St Joseph's Maori Girls' College

The same report — the board assurance report of 27 February 2025 — 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.

ERO and the board have identified the following areas of non-compliance during the board assurance process:

The board must obtain a Police vet of every person who the board appoints, or intends to appoint, to a position at the school. [ Schedule 4, Education and Training Act 2020 ]

The board must ensure 5 hours a week of teaching and learning focused on supporting learners progress in mathematics. [ Foundation Curriculum Policy Statements and National Curriculum Statements / Ngā Kaupapa Here Tauākī Tūāpapa Marautanga me ngā Tauākī Marautanga ā-Motu – 2023-go5904 – New Zealand Gazette]

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 180 — 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. September 2017

   209

   Counted while ERO’s review team was at the school. Education Review Office, report of 3 November 2017

2. July 2014

   223

   Counted while ERO’s review team was at the school. Education Review Office, report of 13 August 2014

We draw no line between these. Each was counted for its own report, years apart, by a different review team, and a roll moves between reviews for reasons none of these figures record — so the difference between any two of them measures nothing.

What ERO wrote in its latest report

This is ERO’s report of 27 February 2025 — “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 Joseph’s Māori Girls’ College provides education for young women in Years 7 to 13, underpinned by both Māori and Catholic spiritual and cultural values. A new principal was appointed at the end of 2024.

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

Aspirations staff have for the achievement of learners results in consistently high levels of senior student attainment.

Almost all learners achieve the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) in Levels 1 to 2; in 2023 all Year 13 students achieved NCEA Level 3 and University Entrance.

In Years 7 to 10, a large majority of learners progress and achieve at expected curriculum levels in mathematics and a small majority of learners achieve at expected curriculum levels in literacy; the use of progress and achievement data to inform teaching and learning is an area for further development.

Learners express a strong sense of belonging and have a deep respect for the heritage of the school; wellbeing data is yet to be regularly collected by the school.

The school is not yet meeting the Government’s targets for regular attendance; school leaders are taking steps to analyse attendance data to inform strategies to improve attendance levels.

Conditions to support learner success

Leadership sets and pursues a small number of improvement targets focused on high levels of academic achievement.

Leaders have established expectations for an orderly environment, and these are explicit for students in learning and behaviour; this supports high levels of academic achievement for most students.

Leaders are working towards developing coherent schoolwide practices that have learner aspirations and wellbeing at the centre of all decision-making.

School leaders are establishing a robust professional growth cycle to develop staff practice and capability in providing pathways of learning so that all learners are successful.

The school is working towards providing a curriculum that is responsive to the strengths, needs and aspirations of all learners.

Learners learn in an environment that supports them to enjoy educational success as Māori , through schoolwide practices informed and shaped by te ao Māori and te ao Katorika .

Leadership and staff are working towards a cohesive curriculum, with focus on literacy and mathematics, to support all learners in Years 7 to 10 achieve in these foundational learning areas.

Leaders are taking steps to establish educationally focused relationships with other education providers and community groups, to broaden the curriculum and provide learners with a greater range of learning pathways and opportunities.

Most conditions that underpin successful educational outcomes are established and continue to be further strengthened.

Leaders and teachers regularly work collectively to identify those learners who are not progressing as expected and to identify strategies to support their progress.

The school has systems and processes for the collection of schoolwide achievement data to inform teacher planning; a key next step is growing staff use of data.

School leaders are developing evaluation capability to support staff to improve and adapt their practice, so they can further address learner strengths, needs and aspirations.

The school board is taking some steps to fully understand its roles and responsibilities with focus on learner outcomes.

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to:

closely analyse and identify and use strategies to improve students’ rates of regular attendance

provide professional development in high quality teaching practices for all staff, to support learner wellbeing, engagement and achievement more effectively

ensure more consistent assessment and moderation practices in Years 7 to 10; strengthen data analysis capability so that teaching responds to the needs of each learner, particularly those at risk of underachievement

develop and implement a coherent, engaging schoolwide curriculum, informed by community aspirations, that addresses the breadth and depth of The New Zealand Curriculum

have the board develop their understandings and knowledge of stewardship to effectively govern the school and represent the school community.

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

Within six months:

senior leaders evaluate the effectiveness of the current school curriculum and teaching practices to know the impact on student wellbeing, engagement, progress and achievement

gather learner voice relating to their wellbeing, attendance and engagement with learning, to inform schoolwide planning and initiatives

review assessment and moderation practices across Years 7 to 10 and establish clear expectations for teacher consistency; guidance should include regular tracking and monitoring of learner progress and wellbeing through well analysed data

school board undertake training to consolidate knowledge of their roles and responsibilities and review processes

Within a year:

systems and processes are in place that accelerate progress for learners with additional needs

a robust professional growth cycle is in place to support staff understand the impact of their practice on outcomes for all learners

explore and develop, in collaboration with the wider school community, a Graduate Profile that clearly supports the academic, social and personal development of each student as they move through the school

a cycle of evaluation is in place to support the board to understand the impact of their operational practice on learner outcomes

Every six months:

through the professional growth cycle, leaders and teachers engage in critical discussion about the impact of their practices on learner progress and wellbeing, adapting practice and programmes accordingly

staff collect and rigorously analyse schoolwide progress and wellbeing data to understand the impact of teaching practice and programmes on learner outcomes and to inform ongoing planning

analysed learner wellbeing, achievement and attendance data is reported to the school board and scrutinised to inform decisions about the resourcing for teaching and learning

Annually:

whānau and learner voice are collected as part of schoolwide evaluation to inform improvement actions

the school board and staff rigorously analyse and scrutinise schoolwide attendance, achievement, progress and wellbeing data to inform decision making for the next school year

the school board follows a process of self-evaluation to ensure the effectiveness of its own performance.

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

all students attending school regularly

all students progressing and achieving well, with a strong sense of wellbeing

teachers consistently planning and teaching to meet the individual needs and pathways of all students

embedded internal evaluation practice with focus on learners and improving their outcomes

leaders, staff, whānau , learners, and wider community members collectively and collaboratively making decisions about the design and evaluation of a school curriculum that meets their aspirations and results in excellent outcomes for all learners.

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

27 February 2025

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 →