Monte Cecilia Catholic School

1 Context

Monte Cecilia School (Mt Roskill) is a Catholic integrated Year 1 to 8 full primary school. It has recently undergone major changes. The school has been relocated next to the parish church and learning spaces are now based on an 'innovative learning environment' design. The principal was employed just before the 2013 ERO review and two members of the senior leadership team were employed this year. The school is a member of the network of local schools and is a member of the Auckland Central Catholic Schools Community of Learning.

2 Equity and excellence

The vision and valued outcomes defined by the school for all children are that they will be people who love to learn, and who show respect, integrity and courage. They will also be resilient, so as to become contributing disciples of Christ who make a difference in our world.

The school’s achievement information shows that the majority of students achieve at or above all of the National Standards. Overall achievement trends over the past three years show a slight downward movement in writing. Achievement results over the same period for mathematics have remained constant at around 87 percent. They have also remained constant in reading at around 92 percent at or above the National Standards.

As reports to the board have not yet been deeply analysed, the board is unable to say what the actual disparity trends are between ethnicities or girls and boys over this time but are aware that boys are not succeeding as well as girls in reading and writing. Achievement information suggests that the disparity between the achievement of Pacific and other children remains constant for reading and mathematics but is widening in writing.

Since the last ERO evaluation the school has had an emphasis on raising student achievement through:

• the participation of all staff in professional development in leadership
• teachers implementing a process for inquiring into the impact of their teaching practices on outcomes for children
• creating better aligned systems and consistent expectations support teaching and learning
• a strong focus on developing students' own skills in monitoring their learning and progress. 

3 Accelerating achievement

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

The school is increasingly responsive to children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

The school has successfully accelerated the progress of some children. School leaders recognise the importance of continuing to advocate and embed teaching practices that foster accelerated learning. The principal has implemented systems and practices to enhance accelerated learning and positive outcomes for students that include: 

• useful processes for identifying students at risk of not achieving
• teachers closely monitoring the progress of selected children’s achievement over the year
• closely monitoring the progress and achievement of children with special needs and those who are identified as learning English as a second language
• the progress and achievement of all students being closely scrutinised through teachers' rich educational discussions
• internal moderation of writing assessment within and across teaching 'hubs'
• teachers continuing to participate in professional learning and development in writing, resulting in improved robustness in overall teacher judgements about achievement. 

The board and senior leaders agree that to further accelerate students' learning progress it could be beneficial for senior leaders to:

• report regularly to the board on progress towards the school’s goals and targets
• identify and closely monitor the progress of specific groups of students whose learning and achievement needs acceleration.

4 School conditions

How effectively do the school’s curriculum and other organisational processes and practices develop and enact the school’s vision, values, goals and targets for equity and excellence?

The school’s curriculum and other organisational processes and practices are increasingly effective in developing and enacting the school’s vision, values, goals and priorities for equity and excellence.

Children are very engaged with their learning. Teachers emphasise, and children demonstrate, skills for self management resulting in children confidently working independently. Children monitor some of their learning and are supported to develop and check their own learning goals.

Senior leaders continue to place high importance on consistent teaching approaches that could result in children transitioning smoothly between learning hubs. Teachers prioritise children being engaged in their learning and ensure they know children's individual interests, strengths and needs.

Children learn and achieve in areas across the breadth of The New Zealand Curriculum. Senior leaders have a systematic approach to implementing a school-wide currciulum focus that is personalised to the learners in each hub and ensures the curriculum Key Competencies and the school's values are highlighted. Changes to teaching practices have resulted in a more child-centred programme. Good use is made of the innovative learning environments.

Teachers have high expectations for children to achieve at or above their current level. Senior leaders have developed useful systems to support children to achieve and have appropriate processes in place to monitor their progress throughout the year. The Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) makes good use of external agencies.

The principal has implemented and encouraged strategies to ensure the validity of achievement information. She continues to highlight the need for consistency in teaching practices and assessment gathering. The principal is aware of the need to ensure that all assessment gathering processes are reliable.

