St Mary MacKillop Catholic School

St Mary MacKillop Catholic School - 27/10/2017

Summary

St Mary MacKillop Catholic School caters for Year 1 to 8 students and currently has a roll of 327 children. The roll includes five percent Māori, 63 percent Samoan, 20 percent Tongan and four percent Cook Islands Māori. It also includes smaller groups of children from other ethnic backgrounds.

Since the 2014 ERO review, the school has appointed a new senior leadership team consisting of a new principal, deputy principal and assistant principal. Some trustees are experienced and long serving on the school’s board. They are representative of the local and Catholic faith community, and bring capability and expertise to their stewardship role. The school has responded well to the next steps identified in ERO’s 2014 report.

St Mary MacKillop Catholic School is one of seven schools in the South Auckland Catholic Schools Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako (CoL). The agreed achievement challenges for this CoL include improving achievement in writing, and strengthening culturally responsive practices.

Over the past three years there has been an upward trend in children’s achievement of National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. A strong focus on children who are underachieving, and a collaborative approach to lifting achievement, are having a positive impact on overall learning progress and achievement.

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

The school is implementing specific strategies to respond to Māori and other children whose learning needs acceleration. The school’s processes and actions are becoming increasingly effective at helping to achieve excellence and equity for all children. These processes include:

  • strategic and improvement focused stewardship and effective leadership for equity and excellence

  • building professional capability and collective capacity through collaboration and innovation

  • a culturally responsive curriculum

  • good engagement with whānau and the community.

Agreed next steps include evaluating the effectiveness of programmes, refining strategies for accelerating children’s learning progress, addressing achievement disparities and increasing student agency.

Children are achieving well. The school demonstrates strong progress toward achieving equity in educational outcomes, supported by effective, sustainable processes and practices.

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?

St Mary MacKillop Catholic School is implementing several specific strategies to respond to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

School leaders, trustees and teachers are reflective, and focused on making improvements to help promote equity and excellence. The board and school leaders have well-documented improvement plans to accelerate children’s progress. Data show that the school is increasingly able to achieve shifts in achievement for students who are at risk of not achieving National Standards. Effective processes are followed to closely monitor the progress of those learners most at risk of not achieving.

The school’s 2014 to 2016 achievement data show significant improvement. Just over two-thirds of children achieve the National Standards in mathematics and nearly three-quarters in reading and writing. Most Samoan children achieve the National Standard in reading. The school’s next priority is to lift Tongan children’s and boys’ achievement, particularly in reading and writing.Progress data for 2017 show good shifts in learning. and several examples of accelerated progress, particularly in reading.

Leaders and teachers have strengthened assessment and moderation processes. These processes are ensuring greater dependability of teacher judgements about achievement in relation to the National Standards.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

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

The school’s processes and actions are becoming increasingly effective at helping to achieve excellence and equity for all children.

The board has strengthened partnerships with parents, whānau and the community. Trustees are leading the scrutiny of achievement information, and there is a clear line of sight from board processes to children whose learning needs acceleration. The board articulates a clear, shared vision that is focused on fostering children’s cultural identities, the special Catholic character and achievement excellence.

Senior leaders are readily available for staff, students and parents to discuss matters related to the school, and teaching and learning. They are very committed to the school’s vision and goals, and have high expectations for children’s achievement and learning. Leaders and teachers are responsive to data, and continue to explore ways to promote children’s independence and understanding of their own learning. Senior leaders have a strengths-based approach to broadening leadership opportunities for teachers and encouraging innovation. They are open to new learning and ideas, and encourage teachers to take on leadership opportunities based on their strengths and interests.

The school has a strategic focus on building teacher capability and collective capacity. Teachers engage in professional learning, particularly related to lifting children’s achievement. They collaboratively and systematically inquire into the effectiveness of their practice, adapting and making decisions about how they can better support learners.

The school’s curriculum is culturally responsive and now has a greater bicultural focus. Children’s cultural identities and home languages are strongly promoted. Teachers provide relevant and meaningful learning contexts that build on children’s prior cultural knowledge and experiences. Curriculum planning is linked to the school whakataukī. A lead teacher has supported learning for children and teachers in relation to te reo Māori and tikanga, such as pōwhiri, waiata, and himene.

Some flexible learning spaces have been established with a view to building collaborative teaching practices, and supporting students to be independent and self-managing learners. Some teachers are developing innovative approaches to teaching and learning, particularly related to personalising children’s learning, and providing children with greater choice in the curriculum.

