Kaikorai Valley 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

Kaikorai Valley College is a Year 7 to 13 co-educational school in Dunedin. The core values of participation, respect, inquiry, diversity, and environment (PRIDE) underpin the school’s relationship-based philosophy.  It is an Enviroschool and has its own urban farm. A new principal began at the start of 2024.

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 culturally responsive pedagogy on promoting student engagement in learning. 

Expected Improvements and Findings

The school expected to see:

Enhanced student motivation and engagement.

• Students like the increased curriculum choices available, resulting in greater levels of student interest and positivity.
• School leadership is continuing to monitor and evaluate the impact of curriculum developments on student engagement, informed by student and staff voice. 

Improved Māori learner performance across all year levels, along with improved outcomes for all groups of learners.

• Feedback indicates that Māori students and whānau feel that culture and identity is valued and respected by the school.
• The introduction of mentors for Māori and Pacific students has led to a positive increase in these students’ engagement with school.
• Levels of school community involvement have significantly increased, with higher levels of whānau participation and input.

Growing levels of teachers’ confidence and capability speaking te reo, as well as understandings about tikanga and mātauranga Māori in teaching and learning practices across the school.

• Teachers have expressed increased levels of confidence in te reo and tikanga, resulting in the greater use of te reo and tikanga in a range of school settings.
• Teaching and learning resources are continuing to be further developed to include and support mātauranga Māori.

The greatest shift that occurred in response to the school’s actions is the commitment to student, whānau and staff voice meaningfully driving school improvement. 

Part B: Current state

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing

• The number of students achieving National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) at Levels 1, 2 and 3 has increased over the last three years; this includes increasing parity for Māori students.
• The majority of Year 7 to 10 students are achieving at national expectations for literacy and mathematics.
• The school’s vertical whānau group structure is an effective pastoral support strategy for wellbeing, with a majority of students reporting in surveys over several years that staff know them well as a person and as a learner.
• In relation to the Ministry of Education’s target, the majority of students attend school regularly. 

Conditions to support learner success

• A biennial process to gather and respond to student, whānau and staff voice informs curriculum initiatives which school leadership evaluates for effectiveness and impact.
• Leaders use a considered and strategic process in working with the school community to build a collaborative approach to school improvement.

• The school’s approaches to Years 9 and 10 curriculum development have resulted in courses designed to appeal to students’ interests, with increased levels of student engagement.
• Priority learners needing additional support are identified and are provided with increasingly effective support to learn and progress at an appropriate pace. 
• Teachers design personalised programmes to suit students’ aspirations and interests as they move through the senior school to meet students’ future vocational or academic pathways.
• Leaders are prioritising cross-curricula literacy and numeracy learning as a next step in school curriculum development.

• Students and their whānau are involved with staff in planning relevant and personalised pathways beyond school, including a different range of academic and vocational options.
• The school is continuing to develop its relationship with te Rūnanga o Ōtākou to further integrate Māori perspectives and mātauranga Māori into learning programmes.
• The board continues to evaluate student performance, including monitoring attendance, engagement, achievement and cultural responsiveness in order to measure improvement.
• The school has developed productive partnerships with a wide range of tertiary and training providers, businesses and employers across Dunedin. 

Part C: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

• refine curriculum initiatives and evaluate how well these are responding to students’ needs at Years 7 to 10
• embed bicultural understandings and practices to improve student engagement and achievement
• strengthen literacy and mathematics teaching practices across all learning areas to improve student achievement at all year levels.

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

Within six months

• learning area leaders develop approaches for the effective integration of school-wide literacy and mathematics strategies into programmes of learning
• professional learning occurs to support staff in developing approaches to integrate mātauranga Māori within their learning areas.

Every six months

• school leaders gather student and staff perspectives in order to evaluate the effectiveness of curriculum initiatives to improve student engagement and learning outcomes.

Annually

• leaders develop viable and sustainable curriculum initiatives, informed by ongoing student, whānau and staff voice
• leaders verify the increased integration of mātauranga Māori across learning areas
• leaders and teachers ensure that literacy and numeracy approaches are integrated into curriculum delivery across the school and are leading to improvements in student achievement
• leaders report to the board about the impact of strengthened literacy and numeracy practices and curriculum initiatives on learner attendance, progress and achievement. 

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

• the further development of curriculum structures that improve student engagement through providing choice, relevance and interest at Years 7 to 10
• further shifts in using deliberate, culturally responsive teaching practices to improve student engagement and progress at all year levels
• continued improvements in literacy and numeracy outcomes at all year levels. 

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

30 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