St Brigids School (Tainui)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and St Brigid’s School (Tainui) working in Te Ara Huarau, an improvement evaluation approach used in most English Medium State and State Integrated Schools. For more information about Te Ara Huarau see ERO’s website. www.ero.govt.nz

Context 

St Brigid’s School (Tainui) ’s is a contributing Year 1-6 primary school located in Dunedin. The school’s values of Respect, Care and Responsibility are taken from the Mercy values.

St Brigid’s School (Tainui)’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to ensure that:

• the wellbeing/hauora of all students/ākonga and staff will be prioritised and reflected in all interactions.
• new students and staff will be welcomed to the school.
• all students/ākonga will be able to articulate their learning objectives and next steps
• a new principal will be recruited, welcomed, and supported to lead the school

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on St Brigid’s School (Tainui)’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well the school, through a change in leadership and a more collaborative whole-school approach, is gathering, analysing, using and reporting high quality assessment information to improve/monitor student progress and achievement.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation was that:

• a focus on data literacy and assessment practice was identified as important as the systems and practices that provide the 'evidence' trustees, leaders and teachers use to know about the effectiveness of school programmes and interventions were not strong
• staff and leaders needed to effectively monitor the progress of all students
• there was a need for a more collaborative, whole school approach to the gathering and analysing of data
• the principal needed to take a strong lead in facilitating this process

The school expects to see:

• leaders ensuring all staff are fully supported by having effective systems and processes in place
• that relevant professional development is provided to deepen teacher knowledge
• through informed programmes of learning students increasingly progressing and achieving in relation to their age and stage in the New Zealand Curriculum
• a strengthening of collective capability to gather, analyse and use data at a school wide level to support planning and decision-making for continuous improvement

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to ensure a consistent and learned approach in analysing and reporting on student progress and achievement.

• an effective data collection and collation process that is appropriate for the age and stage of students
• a better understanding of what is required by staff through targeted support from the Ministry of Education, which has seen an improvement in student achievement across the school
• a committed, supportive board that works alongside leaders, staff and outside agencies to develop better systems for useful reporting of learner progress and achievement

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• sustaining the momentum from the professional development that has been put in place to improve leadership of learning and grow teacher capability
• to continue to build capability in analysis and use of data to inform improvements to programmes for learning
• the Board of Trustees playing an active role in ensuring the new principal is aware of the immediate priorities of the school and on appointment given effective support to deal with these priorities

ERO has concerns about

The quality and sustainability of leadership of learning to:

• continue to build the capability and capacity of effective assessment practices for learning
• effectively gather, use and analyse achievement information to inform curriculum programmes
• report high quality achievement information to trustees to support scrutiny and informed decision making

Recommendation

The school continues to focus on improving assessment practices and valued outcomes for learners while embedding effective leadership and Governance during this time of leadership change. To bring about the improvements identified ERO recommended that the Ministry of Education provide statutory intervention to support the school.

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. ERO will support the school in reporting their progress to the community. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.

Kathy Lye
Acting Director Review and Improvement (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

3 April 2023 

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