School Context
St Joseph's School (Levin) is a state integrated Years 1 to 8 Catholic school, situated in Levin. Of the current roll of 149, 32% are Māori and 42% are of Pacific heritage. Some students are English Language Learners. The school acknowledges local iwi as tangata whenua.
The Catholic character and parish links underpin school culture. The school’s vision and mission are to ‘inspire and grow Catholic hearts through knowing, doing and living’. Strategic goals and aims prioritise improvement, focused on learners’ success. The valued outcomes are for students ‘to be empathetic and respectful, to follow the values of Jesus, strive for excellence and to serve others’.
Strategic goals 2019, include:
- building Catholic hearts through living and learning the Catholic faith
- providing a safe, holistic environment that promotes self-esteem and positive attitudes
- developing a responsive and highly effective school curriculum to improve outcomes for all, a self-review learning community based on continual quality improvement and effective communication and liaison to secure partnerships within the community.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
- progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics.
A new principal, deputy principal and director of religious studies were appointed in Term two of 2019. The majority of trustees are new to their roles since the recent board elections.
The school is a member of the Taitoko 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 yet to achieve equitable and excellent outcomes for all students. Leaders are developing a more reliable picture of achievement over time, to assist them to better know the rates of progress and achievement for all students.
School reported data for the end of 2018, indicates that most students achieved at or above expectation in reading, and the majority achieved at or above expectation in writing and mathematics. Māori students achieved higher overall in mathematics. There is ongoing disparity in mathematics for girls, Pākehā and Pacific students.
Mid-year 2019 data for all children, shows that the majority are achieving at and above expectation in reading and fewer in writing and mathematics.
1.2 How well is the school accelerating learning for those Māori and other students who need this?
Data analysis by leaders, of the achievement outcomes across the curriculum at the end of 2018, identified specific cohorts for acceleration in 2019. Mid-year 2019 data provided by the school indicates that some of these students have made accelerated progress and many have progressed closer to expectation.
Greater rates of acceleration and progress are evident in writing and mathematics. The current trajectory of progress in these areas indicates that most students, including Māori and Pacific students, should be at or above The New Zealand Curriculum expectation by the end of the year.
The school is strengthening its effectiveness in responding to Māori and other students whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Systems and practices have been strengthened in 2019 for collecting, analysing and interpreting data to assist in evaluating outcomes for students.
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?
Leaders and teachers are collegial and work collaboratively to promote positive conditions that support student learning and wellbeing. The first-time principal has prioritised building effective processes and practices for teaching and learning. The school’s learning and teaching environments are characterised by respect, empathy and cooperation that is reflective of the school’s special character. Classrooms are managed effectively to support participation and engagement. Student leadership is strongly promoted across the school.
Parents and whānau are valued and participate in a wide variety of school activities. A range of appropriate, informal and formal communication strategies and tools is used to successfully engage and support whānau, fanau and families to engage in their child’s learning. Effective processes are in place that support the transition of children and their whānau and fanau to school and on to further education.
Leaders and teachers are relationship-focused and know their learners and community well. Connections with local iwi, the Catholic parish and those with external expertise are used effectively and collaboratively to support students and their families. This further strengthens understanding, development and learning opportunities of te ao Māori and the multicultural dimension across the school for staff and students. School personnel demonstrate commitment to upholding and promoting the culture, identity and ‘heart’ languages of all students.
2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence, and acceleration of learning?
To further raise achievement for all students, improved assessment, monitoring and evaluation processes need to be developed. These improvements should include:
- setting appropriate targets that identify all groups of students whose learning needs accelerating
- including explicitly, the learning outcomes for these target students’ in teachers’ planning
- strengthening by leaders, processes to monitor all students' progress
- providing regular, analysed reports to the board on progress towards the strategic achievement goals, to help better monitor and evaluate the impact of interventions.
Continuing to review, revise and document a local school curriculum is a next step. This development should include:
- closer alignment to the school’s vision, values and goals
- clear reflection of the context of the school and local community
- guidelines to know the impact of current practices and innovations on student learning and wellbeing outcomes.
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 Children’s 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 (Levin)’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Developing.
5 Going forward
Key strengths of the school
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
- collaborative relationships between leadership, whānau, fanau and the community that support students’ holistic development and enhances their learning and wellbeing
- commitment that upholds and promotes the special Catholic character, the culture and identity and ‘heart’ languages of all students.
Next steps
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in:
- improved target setting by leaders, teachers and trustees to strengthen their focus on accelerating learning for those students at risk of underachievement
- creating an overarching curriculum document to provide expectations and guidance for teaching practice and learning and to reflect connections to place and context.
Actions for compliance
ERO identified non-compliance in relation to:
- search, surrender, retention
- physical restraint.
In order to address this, the board of trustees must:
- develop policies, practices and procedures on surrender and retention of property and searches of students by the principal, teachers and authorised staff members
[139AAA to 139AAH of the Education Act 1989]
- develop and implement policy on managing challenging behaviour and using restraint that is consistent with the Ministry of Education guidelines on the use of physical restraint, and in compliance with the 2017 Rules.
[Education (Physical Restraint) Rules 2017]
To improve current practice, the board of trustees should:
- document procedures that guide how to deal with parents who are subject to court orders affecting day to day care of, or contact with, a child at school.
Since the onsite stage of the evaluation, the school has provided ERO with evidence that shows it has addressed the non-compliances related to physical restraint of children and surrender and retention of property and searches. A procedure has been developed for non-custodial parent access.
Phillip Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services Central
Central Region
7 November 2019
About the school
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Location
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Levin
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Ministry of Education profile number
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3008
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School type
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Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)
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School roll
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149
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Gender composition
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Male 50%, Female 50%
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Ethnic composition
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Māori 32%
NZ European/Pākehā 11%
Pacific 42%
Asian 10%
Other ethnic groups 5%
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Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS)
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Yes
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Provision of Māori medium education
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No
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Review team on site
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September 2019
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Date of this report
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7 November 2019
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Most recent ERO report(s)
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Education Review August 2016
Education Review June 2013
Education Review June 2010
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