St Dominic's Catholic College (Henderson)

The same report — the board assurance report of 10 December 2024 — also sets out actions for compliance: the non-compliance ERO identified during that process. This is that section of the report in full, in ERO’s words.

The board has identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

Obtain a Police vetting every three years of every contractor or their employee who still works at the school. [Section 104 of the Children’s Act 2014: Safety checks of children’s workers; Regulations 5 – 8 of the Children’s (Requirements for Safety Checks of Children’s Workers) Regulations 2015]

Develop a policy on reducing student distress and the use of physical restraint that has regard to the guidelines issued by the Secretary under section 101 of the Education and Training Act 2020, including a process for managing complaints. [Sections 99 – 101 of the Education and Training 2020; Education (Physical Restraint) Rules 2023]

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

Read this board assurance report on ero.govt.nz →

The roll ERO recorded, and when

ERO writes a roll into each report it publishes: a count taken for that report, on the day shown, by the review team that was there. The Ministry of Education’s current roll for this school is 851 — the figure at the top of this page, and the one to use for how big the school is now. These are a different measurement by a different body, so they will rarely agree, and a difference between them is not a change in the school.

1. June 2019

   880

   Counted while ERO’s review team was at the school. Education Review Office, report of 9 August 2019

This is one count taken for one report. It says what the roll was on that day, and nothing about how the roll has moved.

What ERO wrote in its latest report

This is ERO’s report of 10 December 2024 — “School Evaluation Report” — section by section, under ERO’s own headings, in ERO’s own order. Nothing is summarised, shortened or reordered.

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

St Dominic’s Catholic College (Henderson) in West Auckland is a special character school, formed within the Dominican tradition. The multicultural school provides education for girls in Years 7 to 13. The College’s Veritas in Action Positive Behaviour Curriculum sets expectations for respectful behaviour and learning for its community.

There are two parts to this report.

Part A: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki /bilingual settings.

Part B: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle.

Part A: Current State

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

Learner Success and Wellbeing

Most students are engaged, make good progress and achieve very well, with increasing equity between groups of learners.

Achievement data patterns show that most students achieve at National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Levels 1 to 3; in-school disparity for Pacific Learners is evident.

The majority of Year 13 students achieve University Entrance; leaders have identified improving NCEA achievement with endorsements as an area of future focus.

The majority of students in Years 7 to 10 are achieving at expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics.

The majority of students attend school regularly; the school has not yet met the Ministry of Education’s target for regular attendance and improving student attendance is a priority for school leaders.

Conditions to support learner success

Strategic and effective leadership drives improvement to teaching, learning, systems and processes that foster high expectations for learner outcomes.

School leaders set and implement clear systems that promote the special character and contribute to the positive school culture.

Leaders and teachers engage in high quality internal evaluation for improving teaching; they maintain a strong focus on balancing high expectations with students’ wellbeing for learning.

Staff value and use student achievement and wellbeing information to inform decision making; almost all students experience a strong sense of belonging and inclusion in a positive, responsive and empowering environment.

The school continues to strengthen teaching and learning practices to ensure students experience meaningful learning opportunities.

Students experience a range of meaningful learning experiences within a calm and orderly environment that promotes high levels of engagement.

Students consistently receive relevant and timely information and feedback that supports progress and achievement with excellence.

Teachers continue to build their collective capability and capacity to respond to students’ languages, cultures and identities through the localised curriculum.

The school has well-aligned systems, structures and practices that continue to support success and improvement over time.

Leaders and teachers consistently embed and model school values through Veritas in Action to provide an inclusive and supportive environment.

Systematic tracking and monitoring of student progress informs a targeted approach that accelerates progress for priority learner; further improvements to data management systems and processes are underway to increase efficiency and timeliness of interventions.

School leaders continue to strengthen authentic partnerships with whānau , hapū and iwi to support development of the localised curriculum.

The board reflects the community and are focused on holistic excellent and equitable outcomes for learners within a culture of care; the board are currently reviewing all policies and implementing a more robust review cycle to ensure alignment to school practices.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

continue to prioritise strategies to increase rates of regular student attendance

build on established systems for collecting student voice to contribute to curriculum development and identify teaching and learning practices that support equity and excellence, especially for Pacific and other priority learner groups

investigate the experience of students who have English is an additional language, to improve consistency of teaching and their sense of belonging and inclusion

continue to build genuine partnerships and reciprocal relationships with whānau, hapū and iwi to support local curriculum development.

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

Every six months:

incorporate opportunities for students to share their experiences about teaching and learning into existing review and evaluation systems to inform improvement priorities

monitor progress, achievement, wellbeing and attendance information against improvement goals to ensure successful outcomes for all learners, with a lens on priority learner groups

engage in meaningful connections with whānau, hapū and iwi as part of existing review and evaluation systems to inform priority actions.

Annually:

continue to evaluate and report to the board on progress, achievement, wellbeing and attendance information against improvement goals

evaluate impact of the localised curriculum on improving outcomes for all learners, with a focus on priority learner groups

implement a regular and robust policy review cycle as part of the school’s continuous improvement journey.

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

all students attend regularly and consistently experience a learning environment where their learning needs are valued and catered for

an established authentic localised curriculum, informed by partnerships with whānau, hapū and iwi , embedded across all learning areas

school practices aligned to policies and procedures that are transparent, meet legislative requirements and are reviewed regularly.

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

10 December 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

Read this report on ero.govt.nz →