Bishop Viard College

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within ten months of the Education Review Office and Bishop Viard College working in Te Ara Huarau, an improvement evaluation approach used in most English Medium State and State Integrated Schools. For more information about Te Ara Huarau see ERO’s website. www.ero.govt.nz

Context

Bishop Viard College is a Catholic, state-integrated, co-educational school located in Porirua. It provides learning for students in years 7 to 13. Learning is guided by the school’s values of faith, fortitude, dignity, and service. Bishop Viard College’s vision is to provide all students with a purposeful education, so they graduate with a meaningful qualification.

Bishop Viard College’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• students and teachers are engaged, and students excel in their learning
• all students are well prepared for their future.

A copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan can be requested from Bishop Viard College

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well implementation of the explicit teaching of literacy and numeracy is achieving equitable outcomes for learners in years 7 to 10.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• the school has identified the year 7 to 10 students who need acceleration in literacy and numeracy
• to embed consistent, evidence-based practices for teaching literacy and numeracy across the year 7 to 10 curriculum in order to support and accelerate student progress and achievement.

The school expects to see:

• teachers intentionally selecting strategies, within agreed school-wide practices, for the explicit teaching of literacy and numeracy to improve student outcomes
• systematic use of year 7 and 10 assessment data to inform planning and to evaluate the impact of this initiative
• improved proficiency in literacy and numeracy of year 7 to 10 students, improving equity in outcomes, and accelerated progress for those students identified as needing it.

Strengths 

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how well implementation of the explicit teaching of literacy and numeracy is achieving equitable outcomes for learners in years 7 to 10.

• Individual student progress and achievement data is systematically tracked and will be used to identify students needing additional support to make accelerated progress.
• An effective teacher profile, based on building learning relationships, has been developed.
• A significant proportion of the staff are proficient in Pacific languages and Te Reo Māori which supports the additional language learning needs of many students by leveraging first their languages.
• The Board has resourced additional staffing to support the improvement of literacy and numeracy.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• strategic professional learning for teachers of literacy and numeracy strategies, including digital technologies and platforms, to support the development of agreed school-wide practices
• systematic use of year 7 and 10 assessment data to inform planning and to evaluate the impact of this initiative.

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

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools
13 March 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