St Mary MacKillop Catholic School

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

St Mary MacKillop Catholic School is in Mangere, South Auckland and provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. Most students have Pacific heritage. The special character of the school places ‘Christ at the centre of students’ learning’.

There are two parts to this report.

Part A: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings. 

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

Part A: Current State 

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

The school is achieving positive outcomes for most learners.

• Most learners achieve at or above curriculum expectations in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Outcomes for Māori learners are not yet equitable.
• Students enjoy a sense of belonging, and are confident in their identity, language and culture.
• About half of all learners attend school regularly; the school does not yet meet the Ministry of Education’s 2024 target for regular attendance.

Conditions to support learner success

Leaders effectively plan, coordinate and evaluate the school’s curriculum and teaching.

• Leaders and teachers have high expectations of learners; teaching programmes have clear learning progressions to support learner success and next steps for learning.
• Leaders set and pursue goals and targets to accelerate the learning of students who are at risk of not achieving.
• Leaders and teachers engage in collective inquiry into effective practice to improve and adapt their teaching for those students who need it most. 

Teaching and learning strategies support students to make sufficient progress to achieve success.

• The curriculum has a clear focus on developing foundational skills for learning; students have sufficient opportunity to engage, learn and progress.
• Students participate in mixed ability group activities providing them with challenge, opportunities for thinking deeply about topics, and to make decisions about their learning.
• An inclusive and well-resourced learning environment supports student participation, engagement, and learning progress. 

A supportive and connected school community contributes to positive outcomes for learners

• Leaders and teachers have begun connecting with Te Akitai iwi at Makaurau marae, and with Te Ahi Waru Trust; this is facilitating learning and stronger connections for Māori students.
• Positive relationships between staff, students, and whānau contribute to a caring learning environment that contributes to learner engagement and success.
• The board strategically resources curriculum provision and improvement initiatives for learners.
• Student and community voice is actively sought, valued and contributes to strategic decision making.

Part B: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• ensure that initiatives to support equity, engagement and attendance also serve to accelerate progress for Māori learners
• review, rationalise and implement relevant assessment tools to respond to learning need
• continue to embed structured literacy throughout the school
• review the support structures in place for learners with learning needs at the school. 

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

Every six months:

• focus on successful interventions and actions which accelerate outcomes for Māori learners 
• review the school’s attendance and assessment processes, and report next steps to the staff, board and community
• research and strengthen the school’s structured literacy approaches, including the school’s phonics programme, to sustain effective literacy teaching
• review and continue to strengthen school wide inclusive practices that support learners with additional needs, to enable all learners to experience success at school.

Annually:

• evaluate the impact of interventions and actions to accelerate outcomes for Māori learners
• monitor the rates of student attendance and report trends and patterns to the board and parent community to determine further action
• evaluate the implementation of structured literacy across the school to improve literacy achievement
• evaluate how well school wide inclusive practices support learners with additional needs.

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

• equity of achievement for Māori learners at the school
• more students regularly attending school
• structured literacy embedded consistently across the school 
• teaching and learning programmes fully meeting the needs of learners with additional needs across the school.

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

25 October 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