St Joseph's School (Fairlie)

1 Context

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

St Joseph’s School (Fairlie) is an integrated Roman Catholic School. While it can take students from Years 1 to 8, currently it has only one student beyond Year 6. Students learn in multi-levelled classes.

There have been significant changes in staff over the last two years. These include the appointment of a new principal in 2013. The principal was previously a teacher at the school and this has resulted in a smooth transition from one school leader to the next.

Students are provided with a supportive, learning focused school environment. The active promotion of school values, consistent with the school’s special character, fosters such an environment.

The school’s curriculum gives priority to teaching literacy, numeracy and religious education.

The school is situated in rural South Canterbury. Teachers make good use of the local community and region to provide students with a wide variety of activities that include physical challenges.

Since the school’s June 2009 ERO report, improvements have been made to the opportunities students have to take responsibility for their own learning. The quality of achievement reports to the board and the school’s self review programme has also improved.

2 Learning

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

Findings

The principal and teachers make good use of analysed achievement information to:

• identify, and provide additional support to, students with the greatest learning needs
• establish overall levels of achievement so they can consider ways to further promote student progress
• adjust teaching programmes, practices and groups and also to support students to set clear learning goals.

The principal has introduced useful school-wide initiatives to help foster the progress of priority learners. These initiatives are helping to develop a more systematic approach to responding to these students needs, and to track their progress.

The principal and teachers have continued to extend and refine ways they assess student learning. The sharing of achievement information among teachers is helping to promote consistency in their assessments. These developments mean teachers are well placed to make accurate overall judgements about student achievement.

Students achieve well, and in some instances very well, in reading and mathematics. Teachers are taking appropriate steps to raise student achievement in written language. Students also enjoy success in other aspects of their learning such as science fairs, fitness competitions and sporting events.

Area for review and development

The quality of the school’s annual achievement targets vary. The next step for the principal and teachers is to build on current initiatives to improve the way they set annual achievement targets and develop more specific plans to help accelerate the progress of priority students.

3 Curriculum

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

Findings

Overall, the way teachers implement the school’s curriculum promotes and supports student learning very well.

The school’s curriculum provides students with a wide and suitably varied range of learning experiences. Features of this curriculum include the:

• strong focus placed on literacy and mathematics learning
• way religious education is integrated into programmes
• extent to which students' strengths, interests and everyday experiences are incorporated into activities
• way teachers help make learning meaningful for students through the integrated nature of programmes.

Teachers make consistent use of a wide variety of teaching practices that are known to foster student progress. For instance:

• teachers have high expectations and actively support students to achieve well
• teaching is clearly focused and successfully builds on students' previous learning
• teachers skilful questioning helps to challenge students and extend their thinking
• teachers place appropriate emphasis on helping students to take increasing responsibility for their own learning.

These features, along with the efforts teachers make to adapt their programmes to take into account the needs of individual students, help to motivate and engage students in learning.

Respectful and affirming relationships with teachers promote students' sense of belonging. Students often take part in co-operative activities and support each other with their learning. These relationships mean students are prepared to take risks to extend their learning.

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

While the school has no Maori students currently, its culture and promotion of biculturalism would help to provide a positive learning environment for any student who may choose to attend the school.

Area for review and development

The quality and use of the school’s curriculum guidelines would be enhanced through:

• incorporating more details about the school’s religious education programme
• make more explicit provision for progressively developing some of the skills that will support students to become life-long learners
• revisiting the guidelines around effective teaching practices
• making wider use of the school’s curriculum guidelines as a focus for conducting self reviews and appraisals.

4 Sustainable Performance

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

Findings

The school is well placed to sustain and improve its performance.

The school’s new principal is providing strong professional leadership. She is successfully building on the best of past practices to strengthen school systems and promote school improvement.

Leadership and management practices are successfully promoting:

• a more strategic approach to accelerating the progress of targeted students
• collaboration and collegiality among staff and the sharing of practices and ideas
• very good support and guidance for beginning teachers
• reflective practices and a positive school culture.

The trustees, principal and staff work well together to achieve the board’s strategic goals. Trustees

• maintain a strong focus on raising student achievement
• support teachers and students by being responsive to requests for resources and professional development
• have, with the support of the principal, adopted a more comprehensive programme of ongoing self review.

A good sense of partnership exists between the school and its immediate community. This is most evident in the relationships between the school and the parish and the strong practical support provided to the school by its Parent Teacher Association (PTA).

Areas for review and development

To build on the good start the principal and teachers have made to enhance curriculum self-review practices they should now:

1. develop a more extensive framework for conducting in-depth curriculum reviews
2. make wider use of success criteria to inform their judgements
3. build on the provisions made for including student ideas in reviews.

The next step for the board is to build on the best practices to successfully implement the recently adopted self-review programme. Such development should include:

• increasing the focus in reviews on evaluating the effectiveness of policies and procedures
• regularly include a wider range of evidence for example, parent and student opinion
• receiving regular reports about compliance and legal 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.

To improve current practice the board of trustees should:

• update the school behaviour management guidelines
• review, update and further publicise complaint policies and procedures
• implement the recent recommendations made by the school’s financial auditor
• extend provisions for dealing with any non-custodial issues
• incorporate anonymous student surveys, including questions relating to their safety and wellbeing, as a routine part of self review.

When is ERO likely to review the school again?

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

Graham Randell

National Manager Review Services Southern Region

1 October 2013

About the School