Mairehau High 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 

Mairehau High School, a small co-educational state secondary school for students in Years 9 to 13, is located in Christchurch. The school’s vision for learners is that they will value themselves and others and know they can excel and reach their potential. The school has a specialist classroom for students with ongoing resourcing funding and offers technology education for a number of contributing primary schools. It has undergone significant property development in recent years.  

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. 

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 

Learning and engagement outcomes are variable and not well sustained over time. 

• Over recent years a majority of students have achieved National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Levels 1 and 2 with a smaller, more variable proportion achieving NCEA Level 3 and University Entrance (UE); in 2023, there was a significant drop in achievement at all three levels; there is disparity in the achievement of national qualifications for Māori learners; particularly in Levels 1 and 2.
• Many students needing to make accelerated progress and achievement in literacy and numeracy are effectively supported to do so. 
• Disabled learners make good progress in their learning and other goals relevant to them and their families; they have high levels of participation across the school.
• A significant proportion of learners are not attending school regularly and this is negatively impacting their achievement. 

Conditions to support learner success

Leaders are developing school conditions to better support a relentless focus on school improvement goals.

• Leaders foster an inclusive school culture that values diversity, is strengths-based and underpinned by equitable aspirations for the achievement, progress and wellbeing of all learners.
• Some school systems, processes and practices for supporting attendance, engagement and achievement are not yet effectively or consistently implemented.
• Leaders identify relevant school improvement goals; strengthening communication, planning and monitoring to ensure there is a relentless, school-wide focus on improvement is a priority.

Curriculum and teaching are increasingly responsive to the many different needs, aspirations and pathways of students.

• Teachers know students well as individuals and learners; they adapt teaching practices to meet the needs of students and provide opportunities for collaborative learning, encouraging questioning and problem-solving.
• Leaders and teachers are working toward establishing and sustaining shared understandings of effective, responsive and inclusive teaching to enhance engagement in learning.
• Professional learning is increasingly supporting staff to deliver evidence-based interventions for students and to maintain learning-focussed environments where learning time is maximised.

Some school conditions need to be further developed to better support achievement of the school’s vision for learners and strategic goals.

• The board, leaders and teachers recognise, affirm and value the many different abilities, identities, languages and cultures of their learners, they resource and deliver a range of programmes, and initiatives to reduce barriers to education and support access to learning.
• Professional learning for teachers is aligned with school improvement goals and student needs; further work is needed to ensure it has the intended impact on curriculum and teaching practice and is well sustained.
• Board, leaders and teachers use a range of evaluative evidence to plan and implement actions for improvement; more regular monitoring and reporting on progress against targets and indicators would better support strategic decision-making.
• The board represents, serves and works with the school community to develop the school’s vision and strategic priorities; it is strengthening its framework of policies and procedures, along with processes for regular review, to better meet its legal and statutory requirements.

Part B: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• strengthen planning for the implementation of school improvement strategies
• identify appropriate measures and indicators to monitor the school’s progress towards its strategic goals to improve attendance, engagement and lift achievement
• regularly review and evaluate the effectiveness of systems, processes and practices for monitoring, reporting on and responding to attendance, engagement and achievement
• evaluate how well expectations and practices fostering positive behaviour for learning and behaviour management are supporting a learning-focussed environment.
• ensure teachers have shared expectations for high quality, inclusive and responsive teaching practice and are well-supported to implement these across the school. 

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

Within six months:

• establish implementation planning with appropriate measures and indicators and reporting timeframes to improve attendance, engagement and achievement
• establish termly review to ensure that systems, processes and practices for monitoring, reporting on and responding to attendance, engagement and achievement are effective and providing useful information for the board and leaders to base decisions on
• drawing on student, family and whānau and staff perspectives, review the school’s expectations for positive behaviour for learning and behaviour management and how well these are supporting a learning-focussed environment
• identify key expectations for effective, inclusive and responsive teaching practice and begin to embed these in professional learning and growth processes.

Every six months:

• report to the board on student attendance, engagement and achievement to identify trends and emerging needs and know about the effectiveness of strategies and interventions 
• ensure teachers have appropriate opportunities to share and reflect on the development of effective, inclusive and responsive teaching practice.

Annually:

• evaluate areas of strength and the quality of teaching practice to inform planning for future professional learning for teachers
• board and leaders to scrutinise student attendance, engagement and achievement information to know about the effective delivery of strategic goals and identify improvement priorities.

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

• improved student attendance, engagement and achievement at all levels
• more cohesive action and performance against strategic goals
• improved quality and consistency of teaching practices that are evidence-based, inclusive and responsive.

Recommendation to the Ministry of Education 

ERO recommends that the Ministry of Education provide tailored support for the board to establish and implement agreed policies and processes which build a positive and safe culture for learning for students and staff.

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

3 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