Sancta Maria College

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 16 months of the Education Review Office and Sancta Maria College 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

Sancta Maria College is situated in the suburb of Botany, Auckland. It is a state integrated co-educational Catholic secondary school providing a special character education for students from Years 7 to 15.

Sancta Maria College’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for students are:

• to nurture students to be confident, capable, and successful learners who are secure in their identity, charism and have a strong sense of belonging in their school community
• to create purposeful and personalised learning opportunities that grow and empower students, enabling them to reach their full potential and aspirations, in order to enjoy successful and fulfilling lives 
• to build purposeful connections, partnerships and relationships that enable and support students to thrive.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Sancta Maria College’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the ‘Navigation’ holistic learning initiative improves student agency and outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is: 

• survey data and student voice identifies there is scope to improve student outcomes, agency and wellbeing
• to strengthen community connection and engagement.

The school expects to see increased levels of engagement amongst students and whānau; students becoming more active in their learning journey, resulting in improved educational outcomes for all.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how effectively the ‘Navigation’ holistic learning initiative improves student agency and outcomes.

• the board, leaders and teachers are focused on achieving equitable outcomes for all students through effective teaching
• a culture of evaluation and continuous improvement
• holistic approaches that promote student wellbeing and learning success.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• developing structures to support responsive curriculum change informed by Te Mātaiaho the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum
• embed into practice and gather evidence about the impact of the ‘Navigation’ holistic learning initiative
• growing capabilities and capacity of teaching staff to design responsive high-level learning.
   

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

12 April 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