Ellesmere College

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 

Ellesmere College, Te Kāreti o Waihora, is located in Leeston in the Selwyn district and provides education for students in Years 7 to 13. 

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 ERO report of June 2022, the school has evaluated the extent to which the reorganisation of the curriculum delivery model (AKO) led to positive outcomes for students in terms of well-being, engagement, and achievement. 

Expected Improvements and Findings

The school expected to see:

Ongoing monitoring and evaluation of achievement, valued outcomes, and other indicator data to show improved student outcomes in terms of excellence and equity for all students.

• The school continues to regularly monitor and track the achievement of students to identify and address barriers to learning.
• Improving student achievement in literacy and numeracy for students in Years 7 to 10 remains a priority.

A local curriculum that provides a coordinated approach to teaching and learning, incorporates the changes in the national curriculum and reflects the local context.

• The curriculum increasingly reflects local contexts in ways that students can see themselves, their identity and culture.
• The development of the school’s effective teaching framework continues to focus on improving the consistency and effectiveness of teaching practice.

Part B: Current State

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing

Improvements are required across Years 7 to 11 to ensure all learners are engaged, make sufficient progress, achieve well and reduce disparity.

• Most students achieve the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) at Level 2 and 3; girls achieve NCEA at a higher rate than boys in Levels 2 and 3.  
• The majority of Year 7 and 8 students are achieving at or above the expected curriculum level in reading, writing and mathematics; less than half of Year 9 and 10 students are working within the expected curriculum level for reading, writing and mathematics.
• Improvements are needed to address the recognised disparity for boys and Māori students across Years 7 to 11.
• The majority of students attend school regularly; effective strategies are in place to support students and their families with regular attendance.

Conditions to support learner success

Leaders are beginning to use a range of data and information to review and know the effectiveness of teaching and learning to improve outcomes for all students. 

• A restructure to leadership and revised roles, provides a distributed approach to leadership that supports building teaching capability.
• Leaders are beginning to drive improvement to systems, processes, teaching and learning to promote improvement in engagement and improved achievement outcomes for learners.

Key conditions are being strengthened to promote positive outcomes for learners.   

• Improvement is required to the structure of learning programmes across Years 7 to 11 to better prepare students for NCEA, particularly the numeracy and literacy co- requisite requirements.  
• Students are provided with a local curriculum that is responsive to their interests and provides opportunities for choice.

The school is putting in place systems, structures, and practices to bring about success and improvement over time. 

• The school has carried out surveys of Year 7 to 10 students about their learning and has analysed the data to identify and develop areas for improvement in teaching literacy and numeracy. 
• The strategic plan is well developed and contains clearly defined actions aimed at improving outcomes for all students.

Part C: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• monitor assessment information and interventions for Year 7 to 11 to ensure that systems are robust and coherent, and responses are appropriate so that all learners make sufficient progress 
• continue to build teacher capability and practice to strengthen consistency of teaching practice and outcomes for learners
• strengthen partnerships with whānau and the wider school community to develop and deliver a localised curriculum that is responsive to the needs of students. 

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

Within six months:

• track assessment information for Year 7 to 11 students and target teaching responses to ensure students make sufficient progress 
• undertake a review of the Years 7 to 11 curriculum to provide a greater focus on the consistency of teaching literacy and numeracy 
• consult with whānau and the wider school community to strengthen their participation in the life of the school and contribute to the development of the localised curriculum

Annually:

• continue to monitor and report student progress and achievement, attendance, and wellbeing information to inform next steps for learners, and groups of learners, and to respond to any disparity identified 
• evaluate the expectations for high quality teaching against the teacher framework and to know the impact of initiatives and professional development
• develop a long-term professional development plan that is responsive to teaching and learning needs and aligns with the strategic direction.

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

• student achievement and engagement data that consistently informs next steps for teaching and learning and leads to improved student achievement in literacy and numeracy 
• a strengthened focus on teaching, and practices that ensure high expectations for learner outcomes are met
• positive, proactive partnerships that support developing and delivering a localised curriculum that is responsive to the needs of students and reflects the school’s connection to its community.

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all three learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Evaluation Report and is due within 3 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 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