Villa Maria College

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within four months of the Education Review Office and Villa Maria 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 

Villa Maria College is a Catholic, state-integrated school in Christchurch. It provides education for girls from Years 7 to 13. The school’s mission is to empower each young woman to determine her potential, live Gospel values, confidently embrace lifelong learning and, as a Mercy woman, be inspired to make a difference.

Villa Maria College’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• enhance connections and relationships in the Villa Maria College community that promote engagement
• provide a robust and future-focused academic programme, that engages all learners to strive for personal excellence
• develop cohesive and holistic Years 7 to 11 learning programmes, investigating opportunities for cross curricular collaboration
• ensure student literacy and numeracy underpins teaching to prepare students for lifelong learning
• enable students and staff to build a Catholic community that lives the gospel values of Atawhai Mai, Atawahi Atu | Mercy received, Mercy given.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Villa Maria College’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of its reviewed Years 7 to 11 learning programmes on student engagement, agency, and achievement outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

• ensure every student sees themselves in the school's learning programmes and is excited, enthusiastic, and curious about learning
• prioritise hauora, increase engagement and student choice through more holistic learning programmes in Years 7 to 11.

The school expects to see improved Years 7 to 11 student engagement, agency and achievement especially for identified priority learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the impact of its reviewed Years 7 to 11 learning programmes on student engagement, agency, and achievement outcomes:

• the special character, based on the Catholic and Mercy charism forms the foundation for learning review and design
• the school identifies and responds to learners’ needs and there is equity in achievement outcomes
• a systematic approach to reviewing and evaluating is used to measure the impact of initiatives
• kaiako and kaiawhina are increasing their understanding and use of te reo and mātauranga Māori, and Pacific cultural competencies, so they can be meaningfully incorporated into learning.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• targeted professional learning to build capacity in learning design, assessment for learning, cultural competencies, and for teaching literacy and numeracy skills
• designing flexible, future-focused teaching and learning programmes for Years 7 to 11, which are responsive to the needs of diverse ākonga, the local context and circumstances
• monitoring student achievement, agency, and engagement data to measure the impact of the reviewed learning programmes.

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

10 October 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