St Patrick's School (Kaiapoi)

School Context

St Patrick’s School (Kaiapoi) is a special-character, state integrated school for children in Years 1 to 8. The current roll is 102.

The school’s vision is to empower children to reflect the school’s values to be caring, cooperative and called to others. The valued outcomes are for children to be ‘confident, self-managing and inquiring learners’. The school’s strategic direction for 2018 uses ‘connections’ as a theme and includes developing community, global, learning, and Catholic connections. The 2018 achievement targets are in literacy and self-management.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:

• achievement in reading, writing and mathematics

• Catholic character.

The school is a member of the Katote Kāhui Ako | Community of Learning (CoL).

Evaluation Findings

1 Equity and excellence – achievement of valued outcomes for students

1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?

The school is making progress towards achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for students.

The school’s information shows that most children are achieving at or above expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. This pattern has been consistent for the period 2015 to 2017.

The school’s data shows that most students in Years 4 to 8 have a good understanding of specific aspects of the school’s religious curriculum.

1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?

School leaders and teachers are not currently analysing and reporting how effectively they are accelerating learning for students who need this.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence – processes and practices

2.1 What school processes and practices are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

School leaders and teachers have a deliberate focus on caring and respectful relationships. Teachers know children well and actively listen to their views. The school has a strategic focus on strengthening connections with whānau and the wider community. A number of communication strategies are used to develop these connections and involve parents in children’s learning.

The school’s curriculum is well designed and provides useful guidelines and clear expectations for teachers. Differentiated learning is encouraged to support and extend learning. Student feedback contributes to the content of the enacted curriculum. Students have opportunities to select from a broad range of learning opportunities through the school’s ‘Lively Learning’ programme. This programme actively involves parents and community members in working with students to share knowledge and skills.

The school values are evident in the everyday operations of the school. They are well known, understood and used. Teachers promote self-management and confidence in students. There is a particular focus on providing leadership opportunities for students in Years 7 and 8 (Kaitiaki programme). These opportunities include supporting students to work in teams and to develop the school’s core values.

Students with additional learning needs are welcomed into the school. The school has a holistic and inclusive approach to supporting these students. Leaders and teachers work collegially to share ideas and explore ways to overcome barriers to learning. The school engages with external agencies as part of their approach to supporting students to engage fully in school experiences.

2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?

School leaders need to evaluate assessment practices to ensure that they are meeting the needs of students, and providing quality information about progress and achievement. Assessment information should be analysed to identify if target students are making sufficient progress. This analysed information should be regularly shared with the board so that they are aware of the impact of resourcing and interventions on the progress of targeted children. This will enable the board to make informed decisions based on those interventions that are making the most difference for children.

Leaders need to extend their knowledge and understanding of effective internal evaluation. They also need to provide professional support for teachers so that they can fully implement internal evaluation for improvement. There is a need to shift from descriptive detail to more evaluative thinking in class reviews, appraisal reflections and teacher inquiries. To develop effective internal evaluation practices school leaders need to:

• develop a process for internal evaluation linked to school improvement, and share this with teachers

• prioritise internal evaluations linked to strategic goals

• use data to inform internal evaluations

• strengthen appraisal by including feedback on at least two formal, planned observations per year as evidence for teacher appraisal.

3 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

• finance

• 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.

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the code for international students but does not currently have any international students and is not actively seeking to recruit them. The school has provided relevant compliance documentation to NZQA.

Appraisal audit

The appraisal process for teachers does not meet Education Council expectations regarding observations of teaching practices.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified non-compliance in relation to voluntary school donations.

In order to address this non-compliance, the board of trustees must:

1. Make it clear in a written statement to parents of students that they may be asked for a voluntary donation towards general school activities but they do not have to pay this.
   [MOE Circular 2018/01 and Board Assurance Statement Page 29 #2]

Areas for improved compliance practice

To continue to improve current practice, the board of trustees should review how well the school’s complaints procedures are documented and used.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

• leaders and teachers who promote a caring, positive culture for learning

• a rich and broad curriculum which provides a good range of opportunities for learning and clearly promotes the school’s vision and values.

Next steps

For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:

• evaluating and refining assessment practices so that they are efficient, effective and maximise benefits for learners

• improving knowledge of internal evaluation and evaluative practices to ensure that the board, leaders and teachers identify processes and practices that have the most impact in accelerating learning and promoting positive outcomes for children.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

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

Alan Wynyard

Director Review & Improvement Services

Te Waipounamu - Southern Region

21 September 2018

About the school