Christchurch Adventist School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within ten months of the Education Review Office and Christchurch Adventist School 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 

Christchurch Adventist School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• maintain and enhance the special character
• develop a pedagogical philosophy and framework
• revise the curriculum so it is locally focused, connected with the curriculum refresh, and implemented in a timely way.

A copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan is available on request from Christchurch Adventist School.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of an aligned approach for designing and delivering learning on student connection and achievement across years 1 to 13.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• to strengthen coherence and continuity in teaching and assessment practices across all year levels
• a need to support teachers to better meet their students’ increasingly diverse learning needs
• to align school reviews with national priorities and changes.

The school expects to see:

• shared understanding and expectations about quality teaching knowledge, practices, and processes
• an updated school-wide curriculum which is responsive to students’ needs
• assessment data meaningfully used to identify trends for groups of learners and to track individual student progress and achievement throughout their time in the school.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate the impact on student connection and achievement of an aligned approach for designing and delivering learning across years 1 to 13.

• Strategic gathering and analysis of individuals’ achievement data to know each learner well, identify their needs, and plan to address them which can be leveraged to identify wider trends.
• Targeted and responsive professional learning which is supporting teacher collaboration, growth in practices, and curriculum development.
• Participation in the Christian Education Network Community of Learning Kāhui Ako, which has a shared goal to localise curriculum and teach accurate historical narratives, informs this goal.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• building knowledge and understanding of meaningful evaluation to identify strengths and areas for improvement
• revising its curriculum so it is localised, incorporates mātauranga Māori and quality teaching practices, and is connected with the national curriculum refresh
• using assessment tools more consistently across the school, from years 1 to 13, to track equity and excellence of individuals and cohorts.

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

17 July 2023 

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