Christchurch East School

School Context

Christchurch East School is located in central Christchurch and provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. The school’s roll is continuing to grow. At the time of the onsite review, the roll of 305 students reflected increasing diversity, which includes migrant and refugee families.

In recent years the school has had increasing numbers of students who have transitioned into and out of the school during the school year.

The school’s vision is to be ‘a vibrant inspirational learning community in the heart of the city’, and the motto of the school is ‘Learning with heart’. Valued outcomes for learners include students becoming respectful, self managing, interactive, curious and multi-literate learners. The school values are equity (te ririte), excellence (te hiranga), integrity (ngākau pono), and sense of community (nohonga tahitanga).

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

• student achievement and progress in reading, writing and mathematics
• outcomes related to engagement and wellbeing for success
• valued outcomes related to culturally responsive practices.

Christchurch East School is part of the Te Taura Here o Ōtautahi 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 in the early stages of making the progress necessary to achieve equitable and excellent outcomes for students.

Achievement information provided by the school shows that, over time, achievement levels fluctuate but have generally remained at a low level across reading, writing and mathematics.

School data for 2016 to 2018 shows that:

• reading achievement levels have remained static, with 56% of students in 2018 achieving at or above expected curriculum levels
• in writing, 49% of the students are achieving at or above the expected curriculum level
• achievement in mathematics shows that 53% of students achieve at or above the expected curriculum level, which represents a slight increase over the previous two years.

Disparity in achievement outcomes is evident in reading and writing for boys, and mathematics for girls. Significant disparity remains in reading, writing and mathematics for Māori and Pacific students.

Analysis of 2017 to 2018 achievement data received by ERO following the onsite stage of the review shows that an increasing number of Māori students, who have been at the school for a sustained period of time, are achieving at or above the curriculum level expectations in reading, writing and mathematics.

Information provided by the school shows good progress in meeting students’ wellbeing needs.

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

The school is in the early stages of accelerating learning for Māori and Pacific students who need this.

School information for 2016 to 2018 shows some accelerated improvement in achievement for Pacific students in reading and mathematics.

Since the 2016 ERO review, the school has provided increased support and expertise for English language learners. As a result, acceleration in reading, listening and writing is becoming more evident in their learning progress.

Analysis of 2017 to 2018 achievement data received by ERO after the onsite stage of the review, shows that students who have been at the school for a sustained period of time generally achieve to a higher curriculum level in reading, writing and mathematics.

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?

Students participate in a caring and inclusive learning community. The focus on building strong relationships with students, parents, whānau and the local community is evident across all levels of the school. Leaders are strongly community focused. They have developed reciprocal relationships which support students to learn in an environment where their language, culture and identity are valued. Authentic relationships with whānau and iwi are helping to build bicultural practices that support learning.

The broad curriculum provides a range of learning opportunities designed to engage students and meet their needs, interests and aspirations. The school’s vision and values are strongly promoted and are closely aligned to, and evident in, classroom programmes. Children have many opportunities to develop leadership skills and express ideas and opinions that contribute to decision making in the school.

Relationships between trustees and school leaders are open and respectful. Trustees utilise the strengths of individual members and are focused on supporting and promoting positive outcomes for learners.

Teachers work collaboratively and students have opportunities to learn in collaborative groups. Professional learning is aligned to the school’s strategic vision, values and goals, and is helping to build the capability and capacity of teachers. The distributed leadership model of the school encourages teachers to develop their leadership skills.

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

To better promote and enable equity and excellence for all learners, the board and school leadership must maintain a sense of urgency to continue to:

• improve the achievement of all students, including planning strategically to more effectively address identified equity, learning and acceleration needs
• build capability to improve the analysis, use and reporting of achievement trends over time, for all groups of students, to determine if learning progress and achievement are sufficient and have been sustained
• build capability to implement effective internal evaluation in order to identify the impact of programmes and interventions, and more accurately determine future needs.

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 Christchurch East School School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Developing.

ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance 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:

• strong relationships with parents, whānau and community
• a welcoming, positive and inclusive environment that values students’ culture, language and identity.

Next steps

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

• significantly improve achievement and acceleration in learning
• build capability and capacity to effectively use and analyse achievement data, and monitor student progress over time
• build capability at all levels of the school in internal evaluation to determine the impact and effectiveness of interventions, programmes and practices.

ERO recommends that the Ministry of Education consider providing support for the school in order to bring about improvement in:

• student achievement
• data capability and use
• internal evaluation.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini

Southern Region

14 August 2019

About the school