St Michael's School (Taita)

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 127 — 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. February 2017

   118

   Counted while ERO’s review team was at the school. Education Review Office, report of 27 April 2017

2. October 2013

   114

   Counted while ERO’s review team was at the school. Education Review Office, report of 14 January 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 7 June 2023 — “Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report” — section by section, under ERO’s own headings, in ERO’s own order. Nothing is summarised, shortened or reordered.

Background

This Profile Report was written within two years of the Education Review Office and St Michael’s School ( Taita ) 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. Michael’s School is an integrated catholic character school situated in Taita , Lower Hutt providing educational opportunities to students in Years 0 to 8.

St Michael’s School ( Taita )’s strategic priorities to improve outcomes for learners are:

to maintain a school culture that is inclusive, physically and emotionally safe and intentionally welcoming to all

for all students to progress and achieve in relation to their expected levels within the New Zealand Curriculum

to enhance teaching practices so that student engagement, progress and success improved for all students.

You can find a copy of the school’s charter, strategic and annual plans on St Michael’s School (Taita)’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to identify and evaluate the impact of strategies that impact positively of the engagement and achievement of students with Pacific heritage. It is looking to further integrate these into the delivery of the school’s local curriculum.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is a desire to:

raise the achievement and mana of Pacific students – over 90% identify as being of Pacific heritage and for many English is a second language

identify the teaching strategies that have resulted in a positive shift in student achievement recently

evaluate the impact of recent teacher professional development targeted at raising the achievement of students with Pacific heritage.

The school expects to see students are actively engaged in their learning, achieving educational success and who demonstrate pride in their unique identity, language and culture. It also expects to see increased integration of effective teaching strategies into classrooms and throughout the school by staff.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to effectively integrate effective teaching practices into the delivery of its local curriculum:

provision of a caring and culturally appropriate environment where the culture of all students is valued and celebrated, especially that of Pacific students

a local curriculum that is strongly aligned to the culture and wellbeing of students

leadership that brings out the strengths and builds on the potential of all

strong teacher/student relationships that are well established and support student wellbeing.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

provision of support to staff to identify teaching strategies that have most impact on Pacific students

development of a shared understanding of these effective practices among staff

the implementation of key strategies into teaching and learning programmes throughout St Michael’s School to raise attendance and achievement levels.

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.

Shelley Booysen Director of Schools

7 June 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

Read this report on ero.govt.nz →