The school has a deliberate focus on strengthening responsive learning partnerships with parents and whānau. Fono with the Samoan and Tongan communities and consultation with other groups, are helping trustees and school leaders to gauge parent aspirations to inform school planning and priorities. The school uses digital technologies successfully to communicate and engage with families about children’s learning.

Learning focused partnerships through initiatives such as Mutukaroa are supporting parents to have a deeper understanding of their children’s learning. School leaders and trustees seek to encourage parents to be more demanding of the school, in raising a quality education for their children.

Internal evaluation is used well to support the school’s new direction. Trustees, senior leaders and teachers have a strong vision and commitment to raising student achievement.Effective, school-wide systems help to identify, monitor and track student progress and achievement. In-depth analysis of data is used to set achievement targets, and identify priority students for teacher inquiries. Professional learning priorities and resourcing decisions, including learning support and interventions, are also data driven.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

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

The board and school leaders are committed to improving school processes to achieve greater equity and excellence. The board scrutinises achievement data and supports the lifting of student achievement. Trustees could now Leaders could also make better use of evaluative critique to measure the impact of initiatives for improving equitable and excellent outcomes for children.evaluate the effectiveness of their stewardship role in the school.

Further developments that would build on current good practices include:

  • developing a documented curriculum that supports effective teaching and learning
  • and refining strategies for accelerating children’s learningestablishing collective understanding about measuring students’ rates of progress,
  • exploring ways to increase the engagement of boys in literacy, particularly in writing
  • formalising the school’s induction programme for new and beginning teachers
  • embedding innovative teaching practices that support children’s independence and understanding of their own learning.

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.

Going forward

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

Learners are achieving well. The school demonstrates strong progress toward achieving equity in educational outcomes, supported by effective, sustainable processes and practices.

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

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern Te Tai Raki - Northern Region

27 October 2017

About the school

Location

Mangere, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1633

School type

Full Primary

School roll

327

Gender composition

Girls 51%

Boys 49%

Ethnic composition

Māori
Pākehā
Samoan
Tongan
Cook Islands Māori
Filipino
other

6%
1%
63%
20%
4%
2%
4%

Review team on site

August 2017

Date of this report

27 October 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review
Education Review
Education Review

August 2014
April 2011
August 2007

St Mary MacKillop Catholic School - 01/08/2014

Findings

Positive and inclusive relationships provide a sound foundation for student learning. A holistic curriculum engages students in some relevant Māori and Pacific learning contexts. School leaders recognise the need to accelerate student achievement in National Standards. The board, school leaders and staff work collaboratively to meet school goals.

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

1 Context

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

St Mary MacKillop Catholic School is a state integrated school providing students from Years 1 to 8 with good quality education in a Catholic environment. The special character of the school is founded on Catholic beliefs and values and the teachings of the sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, the order founded by St Mary MacKillop. The school has a roll of 312 students of whom 69% are Samoan and 21 % are Tongan. One percent of students identify as Māori.

The school has built close connections with its Māori and diverse Pacific communities. Recognition of Māori and Pacific cultures help to make the school a place in which students, parents and families can feel welcome. Māori and Pacific students have opportunities to learn through their language and to celebrate their culture and identity. There is a positive and inclusive tone in the school that supports student wellbeing. Students, staff and parents display a strong sense of pride in the school.

Many of the teaching staff began their teaching careers at the school. They have participated in a variety of professional learning and development opportunities to raise student achievement and strengthen teaching practices. Experienced school leaders have focused on supporting teachers to embed their professional learning and improve teaching practices.

ERO’s 2011 report identified that providing more challenging targets and programmes for senior students was an area for improvement. It also suggested that opportunities for students to make independent decisions about their own learning could enhance curriculum provision.

2 Learning

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

School leaders make good use of achievement information to develop goals to improve student progress and achievement. Teachers use achievement information to differentiate learning programmes and to manage their classroom planning. They now need to develop shared understandings and implement school wide systems to make reliable overall teacher judgements and to effectively manage and monitor student achievement data.

Trustees, leaders and teachers recognise the need to accelerate the progress of students who are achieving below National Standards. Targeted professional learning and development supports this goal. The school has identified very good strategies to raise Māori achievement. School leaders are now considering how these approaches could be adapted to improve achievement of other groups of students in the school.

