EDUCATION REVIEW OFFICETo the Parents and Community of Liberton Christian SchoolThis supplementary review evaluates the quality of education received by students and the performance of the Board of Trustees in relation to specific terms of reference. The Education Review Office [ERO] evaluation of Liberton Christian School follows. The June 2003 ERO report indicated that the board and principal of Liberton Christian School had worked hard to meet the requirements for improvement that were identified in the June 2002 Education Review report. The areas still to be addressed were curriculum management and review, Mäori education, performance management and student safety. Since the June 2003 review, the teachers and the principal have developed curriculum guidelines for English. These guidelines support teachers with their planning, delivery and assessment, recording and evaluation of English programmes and ensure consistency of practices across the school. Teachers now need to develop learning intentions and further refine guidelines in the other essential learning areas. When these statements are completed, teachers will be in a better position to know how well students are achieving in all the essential learning areas and the principal will have more valid and reliable student achievement information on which to base her reports to the board. The board has provided further support for the principal in her leadership role. They have allocated her extra non-teaching hours so that she has more time to focus on school improvement. The principal has accessed a number of external support personnel to assist her in completing the improvements required by the board and in meeting the ERO recommendations from the previous report. The board has started to extend the performance management system. The board employed a local principal to appraise the performance of their principal. The principal and teachers appraisal reports for 2003 were positive and affirming but did not identify areas for development. This process now needs to be strengthened so that, in line with the board’s policy, it clearly shows areas for development. The board has successfully consulted with its Maori community and addressed the student safety concern. Future ActionERO is confident that the board of trustees can manage the school in the interests of the students and the Crown and bring about the improvements outlined in this report. ERO will review the school again as part of the regular review cycle. When ERO has reviewed a school we encourage boards to inform their community of any follow-up action they plan to do. You should talk to the board or principal if you have any questions about this evaluation, the full ERO report or their future intentions. If you would like a copy of the full report, please contact the school or see the ERO website, http://www.ero.govt.nz. Isabell Sinclair Irwin May 2004 Back to Main Page |