Children's language, culture and identity are nurtured. Tikanga Māori is highly respected and valued and all children participate in pōwhiri. Tuakana/teina relationships between older and younger children are encouraged and supported through the use of hub spaces. Senior leaders are placing a greater emphasis on implementing bicultural practices in learning programmes. They continue to strengthen teachers' confidence with using te reo Māori and other home languages used by children.

The board and senior leaders are improvement focused. Senior leaders have a useful system for reflecting on identified issues. They involve staff when responding to suggested improvements and together reflect on the outcome of changes made. The principal has implemented a useful appraisal process that supports teachers' ongoing development. Senior leaders agree that it could be beneficial to develop an effective system of internal evaluation to identify the impact of initiaitves on outcomes for children.

Parents are very engaged in their children's learning. Senior leaders and the board continue to consider further ways to strengthen valued home/school partnerships. Teachers maintain respectful relationships with the families of students whose learning needs acceleration and ensure they are well informed.Families contribute to developing a course of action aimed at raising theirchild's achievement.

Teachers report appropriately to parents twice per year on their children's progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. Senior leaders are considering ways to gather National Standards achievement information for children in Years 1 to 3 on the anniversary of their enrolment at their first school.

The board of trustees has a wide range of capability and experience. Trustees have undergone some training and could benefit from regular upskilling to enhance their stewardship role. Trustees are unable to formally determine how effective they are being and would gain useful information from regularly surveying their community. They could also evaluate their effectiveness as a board using the school's goals and targets. Trustees have good processes to ensure their responsibilities and legislative requirements are met.

5 Going forward

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

Leaders and teachers:

• know the children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated
• respond effectively to the strengths, needs and interests of each child
• regularly evaluate how well teaching is working for these children
• act on what they know works well for each child
• build teacher capability effectively to achieve equitable outcomes for all children
• are well placed to achieve and sustain equitable and excellent outcomes for all children.

The school is well placed to make ongoing improvements. The board and principal have successfully managed a significant change to the school's location and teaching practices. In order to continue to enhance educational outcomes for children, the board and teachers could implement more effective internal evaluation.

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

6 Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review the board of trustees 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

• processes for appointing staff

• stand down, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions

• attendance

• compliance with the provisions of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014

• provision for international students.

The Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 (the Code) was introduced on July 1st 2016. The school is aware of the need to update its policies and procedures to meet the new code requirements by December 1st 2016.

No international students were enrolled at the time of the ERO review.

The school has not yet started to align its policies and procedures to meet requirements for the 2016 Code.

7 Recommendation

To further enhance educational outcomes for children, ERO recommends that trustees and school leaders strengthen internal evaluation at all levels. 

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

9 December 2016

About the school 

1 Context

What are the important features of this school that have an impact on student learning?

Monte Cecilia School is a Catholic Integrated school catering for Year 1 to 6 students.

The school is going through a period of considerable change.

The land the school sits on has been sold and the Catholic Schools Office is building a new school within the St John Vianney Parish. The new school is scheduled to open at the beginning of 2016 and will offer flexible, modern learning environments, catering for the 21st century learner. This planned relocation, and the need to consider different teaching approaches, has been challenging for the school and parish communities.

The school has also experienced significant changes in school leadership. Both the school’s long-serving principal and the deputy principal (who served as acting principal for 5 school terms) have left the school. These changes in leadership have led to a lack of shared understanding about teaching practices among staff and an absence of a planned approach to how to manage the changes necessary to support the school’s new direction.

The previous board decided to access support from the Ministry of Education (MOE) to address these concerns. They worked successfully with a MOE specialist advisor and made a well considered appointment of an experienced permanent principal. The new principal took up the position in July 2013. The specialist advisor has also supported a successful transition to a new board in this year’s board elections. The newly elected board is building positive working relationships with school leaders. Staff and the school community are responding well to new governance and leadership approaches.

The 2010 ERO report noted the school provided students with very good standards of education. The report recommended curriculum developments and strengthening partnerships with the school’s Māori and Pacific communities to promote ongoing improvements in children’s learning and achievement. The 2012 Catholic Special Character external review identified the need to strengthen the delivery of Religious Education in the school.

