Maranatha Christian School is an integrated school situated in Belmont, Lower Hutt. It caters for 145 students in Years 1 to 8 and serves a diverse ethnic community.
Since the March 2014 ERO report, several staff changes have occurred, including the appointment of a new principal, associate principal, team leader and teachers. Financial difficulties resulting from a dropping roll have been largely addressed as the school has started to experience significant roll growth. A major building programme is planned to begin early in 2017.
Trustees are now in their second term. Collaboration is evident between the school proprietors, the Maranatha Foundation Board (MFB), and the school board.
The school is developing its approach to supporting students whose achievement requires acceleration. It has systems in place to monitor the achievement of individual students. However, it has yet to identify patterns of achievement for groups of students, and to effectively target their needs and ensure equitable learning outcomes for all.
The school reports that most students achieved well in relation to National Standards in 2016. However, the school is yet to achieve equitable outcomes for Māori and Pacific students, particularly in numbers of students achieving above the National Standards in reading and writing. Moderation practices should be improved to ensure the dependability of assessment of students’ learning.
The curriculum prioritises the Christian values and reading, writing and mathematics. However it requires further development to ensure it is sufficiently responsive to the cultural and learning needs of this community of learners.
Developing internal evaluation for evidence-based decision making and improved target setting continues to be a focus.
At the time of this review, this school was not well placed to provide conditions for children to achieve educational excellence, or to address in-school disparities.
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in one-to-two years.
In 2016 the school reported that most students, including Māori, achieve at or above the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. However, the school is yet to achieve equitable outcomes for Māori and Pacific students, particularly in numbers of students achieving above the National Standards in reading and writing. Disparity of achievement in mathematics is reducing over time.
The school is developing its approach to supporting students whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Students at risk of not achieving are identified and targets set for some key groups. Leaders should broaden annual achievement targets to ensure all students who need acceleration are identified and have their achievement supported and monitored in ongoing and defined ways.
The school monitors the achievement of individual students whose learning and achievement needs acceleration. Teachers check their progress and discuss the effectiveness of the teaching strategies they use. Students requiring additional learning support are identified and their learning is planned and tracked through individual education plans.
As part of the writing professional learning and development, the school has been supported to improve the consistency of teacher judgements against the National Standards. In order to ensure the dependability of the school’s achievement information, teachers should:
The curriculum prioritises Christian and ‘LIFE’ values (Love, Integrity, Faith and Excellence), environmental education and the national priorities of reading, writing and mathematics. Significant work has been undertaken to improve school tone. A comprehensive approach to student management, collaboratively developed by students, teachers and school leaders has been successfully shared with the community. Students’ understanding of expectations is supported and the impact is evidenced by the children’s friendliness, respect for others and willingness to help.
Senior leaders work collaboratively to share information about teaching and learning. A positive culture to support shared responsibility for student learning is developing. Increased emphasis is being placed on identifying students who need additional support. Teachers are being encouraged to use achievement information to better identify students’ learning needs. Progress in relation to the school’s annual goals is regularly monitored by the leadership team, in consultation with teachers, and reported to trustees.
Progress has been made in developing relationships and communication with families. Comprehensive reporting of student achievement against National Standards is now in place. Consultation and communication between leaders, teachers, and the community is beginning to provide useful feedback to support decision making about school direction and long-term planning.
The school is supported by an experienced board of trustees. Their roles and responsibilities are well defined. Appropriate emphasis is given to teaching, learning and student achievement.
Trustees, school leaders and teachers have work to do to in order to address disparity and promote equitable and excellent outcomes for students. They should:
Review and documentation of the school curriculum should include:
Support for teachers’ development is being strengthened and needs to be embedded. The newly revised appraisal process has the potential to support ongoing improvement to teaching. Teachers are at an early stage of inquiring into their own practice, using student achievement data as evidence of the effectiveness of their teaching strategies.
Since the on-site phase trustees and leaders have begun to strengthen key operational practices including review of policies and consultation on the strategic plan and charter. Coherent school planning should align with student achievement targets, teacher and leader appraisal and classroom practices. A continued focus on strengthening consultation with all members of the community is needed.
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:
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:
The appraisal process should be strengthened to include gathering of evidence to show how teachers and the principal are meeting Education Council’s requirements for the issue and renewal of their practising certificates.
ERO identified non-compliance in relation to curriculum and community consultation. In order to address this the board must:
To improve current practice, the board of trustees should complete:
At the time of this review, this school was not well placed to provide conditions for children to achieve educational excellence, or to address in-school disparities. The main areas of concern are:
Leaders and teachers:
ERO intends to carry out a process of ongoing evaluation to support development over the course of one-to-two years.
ERO recommends that the Ministry of Education consider providing support for the school in order to bring about the following improvements:
Patricia Davey
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)
10 May 2017
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Location |
Lower Hutt |
|
Ministry of Education profile number |
1179 |
|
School type |
Full Primary, Years 1 - 8 |
|
School roll |
145 |
|
Gender composition |
Female 51%, Male 49% |
|
Ethnic composition |
Māori 12% |
|
Provision of Māori medium education |
No |
|
Review team on site |
February 2017 |
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Date of this report |
10 May 2017 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review, March 2014 |