Bishopdale School Te Kura o Papakōhatu

School Evaluation Report

Tēnā koutou e mau manawa rahi ki te kaupapa e aro ake nei, ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa. Mā wai rā e kawe, mā tātau katoa.

We acknowledge the collective effort, responsibility and commitment by all to ensure that the child remains at the heart of the matter.

Context 

Bishopdale School, in Christchurch, provides education for learners in Years 1 to 6. The school’s vision of ‘Together we care, learn and grow’ is underpinned by embedded CARE values, that promote manaakitanga, panekiretanga, haepapa, and ngākau nui. The school is an active member of the Tōtaranui Kāhui Ako with other local schools.

There are three parts to this report.

Part A: A summary of the findings from the most recent Education Review Office (ERO) report and/or subsequent evaluation.

Part B: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction. 

Part C: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle. 

Part A: Previous Improvement Goals

Since the previous ERO report of October 2022, ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate leadership of sustainable and effective curriculum, teaching and learning practices, focused on improving learner outcomes in writing. 

Expected Improvements and Findings

The school expected to see:

Improved outcomes in writing that positively impact on students’ engagement, achievement and self-esteem.

The overall numbers of students achieving at and above curriculum expectations in writing has increased significantly since 2021.

• Leaders set a writing target in 2023, and improved teaching practices successfully accelerated progress for approximately half of the boys in the target group.
• Feedback from the majority of students identifies greater confidence in writing activities.

Student voice, and their ownership of learning goals, will be evident.

• Students are well-supported by teachers to become more independent in their writing; the introduction of deliberate teaching strategies and positive feedback from the majority of students identifies greater confidence in writing activities.
• Teachers video students talking about their writing achievements and their next steps, helping to identify ways to responsively improve practice and promote positive learning outcomes.

Teachers will be responding to learner strengths, interests and prior knowledge to adapt teaching and learning practices to improve engagement.

• Students requiring additional support in writing are well supported by teachers and teacher aides working collaboratively, and in consultation with families and whānau. 
• Professional development has positively influenced teachers’ explicit planning and practice, including enhanced vocabulary and language knowledge.
• More varied writing experiences promote writing skills and students transfer their knowledge to learning in other areas of the curriculum. 

Other Findings

During the course of the evaluation, senior leaders identified that absences were impacting on student engagement and progress in writing; this resulted in initiating an improving attendance focus alongside the academic focus.

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s action was the development of a schoolwide approach to deeply analysing progress and achievement information, to see the impact of teaching and learning on outcomes for students.

Part B: Current State

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

• The majority of students achieve at or above curriculum expectations in reading, writing and mathematics, including the majority of Māori learners.
• Annual achievement targets support those students requiring additional support; by Year 6 most students are at or above expectation in reading and mathematics.
• A strong community focus to improve attendance successfully helped to reduce chronic absence rates for many students; less than half attend regularly and are a focus for the continuing attendance action plan.
• Students express positive feelings about caring staff, friendships, and the supportive learning environment in the school’s well-being survey, leaders continue to build a culture that promotes positive relationships.

Conditions to support learner success

• Well-analysed achievement information informs leaders’ decision making that improves student outcomes, including further development of coherent structured literacy approaches across the school.
• The vision and CARE values underpin the school’s culture of collegial support; leaders deliberately connect staff and students to these to promote wellbeing and learning. 
• Leaders consult widely to design a strategic plan that gives purposeful direction and collaboratively achieve its aims.

• Teachers set goals to improve students’ achievement and collectively reflect on these to adapt practice, improving their responsiveness to students’ strengths and needs.
• Embedded teaching routines support students to identify their learning focus and next learning steps; students regularly and enthusiastically use a digital platform to share and involve their families in real-time learning.
• Leaders have initiated staff professional development to enable positive behaviour outcomes for students, including for neurodiverse learners.

• Leaders and staff demonstrate strong commitment to upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi, supporting Māori success as Māori.
• Staff engage with whānau and families formally and informally, valuing diverse perspectives and aspirations.
• Popular learning workshops help parents to support their child’s reading at home, celebrating successes.
• Productive staff relationships with agencies and professional networks including Kāhui Ako connections, promote positive attendance, behaviour, engagement, learning and well-being outcomes.

Part C: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• continue to raise regular attendance rates using the school’s current plan and approach 
• further develop the schools localised curriculum, including for literacy and mathematics, that define quality teaching practice expectations from Years 1 to 6
• introduce planned adaptations to behaviour management approaches, reducing stand down and suspension rates
• leaders further embed evaluation and capability-building approaches, including teachers analysing and using progress and achievement information to adapt their teaching practices to improve learning.

The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.

Every six months:

• continue to engage in professional development to grow structured literacy and relational behaviour approaches
• continue to embed and enact the school’s attendance strategy in partnership with whānau and families
• staff collaborate to evaluate the impact of their teaching adaptations on learner success, particularly for Māori and boys’ achievement.

Annually:

• provide further opportunities for hui and whānau engagement in developing the local curriculum
• monitor, analyse and report shifts in student attendance, wellbeing, engagement, progress and achievement to the board and community
• evaluate the impact of leadership, teaching and learning outcomes to continue to refine and improve practices.

Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:

• improved student attendance, behaviour, well-being and learning outcomes 
• consistent and effective teaching practices
• a school culture of whanaungatanga and manaakitanga, where staff, students and whānau feel valued and succeed together
• embedded leadership processes and common practices that sustain improvements overtime.

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.

Me mahi tahi tonu tātau, kia whai oranga a tātau tamariki
Let’s continue to work together for the greater good of all children

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

6 August 2024

About the School

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement.  educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2024 to 2027

As of June 2024, the Bishopdale School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Actions for Compliance

ERO and the board have identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

• keep a sufficient record of each suspension meeting, in writing, to show the board’s decisions and reasoning
  [sections 81-83 Education and Training Act 2020]
• formalise reporting of fire, lockdown and earthquake drills to the board
  [sections 78-89 Education and Training Act 2020].

The board has since taken steps to address the areas of non-compliance identified.

Further Information

For further information please contact Bishopdale School, School Board.

The next School Board assurance that it is meeting regulatory and legislative requirements will be reported, along with the Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report, within three years.

Information on ERO’s role and process in this review can be found on the Education Review Office website.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

6 August 2024

About the School 

The Education Counts website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home