Otago Girls’ 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

Founded in 1870 and located in the heart of Dunedin city, Otago Girls’ High School is the oldest state secondary school for girls in New Zealand. It provides education for girls from year 9 to 13. The school’s vision is, ‘Inspire - Empower - Challenge - Dream; Whakaohoho - Whakamana - Werohia - Moemoea’

There are three parts to this report.

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

Part B: An evaluative summary of learner outcomes and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including 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 report in October 2022, ERO and the school have worked together to evaluate the impact of the school’s evaluation practices on improving learning outcomes.

Expected Improvements and Findings

The school expected to see:

Learning area reporting that is evaluative, targeted, time efficient and sustainable, informing teaching and learning as part of an ongoing cycle of improvement.

• Collaborative sense-making of achievement information more effectively reveals enablers and barriers for learners and is informing next steps for teachers’ planning. 

Inspiring and authentic learning opportunities that are responsive to learner needs developed as a result of improved evaluation practices.

• A revised evaluative process prioritises improving learner outcomes and responding to trends across curriculum areas.
• Consistent and meaningful reporting and evaluation practices are in place across all curriculum areas.
• Dimensions monitored include student voice, attendance, retention, National Certificate of Educational Achievement [NCEA] achievement including endorsements, scholarships and priority learner group progress and achievement.

A strengthening of the evaluative understanding and collective capability of staff.

• Mentorship structures have fostered effective distributed leadership and increased levels of confidence and capability among curriculum leaders.
• Improvements in evaluation practices are informing teaching and learning and increasing flexibility in programme and assessment design.
• Evaluation loops are established between curriculum leaders and their departments, senior leadership and the board, creating an iterative evaluative cycle. 

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s actions is a strengthening of the reporting process to inform practice.

Part B: Current state

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing

Outcomes for learners are increasingly equitable and excellent.

• Students, including Māori and Pacific learners, are continuing to achieve very well in NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3, as well as in University Entrance. 
• Most Year 9 and 10 students are achieving at or above national expectations in both literacy and numeracy.
• Regular attendance rates are above national averages.

Conditions to support learner success

Strategic leadership at curriculum area, senior leadership and board levels continually improves school conditions that promote student success. 

• A widening range of evidence is used by teachers and leaders to set and pursue a small number of coherent goals at school-wide and curriculum area levels.
• The developing use of formal evaluation processes helps leaders and board members to establish the impact of strategies on improving student learning outcomes. 
• Professional development and collaborative mentorship by senior leaders are developing improved middle leadership capability. 

Teaching and learning are increasingly responsive to students’ identified needs.

• The school is strengthening evaluation practices to improve student engagement, progress and achievement.
• Curriculum leaders are addressing barriers to support improvements to student outcomes, curriculum implementation and classroom teaching.
• Local contexts are increasingly reflected throughout the curriculum in a way that learners can see themselves, their identities and cultures. 

Consistent measures are used to monitor engagement and achievement to better track improvements in equity and excellence.

• Parents, whānau and students are respected learning partners.
• Māori and Pacific strategic plans are developed following consultation with learners, whānau, hapū and iwi to enhance engagement and achievement of learners. 
• Learners have a strong sense of connection to the school, evidenced in regular attendance, high participation rates and achievement levels, and involvement in extra-curricular endeavours both within and beyond the school.

Part C: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

• continue with mentorship of curriculum leaders in order to improve learning outcomes at classroom level
• continue to improve learning outcomes by using curriculum area reporting to inform strategic planning.

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

Within six months:

• focus mentorship of all curriculum leaders on strengthening evaluative practice and building capability
• support new curriculum leaders to grow their strengths in evaluation practices in order to foster growth in the collective capability of staff within their curriculum areas

Every six months:

• curriculum leaders share experiences and learnings about evaluation with other leaders and within their departments in order to strengthen the impact of evaluation on learner outcomes.

Annually:

• outcomes in attendance, retention, NCEA achievement including endorsements, scholarships and priority learner group progress and achievement are regularly monitored and evaluated to ensure that students are engaged and making good progress
• curriculum leaders develop evaluative reports collaboratively with their teaching staff to share with senior leadership and board and to inform school improvement actions
• the school ensures relevant improvement priorities in its strategic and annual plans are aligned with and reflect knowledge building gained through curriculum area reporting improvements.

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

• improved student outcomes including attendance, retention, NCEA achievement, scholarships and priority learner group progress and achievement
• the development of increasingly flexible learning and assessment design addressing barriers to progress and achievement
• increasing use of student voice to inform school improvement
• further strengthening the strategic partnership between board and school.

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

18 June 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