Riccarton 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 

Riccarton High School is a co-educational secondary school for students in Years 9 to 13. The school’s vision for learners is that they will be achieving, independent, lifelong learners who are caring, responsible, involved, and globally connected citizens. A specialist classroom provides for students receiving ongoing resourcing support funding. The school has been undergoing a significant property redevelopment. 

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 

Students increasingly have positive learning outcomes.

• Most school leavers attain National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 2, about half attain NCEA Level 3 and a smaller proportion gain University Entrance; further work is needed to improve equity for Māori leavers in the attainment of national qualifications.
• At all year levels, students who are learning English as a second language make good progress in their language learning; some junior students needing support to gain foundation skills in literacy are well supported through targeted programmes that accelerate their learning. 
• Students on pathways to employment and vocational training are well supported to transition successfully to these post-school settings.
• The majority of students attend school regularly, although not yet at levels recommended by the Ministry of Education; the school works proactively with students and their families to support engagement. 

Conditions to support learner success

Leadership sets and pursues school improvement priorities focused on meeting the diverse needs of students and fostering an inclusive school community. 

• School leaders recognise, affirm and value the many different identities, abilities, languages and cultures of learners and resource staffing, programmes and practices for the success and inclusion of learners and their families.
• Leaders foster relational trust and communication across the school community and this supports increasing levels of collaboration, improvement and innovation.
• Leadership is developing evaluative practices to know about the impact of strategies to improve student outcomes and the effectiveness of curriculum and teaching.

Curriculum and teaching are increasingly responsive to the needs, aspirations, cultures and identities of students.

• The curriculum increasingly reflects local contexts in a way that students can see themselves, their identity and culture; teachers are beginning to integrate throughout the curriculum, shared understandings of local history and mātauranga Māori, te reo Māori and tikanga Māori.
• School-wide strategies and programmes that support students to gain sound foundation skills in literacy and mathematics are strengthening; effective collection, analysis and use of Years 9 and 10 assessment information to inform teaching and evaluate the impact of initiatives is a next step. 
• Innovative teaching practice is evident and many different approaches engage learners and foster their self-management skills; leaders and teachers are collaboratively developing a set of expectations for effective teaching practices that respond to learners’ needs and cultures.

Key school systems, processes and practices support positive outcomes for learners and ongoing school improvement.

• Teachers and school staff provide relevant and useful information and support to parents and whānau, including migrant families, so they can understand and foster their young person’s learning pathways into, through and beyond school. 
• The school works closely with contributing schools to get to know prospective learners and to plan for and support their positive transitions into school.
• The school has responded to the aspirations of students and their families by strengthening the provision of programmes and partnerships with employers and tertiary providers that prepare and link students to work and further study.
• The board effectively represents, serves and works with the school community, including mana whenua, to develop the school’s vision, values, strategic direction and improvement priorities related to student learning wellbeing achievement and progress.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• improve equity in retention, engagement and achievement for Māori learners through a focus on relationships, high expectations and responsiveness to whānau and rangatahi aspirations
• continue to implement school-wide strategies to improve literacy and numeracy learning and raise NCEA literacy and numeracy achievement
• develop and use the school’s expectations for effective, culturally responsive and inclusive teaching to better support consistent teaching practice and to foster learners’ learning and self-management skills
• strengthen evaluation processes, including through the collection and analysis of a range of evidence, to better know about how well strategic priorities have been implemented and what impact they have had on learner outcomes.

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

Within six months:

• in collaboration with key stakeholders, develop an action plan to improve Māori student retention, engagement and achievement 
• strengthen processes for collecting and analysing assessment information in Years 9 and 10, particularly for literacy and numeracy, and using this information to inform planning, teaching and strategic decision-making
• continue to provide teachers with professional learning on evidence-based practices to support literacy and numeracy learning
• confirm the school’s expectations for effective, culturally responsive and inclusive teaching and incorporate this in planning for the revised Year 9 and 10 curriculum.

Annually:

• using a range of evidence, evaluate the effectiveness of strategies for improving engagement, progress, and achievement for Māori learners and raising literacy and numeracy achievement and use this to refine and inform goals and future planning 
• monitor implementation of key strategies to know about what is working and what is getting in the way of progress
• embed the school’s expectations for teaching and learning in school curriculum and professional capability building systems to better know about the consistency and quality of teaching.

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

• improved equity in retention, engagement and achievement for Māori learners
• junior students making appropriate progress in literacy and numeracy learning and an increasing proportion of school leavers attaining the NCEA literacy and numeracy requirements
• learners experiencing effective, culturally responsive and inclusive teaching that supports their access to, engagement with and success in learning.
• teachers confidently and capably implementing the school’s expectations for effective, culturally responsive and inclusive teaching and school leaders knowing about the quality of teaching, areas for professional development and impact for learners.

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

9 July 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