 September 2022 

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

Catholic Cathedral College

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of March 2022, the Catholic Cathedral College Board of Trustees 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

Further Information

For further information please contact Catholic Cathedral College Board of Trustees.

The next Board of Trustees 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.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

21 September 2022 

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

 

Catholic Cathedral College

Provision for International Students Report

Background

The Education Review Office reviews schools that are signatories to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Findings

The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020. 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.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

 21 September 2022 

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

Catholic Cathedral College - 06/12/2017

Summary

At the time of this review there were 462 students enrolled in this school in Years 7 to 13. The school has had steady roll growth and an increasing ethnic diversity of students since the 2013 ERO review. About 12% of the roll identify as Māori. Approximately 43% of students are Filipino, 17% Pacific and 25% Pākehā. There continues to be enrolments throughout the year.

Since the 2011 earthquake there has been another school on the same site sharing the facilities. Catholic Cathedral College is waiting for some rebuilding and new building work to occur.

There have been many changes of staff in recent years, including an almost completely new senior leadership team. The current principal was appointed three months before the previous review. Nine staff are beginning teachers.

The school is a member of the Christchurch Catholic Kahui Ako|Community of Learning (CoL). The CoL includes four other secondary schools, eight full primary schools and two contributing schools. The principal is the CoL leader.

While the school has made progress in several of the areas identified for development in the last ERO report, some of these have not yet been adequately addressed and remain as areas for improvement in this report.

How well is the school achieving equitable outcomes for all children?

This school responds well to children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. NCEA achievement results are high across Years 11 to 13.

Learning support is well coordinated throughout the school, with the English language programme giving strong support to the high number of English language learners.

The school’s curriculum provides students with choices and coherent pathways to future work and learning. The curriculum is responsive to students’ interests, aspirations and abilities. Pastoral care systems are effectively promoting students’ wellbeing, engagement and success in learning.

Key areas for development include:

  • improving monitoring of the progress of those students needing to make accelerated progress

  • strengthening processes for making decisions about school developments and strengthening strategic planning.

The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all learners. Achievement levels for Māori, Pacific and Asian students are high across National Certificate Levels of Achievement (NCEA) 1, 2 and 3 levels.

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

Equity and excellence

How effectively does this school respond to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

The school responds well to students whose learning and achievement need acceleration to achieve at expected levels.

Years 7-8

School achievement information for the past three years in relation to National Standards shows:

  • overall students achieve well in reading and less well in writing and mathematics

  • Māori achieve better for reading

  • disparity for boys and Pacific students for writing.

Years 9-10

School achievement information shows that cohorts of students progress as expected against New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) levels in Years 9 to 10. However, the school is working on the reliability of data in this area to show progress and achievement over time.

There has been a focus in most learning areas on developing more consistent guidelines for assessment of students’ achievement across NZC levels.

NCEA

Overall NCEA achievement has increased well over time since the last ERO review. NCEA information shows that:

  • students achieve to high levels in NCEA Levels 1, 2, 3 and in UE and literacy and numeracy credits

  • excellence and merit endorsements for NCEA Level 1 and 2 certificates have increased

  • Level 3 endorsements have remained below national levels.

In Years 7 to 8 the school uses an appropriate range of tools to assess and moderate student achievement. The moderation process needs to be strengthened by developing a system of external moderation with other schools.

There is a particular focus across the school on raising the achievement for Māori students. A key focus is to ensure success for Māori as Māori.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

What school processes are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?

Students are well supported in their learning and wellbeing. Teachers have a good knowledge of individual students and involve their families in decisions about their learning and care. Leaders and teachers make effective use of their shared knowledge of students’ interests to provide meaningful and responsive learning programmes.

School leaders are intentionally improving school-wide systems. This includes senior leaders expecting teachers to support and monitor students’ achievement of NCEA credits. Senior students are becoming better informed about their learning and are supported to take more responsibility for their own progress and achievement.

Recent appointments to the senior and middle management teams have been strategic to strengthen the skill base and better reflect the ethnic diversity of the community and student groups.

The Catholic special character of the school is highly evident. It unifies the school’s diverse community and is an integral part of the life, learning and achievement of the school and community.

The school effectively uses outside agencies to provide additional support for the wellbeing and learning of students.

The school has effective systems for identifying, tracking and providing for children who need extra support across the areas of:

  • English Language Learning (ELL)

  • pastoral care

  • careers

  • learning support

  • priority students.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

Many school systems and practices are at early stages and have yet to be embedded and regularly evaluated.

What further developments are needed in school processes to achieve equity and excellence?

The school has some useful internal evaluation processes for identifying areas for development and improvement. However, a number of these areas for improvement were identified in the school’s 2013 ERO report, and have not been adequately progressed due to the impact of the earthquake, sharing the site and considerable staff changes. Trustees and leaders need to develop more effective internal evaluation to effectively address equity and excellence.

Leaders and trustees and teachers need to develop and implement an evaluation framework that includes:

  • effective processes for investigation and taking action

  • monitoring and evaluating the impact of the outcome for students.

Evaluations need to include all aspects of school operations. In particular, evaluations need to consider how well:

  • targeted interventions accelerate the progress of students at risk of not achieving successful learning outcomes

  • the school shows it values Māori culture and students (bi-cultural development / integration / te reo).

The strategic plan needs to have greater clarity on key priorities and show their development over time. Targets and goals need to be more specific (planned for), have progress monitored and strategies evaluated and reported on.

The school needs to further improve systems for identifying all students at risk of poor educational outcomes and for tracking their progress over time. This will enable trustees, leaders and teachers to better know the effectiveness of their efforts to raise achievement.

The curriculum review needs to be completed to ensure teachers have the guidance they need to deliver high quality programmes for students, including expectations for teaching and learning.

The board has identified, and ERO agrees, that trustees would benefit from training to support them in their stewardship role.

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

  • 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.

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to theEducation (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016(the Code) established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code.

At the time of this review there was one international student attending the school, and no exchange students.

Catholic Cathedral College provides a high level of pastoral care that reflects the school’s special Catholic faith-based character provided for all students, including international students.

Going forward

How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?

The school has capacity and capability to accelerate learning for all learners.

Leaders and teachers:

  • need to develop and implement approaches that effectively meet the needs of each learner

  • need to improve the school conditions that support the acceleration of learners’ progress and achievement.

The school agrees to:

  • develop more targeted planning to accelerate progress for learners

  • monitor targeted planning, improved teaching, and learners’ progress

  • discuss the school’s progress with ERO.

ERO will:

  • provide feedback and resources to support the development of more targeted planning

  • provide an internal workshop to support the school to develop effective planning and monitoring processes to support equity and excellence for all learners.

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

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern

Te Waipounamu - Southern Region

6 December 2017

About the school

Location

Christchurch

Ministry of Education profile number

531

School type

Secondary (Years 7-13)

School roll

462

Gender composition

Boys: 55%

Girls: 45%

Ethnic composition

Māori: 12%

Pacific: 17%

Asian: 43%

Pākehā: 25%

Other: 3%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

September 2017

Date of this report

6 December 2017

Most recent ERO reports

Education Review: August 2013

Education Review: September 2009

Education Review: October 2006