Middleton Grange 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

Middleton Grange School, a state integrated school located in Christchurch, provides education for learners in Years 1 to 13. The school’s mission is to ‘assist families in the education of their children by providing an environment in which the Biblical truths of Jesus Christ are taught and lived.’

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, ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate how effectively the school’s curriculum responds to and provides opportunities for English Language Learners (ELL) in Years 2 to 8.

Expected Improvements and Findings 

The school expected to see:

Increased and sustained literacy progress and achievement for all ELLs.

• The majority of ELL students made greater than expected progress in achieving at or above expected curriculum levels in English.

Ongoing development of teaching strategies and understandings of ways to support the diverse learning needs of ELLs. 

• Surveys show that teachers’ knowledge and confidence in supporting ELL has been increased through targeted professional learning and individualised support from internal and external expertise.
• Almost all ELL have benefitted from specially trained learning assistants and the development of specialised resources to support their language development. 

Other Findings 

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s action was the strengthened confidence of teachers to meet the specific needs of ELL. Effective schoolwide training and the development of useful resources has supported classroom programmes and built greater understanding and cultural competency among staff. 

Part B: Current State 

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

Students are well engaged, make positive progress and succeed across a wide range of learning opportunities. 

• Most students in Years 1 to 10 achieve at or above the expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics; disparity for some groups remains, which the school has identified. 
• Most students achieve National Certificate Educational Achievement (NCEA) at Levels 1, 2 and 3; close monitoring assists students to achieve intended outcomes.
• Students are regularly surveyed about their wellbeing, with most responses positive about the school; valuing cultural identity and increasing opportunities for student voice have been identified as areas for further development.
• A large majority of students attend school regularly and the school is meeting the Ministry of Education’s target for regular attendance; thorough school processes for monitoring and following up any unexplained absences is evident.

Conditions to support learner success

Leaders effectively foster a culture that reflects the school’s special character and contributes to high-quality teaching and learning. 

• Collaborative leadership across the school enacts a shared understanding of the school’s direction; this supports a cohesive approach to realising the strategic vision and goals.
• Leaders have high expectations for teaching and learning; individual skills and expertise of staff are used appropriately to further strengthen consistency of practice schoolwide.
• Leaders prioritise growing capability and capacity of leadership at all levels of the school to ensure sustainability of quality teaching and learning practices across the school. 

Learners benefit from a well-considered curriculum and responsive teaching practices.

• Teachers participate in ongoing professional development that improves their practice for inclusion and responding to specific learning needs.
• Leaders and teachers scrutinise student engagement and achievement information to identify what is working well and for whom.
• Teachers regularly reflect on the impact of learning programmes on enhancing successful outcomes for learners; reviewing current assessment practices in Years 1 to 8 to ensure all learners achieve personalised success has been prioritised by leaders. 

The school’s special character successfully underpins all aspects of school operation and provides a cohesive framework for future developments.

• The board is provided with regular and detailed reporting that informs decision making and resourcing for positive outcomes for all learners.
• Leaders and teachers are highly reflective and responsive to student needs across the school.
• The board, leaders and teachers have strong links with the school community and provide growing opportunities for families to contribute to the school’s future direction.
• Leaders have identified the need to continue to integrate mātauranga Māori across all aspects of the school to strengthen the curriculum. 

Part C: Where to next? 

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• review current curriculum practices schoolwide, including literacy and mathematics, to effectively integrate the national curriculum changes 
• monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the changed Year 11 programme on sustaining a successful pathway direct to Level 2 NCEA
• reflect and report on interventions and innovations to accelerate progress for groups of learners who need this and support increasing rates of attendance
• continue to develop and embed mātauranga Māori across the school.

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

Within six months:

• implement and review effectiveness of structured literacy and mathematics practices in the primary school
• reflect on levels of accelerated progress for targeted groups and plan further steps to support learning
• engage with the wider Christian Education Network rōpu to further enhance understanding of mātauranga Māori within the school’s special character.

Every six months:

• gather student, staff and community feedback and ideas to review the effectiveness of the changes to the Year 11 programme and to inform improvements for the successful pathway to NCEA Level 2 
• extend the use of achievement data to inform teaching and learning with specific attention to strategies for targeted groups who need this.

Annually:

• report to the board on the accelerated progress of specific targeted groups and identify ongoing improvements
• review how effectively mātauranga Māori is integrated across the school and identify next steps to continue to grow schoolwide practices and understandings
• monitor the trends and patterns of regular attendance for all learners and develop strategies and approaches to improve and sustain attendance. 

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

• embedded schoolwide curriculum and teaching practices that achieve success for all students
• improved levels of achievement for identified groups 
• increased staff, student and the wider school community’s knowledge, understanding and implementation of mātauranga Māori 
• increased rates of regular student attendance.

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

17 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