St Michael's Catholic School (Remuera) - 15/05/2017

Summary

St Michael’s Catholic School (Remuera) is an integrated school and caters for students from Years
1 to 6. The school roll includes children from diverse cultural backgrounds. Ten percent of children are Filipino and there are small groups of Māori, Pacific, Hispanic, Chinese, Asian and other ethnicities. At the beginning of this year the school celebrated its centenary.

Since the 2014 ERO evaluation, the board has appointed a new senior leadership team and a large number of teaching staff. Early in 2016 the previous principal retired and there were several changes in leadership roles. An experienced principal started in 2017 bringing stable leadership to the school.

Good foundations are in place to underpin strategic plans that the principal and board have for the school. They aim to develop shared understandings and ownership at all levels, through the new school charter and revised curriculum.

An effective board succession process has ensured a smooth transition for the new board, which includes experienced and new trustees. There has been a good strategy to ensure trustees represent community diversity. The board and leaders have responded well to most of the findings from ERO’s 2014 report. They have identified further work around curriculum development as a priority.

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

St Michael’s Catholic School (Remuera) embraces its special character and follows the Mary MacKillop values of Make room for all, Listen to God’s call, Do your bit, and An attitude of gratitude. These values underpin school systems and processes, and contribute to equitable outcomes for children.

The school responds increasingly well to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Good school processes and recently improved internal evaluation help leaders and teachers to achieve equity and excellence for children. A review of the school charter, mission and curriculum is planned to strengthen school processes and develop shared understandings about the school’s plans for the future.

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

Agreed next steps are to strengthen evaluation capability to sustain improvement, increase student agency and continue to explore ways of effectively engaging with parents/whānau to develop shared ownership of the new school direction.

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?

The school responds well to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

Senior leaders use the school’s achievement information well to identify and respond to trends and patterns in the learning and achievement of target groups. Leaders and teachers share knowledge about children as individuals, and take collective responsibility for children as learners. Their active promotion of and support for children’s wellbeing impacts positively on children’s engagement and learning.

Children who require additional learning support have good opportunities that enable them to make progress. The recently strengthened ‘teaching as inquiry’ process helps teachers to reflect on the impact of additional and classroom programmes and the difference they make to individual children’s achievement.

There are good processes to ensure the reliability of overall teacher judgements in relation to the National Standards. The school’s achievement information since 2013 shows that overall, children have continued to achieve well in relation to the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics.

Historically the school has low numbers of Māori children. Data show that most achieve at the National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Good achievement has also been sustained for Pacific children.

School achievement information shows that while the disparity between boys’ and girls’ achievement in reading has reduced over time, the school has not yet reduced the disparity in writing. The integration of digital technologies into the curriculum has had a positive impact for boys’ engagement in writing.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

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

School systems and improved internal evaluation processes are helping leaders and teachers to achieve equity and excellence for children. The principal has introduced a number of new initiatives that, when embedded, are likely to continue to strengthen teaching and management practices. Her leadership is strategic and focused on building collective capability across the school.

Children and teachers have respectful and affirming relationships that promote learning. Children speak with pride about the school’s Catholic values and about the ways in which their cultural identity is celebrated. Bicultural perspectives are integrated well in classroom learning experiences.

The learning environment is caring and inclusive, and children’s perspectives are valued. The school is well placed to strengthen teaching strategies that help children to be self-directed learners who take ownership of their own learning.

School leaders and trustees have a strong focus on building partnerships with the community. They are considering new ways to strengthen these partnerships to support student achievement and to increase families’ understanding of the school’s vision, values and new strategic direction.

The board uses a variety of information to support decision making. An agreed next step is to evaluate the impact of resourcing decisions on improved student learning.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

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

The school has established good processes for achieving equity. To strengthen these processes and to promote excellence, a review of the school charter, mission and curriculum is planned. Further developments include:

increasing opportunities for children to develop ownership of their learning and their next steps
strengthening the strategic plan, by developing indicators to enable regular tracking, monitoring and reporting to the board about progress over time
developing an online ‘hub of learning’ to enhance communication and connections between homes and the school.

To further support ongoing improvement the board and school leaders agree to:

access external training for trustees to support them in their governance role
implement revised school-wide systems to increase consistency in teaching practices and learning outcomes for children
evaluate the impact of new initiatives on improved learning outcomes for children.

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?