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.
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.
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 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.
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:
To further support ongoing improvement the board and school leaders agree to:
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:
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:
ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.
Steffan Brough
Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)
15 May 2017
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Location |
Remuera, Auckland |
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Ministry of Education profile number |
1506 |
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School type |
Contributing (Years 1 to 6) |
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School roll |
232 |
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Gender composition |
Girls 56% |
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Ethnic composition |
Māori |
2% |
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Provision of Māori medium education |
No |
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Review team on site |
April 2017 |
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Date of this report |
15 May 2017 |
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Most recent ERO report(s) |
Education Review |
February 2014 |