Christchurch East School

School Context

Christchurch East School is located in central Christchurch and provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. The school’s roll is continuing to grow. At the time of the onsite review, the roll of 305 students reflected increasing diversity, which includes migrant and refugee families.

In recent years the school has had increasing numbers of students who have transitioned into and out of the school during the school year.

The school’s vision is to be ‘a vibrant inspirational learning community in the heart of the city’, and the motto of the school is ‘Learning with heart’. Valued outcomes for learners include students becoming respectful, self managing, interactive, curious and multi-literate learners. The school values are equity (te ririte), excellence (te hiranga), integrity (ngākau pono), and sense of community (nohonga tahitanga).

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

• student achievement and progress in reading, writing and mathematics
• outcomes related to engagement and wellbeing for success
• valued outcomes related to culturally responsive practices.

Christchurch East School is part of the Te Taura Here o Ōtautahi Kāhui Ako/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?

The school is in the early stages of making the progress necessary to achieve equitable and excellent outcomes for students.

Achievement information provided by the school shows that, over time, achievement levels fluctuate but have generally remained at a low level across reading, writing and mathematics.

School data for 2016 to 2018 shows that:

• reading achievement levels have remained static, with 56% of students in 2018 achieving at or above expected curriculum levels
• in writing, 49% of the students are achieving at or above the expected curriculum level
• achievement in mathematics shows that 53% of students achieve at or above the expected curriculum level, which represents a slight increase over the previous two years.

Disparity in achievement outcomes is evident in reading and writing for boys, and mathematics for girls. Significant disparity remains in reading, writing and mathematics for Māori and Pacific students.

Analysis of 2017 to 2018 achievement data received by ERO following the onsite stage of the review shows that an increasing number of Māori students, who have been at the school for a sustained period of time, are achieving at or above the curriculum level expectations in reading, writing and mathematics.

Information provided by the school shows good progress in meeting students’ wellbeing needs.

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

The school is in the early stages of accelerating learning for Māori and Pacific students who need this.

School information for 2016 to 2018 shows some accelerated improvement in achievement for Pacific students in reading and mathematics.

Since the 2016 ERO review, the school has provided increased support and expertise for English language learners. As a result, acceleration in reading, listening and writing is becoming more evident in their learning progress.

Analysis of 2017 to 2018 achievement data received by ERO after the onsite stage of the review, shows that students who have been at the school for a sustained period of time generally achieve to a higher curriculum level in reading, writing and 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?

Students participate in a caring and inclusive learning community. The focus on building strong relationships with students, parents, whānau and the local community is evident across all levels of the school. Leaders are strongly community focused. They have developed reciprocal relationships which support students to learn in an environment where their language, culture and identity are valued. Authentic relationships with whānau and iwi are helping to build bicultural practices that support learning.

The broad curriculum provides a range of learning opportunities designed to engage students and meet their needs, interests and aspirations. The school’s vision and values are strongly promoted and are closely aligned to, and evident in, classroom programmes. Children have many opportunities to develop leadership skills and express ideas and opinions that contribute to decision making in the school.

Relationships between trustees and school leaders are open and respectful. Trustees utilise the strengths of individual members and are focused on supporting and promoting positive outcomes for learners.

Teachers work collaboratively and students have opportunities to learn in collaborative groups. Professional learning is aligned to the school’s strategic vision, values and goals, and is helping to build the capability and capacity of teachers. The distributed leadership model of the school encourages teachers to develop their leadership skills.

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

To better promote and enable equity and excellence for all learners, the board and school leadership must maintain a sense of urgency to continue to:

• improve the achievement of all students, including planning strategically to more effectively address identified equity, learning and acceleration needs
• build capability to improve the analysis, use and reporting of achievement trends over time, for all groups of students, to determine if learning progress and achievement are sufficient and have been sustained
• build capability to implement effective internal evaluation in order to identify the impact of programmes and interventions, and more accurately determine future needs.

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 Christchurch East School School’s performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Developing.

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:

• strong relationships with parents, whānau and community
• a welcoming, positive and inclusive environment that values students’ culture, language and identity.

Next steps

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

• significantly improve achievement and acceleration in learning
• build capability and capacity to effectively use and analyse achievement data, and monitor student progress over time
• build capability at all levels of the school in internal evaluation to determine the impact and effectiveness of interventions, programmes and practices.

ERO recommends that the Ministry of Education consider providing support for the school in order to bring about improvement in:

• student achievement
• data capability and use
• internal evaluation.

Dr Lesley Patterson

Director Review and Improvement Services Te Tai Tini

Southern Region

14 August 2019

About the school

Findings

This inner city school provides well planned and targeted education for a diverse population of students. The school’s strong sense of family and community is reflected in the positive and caring relationships.

