FROM THE BOARD

Kia ora, hi all

Hope everyone had a minty fresh long weekend, and it’s hard to believe there's just one more week left before the end of Term 1!

Every year school boards are required to provide an annual statement that analyses the variance between the school’s performance, and the targets set out in a school’s Strategic Plan (see p2).

Two weeks ago the Analysis of Variance was presented at the Board meeting as part of the Principal’s Report.

Before proceeding, please note a general health warning about stats being a blunt instrument with which to measure – well, anything at all – as the numbers tend to strip out cause and context, amongst other variables. However, they are useful as a starting point for discussion and what areas could benefit from more attention.

Generally, the analysis of the school’s targets (p2 of the Strategic Plan) shows that:

• Student progress in the junior school (defined as skill improvement - reading, writing and numeracy - by one or more curriculum sub-levels over the course of a year) is positive.
• There is a growing diversity of student need, which is being catered for with a number of different programmes and specialist staff.
• At both junior and senior levels, there is a positive correlation between attendance and achievement.

Interestingly, over the last four years 2020-23 the NCEA pass rates for Levels 1, 2 and 3 have remained generally consistent (within three percentage points across individual levels), and within the range 87% - 93% across all levels. The overall achievement rates for NCEA Levels 1,2 and 3 are significantly higher than the national average.

However, there is a drop in Excellence standard within Level 3 from 2021-22, and 2022-23; and some variance in the NCEA University Entrance standard rates. Both of these are areas of focus for the college.

The report includes some exceptional feedback and observations from kura staff around the statistics, their possible causes, and what remedies could be applied.

The Analysis of Variance report is published on the college website and you can read it here.

Niamh Shaw
Presiding Member, Parent

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