St Joseph's Catholic School (Onehunga)

School Context

St Joseph’s School (Onehunga) caters for girls in Years 1 to 8 and for boys in Years 1 to 6. The school values its history and heritage. It has strong intergenerational connections and significant links with the parish and community.

The school is culturally diverse. Many children and families in the multi-cultural community speak more than one language.

The school’s motto ‘To love and to serve’ and ‘Saint Joseph’s Principles’ underpin the school’s Catholic Mercy values of respect, justice, compassion, care and service.

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

• achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
• achievement in relation to annual school targets
• additional learning support
• student attendance information
• the school’s special character programmes.

Since the 2014 ERO evaluation, the school has:

• appointed a new principal
• introduced a new team leadership structure
• extended the provision of e-learning devices
• continued to develop an authentic localised curriculum.

The school is a member of the Te Iti Kahurangi Community of Learning l Kāhui Ako.

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 working towards achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all children. Achievement information over the last four years shows that most children are achieving at expected curriculum levels in reading and mathematics, and the large majority achieve at expectation in writing.

The 2018 achievement information shows that leaders and teachers have successfully achieved in-school equity in writing. They continue to identify in-school disparity for specific groups of children, and a variety of initiatives to specifically accelerate progress and achievement are in place.

Children achieve very well in relation to other valued outcomes. Children:

• experience relationships built on respect, compassion and service
• demonstrate and live the St Joseph’s values enthusiastically in everyday school life.

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

The school responds well to all children whose learning and achievement needs accelerating.

Leaders and teachers place a high priority on responding to the learning needs of all children who need to make accelerated progress. They maintain a stringent ‘line of sight’ across the progress and achievement of all learners. Leaders now appropriately plan to involve team leaders in the analysis and evaluation initiatives to accelerate children’s progress.

Robust systems for identifying and monitoring children requiring additional support are in place. Achievement data show Māori and Pacific children have made accelerated progress in literacy and mathematics. Numerous in-class and additional learning programmes are successfully supporting these children.

Teachers’ professional learning has supported them to use a range of appropriate teaching strategies to ensure children develop the specific literacy and numeracy skills or knowledge that are required. Leaders, teachers and teacher aides respond well to children with additional learning needs within an inclusive environment. These children are supported well to experience success.

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 leadership is effective. Leaders have high expectations for teaching and learning, and a planned approach to building teachers’ capability. Deliberate and well-considered professional learning for teachers in language and individual teaching inquiries are impacting positively on teachers’ practice and outcomes for children.

Leaders ensure an orderly and supportive learning environment that is conducive to children’s learning and wellbeing. They promote high levels of trust with staff, parents, whānau and the community.

A distributed leadership model and structure has been introduced. This is enhancing the teaching team’s collaboration and programme planning. The school’s ‘Māori Improvement Plan’ to build teachers’ and children’s skills and knowledge in te reo Māori me ona tikanga Māori, is being coordinated by a new leader.

The school’s curriculum places emphasis on reading, writing and mathematics. It is inclusive, authentic and relevant. Learning programmes:

• build children’s oral language, vocabulary and problem solving skills
• respond to children’s individual learning needs, strengths, and talents
• connect with children’s lives, experiences, their communities, and prior knowledge.

Children learn in caring and collaborative classrooms that value and affirm their language, culture and identity. A schoolwide system builds children’s self-management skills and their progressive development as self-directed learners.

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

School leaders agree that development priorities include continuing to develop:

• learner agency, by providing children with more opportunity to take ownership of their learning
• team leaders’ analysis of achievement information to support their evaluation of initiatives to accelerate children’s achievement.

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 St Joseph’s School’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:

• leadership that builds, supports and models high expectations and a culture of ongoing learning
• a curriculum that continues to evolve to meet children’s needs, strengths and talents
• caring and inclusive learning environments that are responsive to children’s wellbeing and learning needs.

Next steps

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

• support new leaders to develop and embed the new distributed leadership structure
• embed the Māori Improvement Plan to further develop teachers’ bicultural knowledge and skills
• strengthen internal evaluation by using an evaluative model.

Areas for improved compliance practice

To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:

• follow the triennial board elections process
• undertake relevant professional development
• ensure that policies are reviewed in a timely manner.

Steve Tanner

Director Review and Improvement Services Northern

Northern Region

12 June 2019

About the school