Kahikatea Kirkwood Intermediate

What ERO wrote in its latest report

This is ERO’s report of 3 March 2025 — “School Report” — section by section, under ERO’s own headings, in ERO’s own order. Nothing is summarised, shortened or reordered.

School 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.

About the School

Kahikatea Kirkwood Intermediate is located in Christchurch and caters for learners in Years 7 and 8. European/ Pākehā make up the largest proportion of learners of its approximately 300 students, 25% identify as Asian and 11% as Māori . The school has a technology unit on site providing classes for Kahikatea Kirkwood Intermediate learners and several local schools. The school’s mission is to engage each student to do their best through delivering a balanced curriculum in an inclusive learning environment .

Progress since September 2022 ERO report

The school and ERO were working to evaluate the effectiveness of school behaviour and well-being hauora programmes.

The school expected to see:

increased learner engagement across all areas of the school

learners and school community living and enacting the new school values to enhance learner’s sense of belonging and behaviour

acceleration of learners’ progress and achievement through focusing on positive and inclusive culture.

The school is in the early stages of implementing a positive behaviour framework. Increasingly consistent expectations and practices positively support learner engagement, behaviour and wellbeing.

The school values of Manaakitanga , Rangatiratanga , Tohungatanga , Kaitiakitanga and Whanaungatanga are being explicitly taught and positively reinforced; and this is leading to a more cohesive school wide approach.

The school is working towards equitable progress and achievement for all learners.

How well placed is the school to promote educational success and wellbeing?

How well are learners succeeding? The school is working towards high levels of success and progress for all learners.

What is the quality of teaching and learning? Learners benefit from good quality teaching practice that improves progress and achievement in reading, writing and mathematics.

How well does the school curriculum respond to all learners needs? Learners have sufficient opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the curriculum. There is an increasingly consistent focus on supporting learners to gain skills in literacy and mathematics. Learners with complex needs are well supported to achieve their education goals.

How well does school planning and conditions support ongoing improvement? School planning and conditions to support ongoing improvement to the quality of education for learners are well established.

How well does the school include all learners and promote their engagement and wellbeing? The school reasonably promotes learners’ engagement, wellbeing and inclusion.

How well does the school partner with parents, whānau and its community for the benefit of learners? The school is improving its reporting to parents / whānau about their child’s learning, achievement and progress. The school is improving its collection and use of information gathered through community consultation to inform strategic planning and curriculum decisions.

Student Health and Safety The school needs to ensure a physically and emotionally safe learning environment.

Achievement in Years 0 to 8

This table outlines how well students across the school meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.

Foundation Skills

Reading A large majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are equitable for all groups of learners.

Writing Less than half of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are not yet equitable for all groups of learners.

Mathematics A large majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are not yet equitable for all groups of learners.

Attendance

The school is behind the target of 80% regular attendance.

The school is developing a suitable plan in place to improve attendance.

Regular attendance is improving towards or beyond the target.

Chronic absence is not yet reducing over time.

Assessment

The school is improving its approach and the reliability of its practices to accurately find out about achievement against the curriculum.

Teachers are developing assessment information to adjust teaching practices to ensure ongoing improvement in teaching and student progress.

Progress

The school is developing good quality planning to increase the rate of progress for all groups of students.

The school has to some extent improved achievement and progress for those learners most at risk of not achieving since the previous review.

The school has to some extent extended achievement and progress for learners working at or above curriculum levels since the previous review.

The school is making some progress towards meeting Government reading, writing and mathematics and/or pānui , tuhituhi and pāngarau targets for 2030 and agrees this will need to be a key strategic priority.

Part B - Findings for the school

This section of the report provides more detail for the school to include in strategic and annual planning for ongoing improvement across the school.

Areas of Strength

Teachers and leaders know their learners and monitor and respond increasingly to individual wellbeing and learning needs. The school tracks and monitors target group achievement and progress closely; outcomes for some learners are improved.

Leaders increasingly foster a culture committed to quality teaching, and equity and excellence for learner outcomes

Teachers and leaders have begun implementing a structured approach to literacy and are well placed for the implementation of structured mathematics in 2025.

The school curriculum has been adapted to a two-year cycle to meet learner needs and provide balanced curriculum coverage. One hour a day of reading, writing and mathematics is incorporated into learning.

Targeted professional learning and support from leaders are effectively aligned to the school’s strategic focus and goals.

Leaders are establishing systematic processes to analyse progress and achievement data to inform planning.

Key priorities and actions for improvement

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

embed and sustain positive behaviour practices across the school

implement and embed curriculum changes in reading, writing and mathematics

analyse, report and respond to year group and school wide data on engagement, progress and achievement to identify trends and patterns and inform decision making

develop and implement strategies to improve regular learner attendance.

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

Within three months:

incorporate improvements to attendance outcomes into strategic and annual planning

develop and implement a plan to improve learner attendance

Every six months:

analyse year group and school wide progress, achievement, and engagement data to identify trends and patterns and respond to emerging findings

evaluate attendance data and the effectiveness of strategies to improve learner attendance

Annually:

evaluate and report to the board on year group and school wide progress, achievement, engagement and attendance data and use to identify trends and patterns and inform strategic and resourcing decisions

review and evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of curriculum changes on teaching and assessment practices and improved learner outcomes.

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

learners engaged, progressing and achieving over their time in the school and attending regularly

a range of useful data effectively analysed and used to inform decision making

strategic direction informed by the effective evaluation of implemented strategies and changes.

Background

The Education Review Office reviews schools that are signatories to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Findings

The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code and has completed an annual self review of its implementation of the Code.

At the time of this review there were 10 international students attending the school, and no exchange students.

Effective communication between international student co-ordinator and school staff enables pastoral care and classroom learning matters to be discussed and responded to in a timely way. Students spoken with said that they felt welcome, the school was meeting their learning needs, and they were well supported.

The school is mostly effective in its review of provisions and outcomes for international students. Developing systematic processes for collating and gathering feedback from stakeholders and ensuring this information is reported to the board would strengthen the board’s strategic decision making for its international students’ programme.

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements

All schools are required to promote student health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.

During this review the Board has attested to some regulatory and legislative requirements in the following areas:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Actions for Compliance

ERO has identified the following area of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

the board has not received assurance at intervals of not more than six months that a trial evacuation has occurred [Regulation 29 of the Fire Safety, Evacuation Procedures, and Evacuation Schemes Regulations 2018].

The board has since taken steps to address the areas of non-compliance identified.

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

Sharon Kelly Acting Director of Schools

3 March 2025

Education Counts

This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home

Read this report on ero.govt.nz →