Nelson Christian Academy

Education institution number:

1148

School type:

Full Primary

School gender:

Co-Educational

Definition:

Not Applicable

Total roll:

239

Website:

http://www.nca.school.nz

Telephone:

03 547 7082

Address:

100 Marsden Valley Road, Stoke, Nelson

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Nelson Christian Academy - 12/06/2019

12 Jun 2019

School Context

Nelson Christian Academy is a state integrated school located in Stoke, Nelson. It caters for students in Years 1 to 8. At the time of this review, the roll was 205 students, with 16% identifying as Māori.

The overarching vision is to teach students Christian character, positive values and encourage academic excellence. This is underpinned by the FAVOUR values of: faith, aroha, valuing others, open to God’s word, understanding and respect.

In its charter, the school focuses on building leadership and teacher capability, promoting community involvement and fostering special character and student wellbeing. Annual Plan targets focus on raising achievement in writing.

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

achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
achievement for gifted and talented students
attendance.

Since the December 2014 ERO report, there have been a substantial number of leadership and staff changes.

The school is a member of the Te Kāhui ako o Omaio ki Tahunanui Community of Learning.

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?

Achievement data for 2018 shows that most students achieve school expectations in reading, writing and mathematics. By the end of Year 8 this is particularly evident where almost all students achieve in these subjects.

Māori student achievement in reading, writing and mathematics, over time, is below that of their peers, though the level of disparity reduced in 2018. Māori achieved higher in reading than their peers in 2018.

Addressing the significant disparity for boys in writing is an ongoing priority.

Pacific student numbers are very small, and overall their achievement in literacy and mathematics is similar to their peers in the school.

Students with additional learning needs are very well supported to participate, progress and achieve in relation to appropriately developed individual education plans.

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

School data for 2018 shows that many students, including Māori, identified as priority learners make accelerated progress in reading, writing or mathematics.

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?

A responsive, localised curriculum underpinned by the school’s special Christian character effectively promotes students’ engagement in learning. A purposeful, positive and respectful environment promotes their wellbeing, sense of identity, belonging and engagement in their learning. There are many opportunities for students to participate and celebrate success in academic, sporting, artistic, cultural and leadership activities. Student voice is valued. Continuing to increase individual responsibility and choice in their learning is an identified key goal.

Leaders and teachers are well supported to grow their expertise and leadership ability through extensive professional learning and development opportunities. The newly refined teacher appraisal process is improvement-focused with individual goals aligned to school targets. It has the potential to promote teacher capability and lead to improved outcomes for students.

Sound assessment processes and practices effectively support leaders and teachers to gather robust achievement information. This informs resourcing and strategic decision making. Teachers use assessment information to recognise and respond to students’ interests and learning needs. Students at risk of not achieving are effectively identified. Newly introduced moderation practices support teachers to make dependable judgements about achievement in reading, writing and mathematics.

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

There is a well-established culture of reflection throughout the school. It is timely to develop a shared, schoolwide approach to internal evaluation that is evidence based and uses agreed indicators of success. This should enable trustees, leaders and teachers to evaluate the impact of initiatives, programmes and interventions on student progress and achievement and better inform planning for continuous improvement.

The school is going through a time of significant change. It is important to carefully manage the pace of this change and evaluate the impact of new systems, processes and methodology, in order to identify and embed effective practices.

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.

4 ERO’s Overall Judgement

On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Nelson Christian Academy’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Well placed.

ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance is available on ERO’s website.

5 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

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

a school curriculum that fosters students’ engagement in learning
systems and processes that focus on responding to individual learning and needs.

Next steps

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

continuing to reduce disparity for Māori students and boys in writing
internal evaluation to better measure impact on student outcomes and better inform planning for continuous improvement.

Actions for compliance

ERO identified non-compliance in relation to the appraisal of all teaching staff.

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

ensure that all teachers are fully appraised annually.
[77C State Sector Act 1988; NZ Gazette and relevant Collective Employment Agreement].

Areas for improved compliance practice

To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:

ensure records for stand downs, suspension and exclusions, and emergency drills are complete and appropriately stored.

Alan Wynyard

Director Review and Improvement Services Southern

Southern Region

12 June 2019

About the school

Location	Nelson
Ministry of Education profile number	1148
School type	State Integrated Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)
School roll	205
Gender composition	Girls 52%, Boys 48%
Ethnic composition	Māori 16% NZ European/Pākehā 61% Asian 17% Other ethnic groups 6%
Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)	Yes
Provision of Māori medium education	No
Review team on site	March 2019
Date of this report	12 June 2019
Most recent ERO report(s)	Education Review December 2014 Education Review November 2011

Nelson Christian Academy - 08/12/2014

08 Dec 2014

Findings

The school actively promotes its special Christian character. This is most evident in the positive culture and in relationships at all levels.

The programmes and teaching practices help students to engage and achieve well.

Students learn in a positive and supportive environment. Governance and leadership practices contribute to ongoing improvement and quality of education for students.

