Christchurch South Karamata Intermediate 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 

Christchurch South Karamata Intermediate School is located in the suburb of Spreydon in Christchurch and caters for students in Years 7 and 8. The school values are to aim high, show commitment, support, and integrity, and celebrate different cultures.

There are three parts to this report.

Part A: A summary of the findings from the most recent Education Review Office (ERO) report and/or subsequent evaluation.

Part B: 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 C: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.

Part A: Previous Improvement Goals

Since the previous ERO report of July 2022, the school evaluated to what extent the refresh of the curriculum, deep learning pedagogies and a culturally responsive lens led to excellence and equity in student outcomes.

Expected Improvements and Findings

The school expected to see:

Student achievement and engagement data shows excellence and equity for all students.

• Most students are achieving at the expected curriculum level in reading, writing and mathematics. There is a disparity in the achievement of Māori students in reading, writing and mathematics.

A responsive curriculum that integrates the local context.

• The school has developed and implemented a comprehensive curriculum that reflects the local environment and cultural histories.

School wide consistency in teacher practice with a focus on high impact teaching strategies.

• Teachers have undergone professional development in high impact teaching strategies.

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s actions has been the implementation of a curriculum which reflects local history and context and the strengthening of a consistency in teacher practice.

Part B: Current State

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.

Learner Success and Wellbeing

Learners achieve high levels of success and make ongoing progress.

• Most students meet or exceed the expected curriculum level in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Māori and Pacific learner achievement has improved, the majority of Māori and Pacific students are achieving at expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics; targeting teaching to support their achievement remains an ongoing priority.
• The majority of students attend school regularly; the school is not yet achieving the Government’s target for regular attendance.

Conditions to support learner success

Effective leadership sets and pursues improvement goals and targets including the acceleration of progress for those learners at risk of underachievement.

• Leaders maintain a strong focus on improving culturally responsive practices, this is increasing learner engagement and success in learning.
• Teachers’ individual strengths and skills are effectively used across the school, with ongoing opportunities for staff to develop leadership skills, so that change is well led and sustainable.
• A strong culture of care and wellbeing for learners, their families and staff contributes to building a positive school environment that promotes engagement and improved progress and achievement.

Learners have rich opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of The New Zealand Curriculum, learners are well supported to gain sound skills to prepare them for secondary school.

• Teachers closely monitor individual student progress and targeted interventions are in place for students identified as requiring additional support.
• Teachers access well-considered professional development that builds teacher capability and targets identified priorities to improve outcomes for learners.
• Teachers use assessment activities that are inclusive, relevant and fit-for-purpose; they provide meaningful evidence of progress and achievement as a basis for determining next steps for learning.

The school has well-aligned systems, structures and practices to support success and improvement over time.

• Internal evaluation practices support the gathering, analysis, and use of evidence of student learning and outcomes to improve practice.
• The board is strongly supportive of the principal, staff and students; strategic goals are improvement focused, and resulting school initiatives are well resourced.
• Learner transitions into and beyond the school are carefully managed; close working relationships with other schools ensures that suitable support is in place as they arrive or leave the school.

Part C: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

• strengthen teaching and learning programmes to improve achievement for Māori and Pacific students in reading, writing and mathematics
• embed consistent high impact teaching strategies school wide to support ongoing improvement.

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

Every six months:

• staff take deliberate action in response to emerging trends, with particular attention to those learners at risk of not achieving especially Māori and Pacific students in writing, boys in mathematics and those with lower rates of regular attendance
• teachers and leaders undertake evaluation of the impact of professional development on improving teacher practice and raising student outcomes to inform planning for continued improvements.

Annually:

• continue to use and report on student progress and achievement and wellbeing data to inform responsive decision making, and effective strategies for improving attendance, teaching and learning
• use indicators of effective practice to evaluate the impact of initiatives for continued improvements in achievement and attendance.

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

• improved equity between groups of students particularly for Māori and Pacific students in writing and boys in mathematics
• increased student engagement in learning and more students attending regularly
• consistency in teacher practice with a focus on high impact teaching strategies.

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

Sharon Kelly
Director of Schools (Acting)

21 March 2025

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