Significant improvements in school management have contributed to a stable and collaborative working relationship between staff and senior leaders. A board of trustees is now in place, after some years with a commissioner governing the school.

The board is a newly constituted governance body.

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

1 Background and Context

What is the background and context for this school’s review?

Christchurch East School has made significant progress since the 2014 ERO review. The school has responded positively to all of the recommendations made in the 2014 ERO Report. Substantial improvement is evident in the areas identified by ERO for development in education reviews since 2010.

The roll is beginning to increase as the Christchurch rebuild programme attracts families for employment in Christchurch city. The student population is increasingly diverse and includes migrant and refugee students. There is a range of cultural, learning, and social needs. The school has responded positively to the increasing numbers of students in the junior classes.

The school’s strong sense of family and community is reflected in the positive and caring relationships between students and with adults.

The board returned to full self governance in June 2015. An alternative constitution is in place to ensure the board is representative of its diverse and changing community. The external support received by the school has contributed to the strategic development of the capacity and capability of the senior leaders and staff.

2 Review and Development

How effectively is the school addressing its priorities for review and development?

The school is effectively addressing its areas for review and development.

Priorities identified for review and development

• Student achievement, including Māori student achievement.
• Curriculum evaluation.
• Self review.
• Management and governance.

Progress

Student achievement is well analysed and reported to teams, senior leaders and the board. The information shows:

• teachers use a comprehensive tracking system to identify the shifts in progress and achievement of all students, including groups of students over time
• teachers now have more responsibility for monitoring the progress of individual and groups of students in classrooms
• senior leaders are making good use of classroom data to highlight rates of progress across the school and reporting this to the board
• an increased focus on tracking individual Māori student progress and achievement by teachers and senior leaders.

Teachers and leaders are using student achievement information well to identify learners at risk of not achieving. These learners are well supported in a range of targeted learning support programmes. The effectiveness of these programmes is regularly reported to the board with a strong focus on student achievement.

The school provides a useful range of support for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) students. The numbers of students with second language learning needs is increasing. It is now timely for school leaders to evaluate how well current ESOL provisions are supporting teachers to meet the learning needs of students in the classroom.

The school’s curriculum and core values are well embedded. Whole-school consistency is evident in planning and teaching practices.

The school has made significant progress in evaluating curriculum initiatives and programmes. Students are well engaged in their learning. The use of authentic learning contexts is contributing to increased opportunities for choice and greater participation across classes.

The school has strengthened its focus on bicultural aspects within the curriculum. Māori learners experience aspects of their language, culture and identity. This is strongly evident in the kapa haka group and the purposeful participation of whānau.

The school has increased access to and use of digital technologies to support a range of learning and support programmes.

Senior students benefit from a broad and responsive technology curriculum.

Key next steps

The school has identified, and ERO agrees, the next steps to improve learning outcomes for students are:

reviewing assessment systems and processes to improve the use of assessment data and identify its impact on the quality of learning and teaching.

continuing to build on improvements in progress and achievement of all students and sustain a sense of urgency, especially for Māori

reporting on student achievement across the curriculum in areas other than mathematics and literacy.

3 Sustainable performance and self review

How well placed is the school to sustain and continue to improve and review its performance?

The school is well placed to sustain and continue to improve and review its performance.

Improved strategic leadership, management and direction of the school are contributing to a positive and collaborative school culture. Focused and purposeful discussions between senior leaders and teachers have led to improved planning, regular self review and the development of useful guidelines and expectations for high quality teaching.

A highly reflective culture is helping teachers to make improvements to teaching practices in classrooms, contributing to team decisions about planning to meet students’ learning needs and informing senior leaders and the board about learning outcomes for students.

The use of external expertise in the evaluation of teaching and learning teams, the strong focus on student achievement and wellbeing and reporting outcomes to the school community are positive features of self review.

The principal and senior leaders have developed an improved and efficient appraisal process. They are providing teachers with robust feedback that is contributing to improved and more consistent teaching practice.

The new board is at an early stage of development.

Key next steps

The key priorities for the board are to:

• build governance capacity and capability to provide high quality stewardship and scrutiny of the school’s vision, practices, processes and outcomes
• refine self-review processes to increase the evaluative nature within reviews and reports to the board
• develop an action plan that identifies school priorities and goals for current and future development of educational success for Māori, as Māori.

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

This inner city school provides well planned and targeted education for a diverse population of students. The school’s strong sense of family and community is reflected in the positive and caring relationships.

Significant improvements in school management have contributed to a stable and collaborative working relationship between staff and senior leaders. A board of trustees is now in place, after some years with a commissioner governing the school.

The board is a newly constituted governance body.

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

Chris Rowe

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Acting)

14 January 2016

School Statistics