1 Context

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

Nelson Christian Academy is an integrated inter-denominational Christian School. Its special character is most evident in the positive school culture, the active promotion of values and the way Christian education is integrated into its curriculum.

The school roll is growing. Students come to the school from a variety of areas within Nelson, with many students travelling to school by bus.

The school is a part of a local cluster of schools. This cluster involvement provides useful opportunities for professional support and learning for school leaders.

Recent professional development has enhanced the quality of teaching and student achievement in mathematics.

Since the school’s November 2011 ERO review, there have been significant changes in team leaders and teaching staff. These changes have supported improvements to the quality of teaching and learning.

The school has retained and built on the strengths identified at the time of the 2011 review. This applies in particular to improved student engagement in learning and the level of additional learning support provided for students with identified needs. Students benefit from greater consistency in the quality of teaching programmes and practices across the school.

2 Learning

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

The school makes effective use of student information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement.

Areas of strength

Student achievement information shows that most students make good progress in reading and mathematics. Students are achieving well to very well in these areas. Achievement in writing is a little lower. School leaders have accessed professional development in writing for 2015.

Students who received additional, focused learning support in 2014 showed accelerated progress.

The principal and teachers systematically gather a range of assessment information to support their judgements about student achievement and progress in English and mathematics.

School leaders make very good use of this information to report overall achievement trends and to establish clear annual targets. They also use this information to help provide appropriate professional development for staff.

Teachers are making increasingly effective use of student achievement information to develop their programmes, adjust groupings and to provide additional support to identified individual students. A variety of well-organised and targeted support is provided to these students. The school makes appropriate use of external expertise to promote student progress and to support staff.

Areas for review and development

School leaders should now extend the reports of student achievement and progress to include more aspects of learning that the school gives priority to.

3 Curriculum

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

The school’s curriculum promotes and supports student learning well, and in some instances very well. It provides students with an appropriate balance of suitable learning experiences.

Areas of strength

Students learn in a positive environment. Respectful and supportive relationships help students to take risks to extend their learning. Students give and receive good peer support. Well established routines maximise the time students spend learning.

The nature of class programmes helps students to make useful links between their past and current learning, and also between curriculum areas.

Teachers make consistent use of a range of effective teaching practices that promote student learning. For instance:

teaching is purposeful and well paced
students are clear about what they are expected to learn and receive regular feedback about their learning
teachers make ongoing adjustments to their programmes, groupings and practices as they reflect on students’ responses and progress.

Areas for review and development

To further improve the quality of education for students, school leaders and teachers should:

explore further ways of supporting students to have more opportunities to lead their learning
clarify and better document their expectations around what counts as high quality teaching
extend the school’s guidelines to include all curriculum areas.

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

The school is promoting the success of its Māori and Pacific students well. Students’ cultures are valued.

Areas of strength

Increasing numbers of Māori students are becoming involved with the school’s kapa haka group. The school’s inclusive culture supports their learning and promotes their wellbeing. Regular consultation and the good relationships that exist between teachers, parents and whānau, promote a good sense of partnership.

In 2013, Māori students achieved well in reading but not so well in mathematics and writing. Pacific students achieved as well as other students at the school and above national patterns for their peers in English and mathematics.

Areas for review and development

The board and school leaders continue to develop ways to meet parents’ aspirations, and respond to their ideas for promoting success for Māori and Pacific students.

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 board, principal and other school leaders have created an increasingly positive and improvement-focused school culture.

Areas of strength

The principal’s leadership is fostering ongoing school development and a cohesive leadership team. The leadership team works in ways that help teachers to feel well supported and fosters collaboration. Staff willingly reflect on their programmes and practices and respond in a positive manner to well-considered changes.

The increasing delegation of tasks among staff is helping to build more sustainable practices. In-depth appraisals result in the principal and teachers receiving useful ongoing feedback about their work.

Sound governance practices exist. The board and leaders work in partnership towards common goals. Reports to the board support trustees to make well-considered decisions. Trustees undertake ongoing training. Supportive relationships exist between the school and its community.

Areas for review and development

To further improve performance school leaders should:

consider ways of further refining the strategic and annual plans to increase their usefulness
extend the scope of ongoing self review.

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

The school actively promotes its special Christian character. This is most evident in the positive culture and in relationships at all levels.

The programmes and teaching practices help students to engage and achieve well.

Students learn in a positive and supportive environment. Governance and leadership practices contribute to ongoing improvement and quality of education for students.

Next ERO 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

8 December 2014

About the School

Location	Stoke, Nelson
Ministry of Education profile number	1148
School type	Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)
School roll	159
Gender composition	Girls 58% Boys 42%
Ethnic composition	NZ European/Pākehā Māori Asian Pacific	70% 20% 2% 8%
Special Features	Integrated Christian School
Review team on site	October 2014
Date of this report	8 December 2014
Most recent ERO reports	Education Review Education Review Education Review	November 2011 June 2008 October 2005