The school’s achievement information shows that over half of all students achieve at or above the National Standards in reading and mathematics. School charter targets for 2014 focus on continuing to raise overall student achievement, particularly in writing. The school has set realistic long term targets to reach the government’s target of having 85% of students achieving at and above the National Standards by 2017.

Parents receive clear information about their children’s progress and achievement in relation to the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. The school has a focus on strengthening parent/school partnerships to support student learning. This includes sharing ways that parents can help with their children’s learning at home. Students are becoming more confident to talk about their learning at student led conferences.

ERO and school leaders agree that next steps include:

  • consolidating effective teaching strategies to accelerate the progress and achievement of all learners
  • developing consistent school-wide moderation processes and establishing external moderation processes with other schools to strengthen teacher capacity in making reliable overall teacher judgements against National Standards.

3 Curriculum

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

A holistic curriculum engages students in relevant Pacific and Māori contexts for learning. The school’s Catholic special character is aligned to the vision and principles of The New Zealand Curriculum. Students participate in a wide range of sports and cultural activities. They respond well to leadership opportunities and have a sense of responsibility for themselves and others. Pastoral care is extensive and focuses on the best interests of students.

Welcoming and respectful relationships are a feature of the school community. Positive interactions that encourage conversation between students and teachers focus on the whole child and their learning. A culture of high expectations encourages students to participate purposefully in their lessons.

Teachers are increasing the use of digital technologies to support student learning. Students have good access to technology and teachers are extending their skills to integrate its use into learning programmes.

In some classrooms, inquiry learning approaches create opportunities for students to investigate their own interests and questions about a topic. Teachers should consider ways to engage more students in reflecting on their achievements and making independent decisions about their next learning steps.

ERO and school leaders agree that next steps include:

  • building shared teaching understandings and approaches that provide opportunities for students to explore their interests and engage meaningfully in independent learning
  • teachers’ inquiring into their teaching practice to effectively engage students in learning
  • continuing to support staff development through targeted professional learning programmes.

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

The school effectively promotes educational success for Māori, as Māori.

There is an ongoing commitment to making the school a place where Māori language, culture and identity is valued and evident in school practices. The physical environment and the school’s emphasis on positive relationships support Māori students’ sense of belonging. Whole school participation in pōwhiri enables all students to understand the significance of Māori as tangata whenua of Aotearoa/New Zealand. As a result, an increasing number of students acknowledge their Māori heritage.

The board is assured through regular reports that Māori students are engaging, progressing and achieving well. Through self review, the school has identified very good strategies that have significantly improved Māori achievement in reading, writing and mathematics in the past year. Teachers could continue to develop their confidence and capability in integrating te reo Māori me ona tikanga into their teaching practice.

4 Sustainable Performance

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

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

The charter and vision provide clear direction and expectations for increasing parent/whānau engagement and raising student achievement. High quality strategic planning processes are clearly documented and used to monitor progress against school goals. Self review is effectively used to make improvement. The school consults well with its parents and whānau and collects useful information from students, parents and teachers.

Trustees work collaboratively with school leaders to implement school goals and targets. Board members’ knowledge of achievement information enables them to understand the school’s focus on raising student achievement. Trustees have participated in professional development about self review to extend their knowledge of effective governance practices.

School leaders are committed to building a culture of continuous improvement. Collaborative leadership approaches provide opportunities for professional discussion and for staff to share their perspectives and ideas about new initiatives. Leaders have a good knowledge of best practice and how to build staff capability. Ongoing professional development and a newly established robust appraisal process have the potential to improve the quality of teacher practice across the school.

ERO and school leaders agree that key areas for development are to:

  • enhance partnerships with parents/whānau to support student learning
  • monitor and manage school improvements with urgency and support teachers to raise student progress and achievement.

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.

Conclusion

Positive and inclusive relationships provide a sound foundation for student learning. A holistic curriculum engages students in some relevant Māori and Pacific learning contexts. School leaders recognise the need to accelerate student achievement in National Standards. The board, school leaders and staff work collaboratively to meet school goals.

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

Dale Bailey

National Manager Review Services Northern Region

1 August 2014

About the School

Location

Mangere, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1633

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

312

Gender composition

Girls 53% Boys 47%

Ethnic composition

Māori

NZ European/Pākehā

Samoan

Tongan

Cook Island Māori

Filipino

other

1%

2%

69%

21%

4%

2%

1%

Review team on site

May 2014

Date of this report

1 August 2014

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

April 2011

August 2007

June 2005