2 Learning

How well does this school use achievement information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement?

The school reports high levels of student achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. Māori and Pacific student achievement is comparable to the rest of the school population. However, there is inconsistency in the interpretation of student achievement data by teachers working with the different year levels. Development of school wide systems to effectively manage and monitor student achievement data is a priority for the school. ERO and school leaders agree the next steps include developing:

• more useful and measurable achievement targets for specific groups of students
• processes that support teachers to make robust and consistent achievement judgements against the National Standards for reading, writing and mathematics
• systems to track student progress over time.

Achievement information is used well to identify students who are underachieving or have special learning needs. Appropriate intervention programmes are provided for these students and their progress is closely monitored. Good use of self review to evaluate the effectiveness of these programmes is supporting accelerated progress for some students.

Students at some year levels manage their own learning goals and construct learning pathways with teachers through the sharing of achievement information. Students in these classes are taught the skills and knowledge to be actively involved in decisions about how to further improve their learning.

3 Curriculum

How effectively does this school’s curriculum promote and support student learning?

The school’s curriculum provides a broad range of learning opportunities that support student learning. The curriculum has a strong focus on building literacy and numeracy knowledge and skills. The opportunity for students to learn through education outside the classroom is also a significant component of the school curriculum. Teachers use a good variety of teaching and learning strategies and resources to support student learning. Positive pastoral relationships between teachers and students support students’ participation in the curriculum.

However, different approaches to the delivery of the school curriculum provide challenges for students, staff and parents as children move through the school. There is inconsistent implementation of the principles and key competencies of The New Zealand Curriculum. This is resulting in differences in the quality of teaching students receive in relation to the NZC principles, such as those connected to learning how to learn and ways of reflecting on their own learning . As a result, even though high levels of student engagement in tasks are evident across the school, there is variability in students’ sustained engagement in learning processes.

ERO agrees with the following priorities for curriculum development identified by school leaders:

• development of shared teaching understandings and approaches that support engagement in the learning process
• supporting staff development through an effective professional learning programme
• documenting strategies and expectations to support the language and culture of learners.

How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?

Currently, four students at the school identity as Māori. Māori students are likely to benefit from the priorities for future development identified for the curriculum. The school’s nationally based religious education programme has a component on taha wairua. Strengthening the delivery of this programme and creating a higher profile for Māori culture has the potential to lead to shared understandings which will enrich all students.

4 Sustainable Performance

How well placed is the school to sustain and improve its performance?

The school is well placed to address the priorities for improvement identified in this report.

The new principal provides strong professional leadership and is committed to continuous improvement. Collaborative and inclusive leadership approaches are providing opportunities for professional discussions and for staff to have their perspectives considered. Open communication is helping to promote positive engagement with the community and the parish. These approaches are likely to contribute to a shared ownership of the future direction of the school.

Trustees bring a range of useful skills to the new board. They have sought training to increase their awareness of their governance roles and responsibilities. The board is working effectively with school leaders to develop a fresh school vision and strategic approach to support the school’s new direction and successful move to the new site. Careful management of the pace of change and regular communication and consultation with staff and parents will be essential to ensure continued positive learning outcomes for students.

The principal is introducing self-review practices. Together with the board she acknowledges the need to develop and document effective processes for robust self review to support ongoing improvement. A scheduled review cycle would help to ensure that appropriate emphasis is given to reflection on policy implementation and alignment to current legislative requirements.

Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review, the board of trustees 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:

• board administration
• curriculum
• management of health, safety and welfare
• personnel management
• financial management
• asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:

• emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
• physical safety of students
• teacher registration
• processes for appointing staff
• stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
• attendance.

During the course of the review, ERO identified an area of non-compliance related to policy review. In order to address this, the board must:

• maintain and document an on-going programme of self review in relation to school policies. (National Education Guidelines 1993, National Administrative Guideline 2).

When is ERO likely to review the school again?

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

Dale Bailey

National Manager Review Services Northern Region

20 December 2013

About the School