Cardinal McKeefry School (Wilton)

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

Cardinal McKeefry School (Wilton) School, located in Wilton, Wellington, provides education to students in Years 1 to 8. The school’s vision is ‘Empowering every child to learn, to contribute, and to grow with God and each other. Following the recent resignation of the principal, an acting principal is in place.

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

Most learners make sustained progress and achievement.

• Most learners achieve at or above the appropriate curriculum level for reading, writing and mathematics.
• Regular attendance does not meet the Ministry of Education 2024 target; the school is working with parents and whānau to support the attendance of students.

Conditions to support learner success

Leaders create a positive environment that is highly inclusive, values diversity and promotes student wellbeing for learning.

• Leaders and teachers appropriately affirm and value the many diverse identities, languages and cultures of learners, parents, whānau and the community.
• Leaders report schoolwide student results from specific tests to the board; reporting progress and achievement against curriculum levels is likely to enhance the board’s ability to target resourcing to those learners who need this.

Teaching and learning opportunities increasingly support engagement and progress in learning.

• Learners’ individual progress and achievement is closely tracked and monitored and well known by teachers, allowing them to respond to accelerate learning.
• Staff have high expectations for all learners and support them to achieve to the best of their ability; a range of teaching and learning resources and programmes support curriculum implementation and classroom teaching.
• Learners with additional needs are very well supported and make progress against challenging goals set in their individual education plans; external agencies are involved when appropriate.

Key school conditions promote learners’ wellbeing and engagement in learning.

• Catholic values are highly evident schoolwide and underpin the inclusive response to enhancing learners’ attendance, wellbeing, engagement and learning.
• Parents and whānau are respected for what they bring to their child’s learning; diversity is valued and celebrated.
• Teachers are beginning to integrate te reo Māori and tikanga Māori into classroom programmes to reflect Te Tiriti o Waitangi; appropriate professional learning and development is in place.
• The board effectively serves and represents the school community, and appropriately aligns resourcing to support learner-centred goals and strategies; including a focus to improve attendance is a next step.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

• collate and report schoolwide student progress and achievement against curriculum levels to the board, enabling them to identify trends and patterns and respond to support the acceleration of learners who need this
• sharpen the focus on increasing the regular attendance of students by including this in the strategic planning for the school.

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

Within three months:

• ensure that 2024 end-of-year reporting includes a schoolwide picture of progress and achievement of learners against curriculum levels
• ensure that strategic planning for 2025 includes targets and strategies to increase the regular attendance of learners

Every six months:

• analyse attendance and achievement information to know the impact of strategic planning and resourcing to inform next steps for learners and to respond to any areas that require acceleration

Annually:

• review the impact of teaching and learning programmes on schoolwide achievement outcomes to know what has been successful and what needs further improvement to inform ongoing strategic direction
• report to the community on the impact of initiatives to strengthen progress, achievement and attendance, and identify areas for potential improvement
• continue to work with families to promote the regular attendance of learners.

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

• high levels of student progress and achievement
• clearer schoolwide achievement information informing resourcing decisions
• increased school attendance.

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

12 November 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