Mt Cook School (Wellington)

Education institution number:
2918
School type:
Full Primary
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
241
Telephone:
Address:

160 Tory Street, Wellington

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Mt Cook School (Wellington)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and Mt Cook School (Wellington) 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 

Mt Cook School (Wellington)’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • Equity: to achieve academic equity for Māori and Pacifica learners. To achieve academic equity for students with English as a second language. Achieve academic equity for students with learning needs.

  • Identity: to understand and celebrate students for who they are, where they come from and the communities they are part of, enabling them to confidently take their place in the world. Tamariki well-being is central to all decisions.

  • Living Curriculum: To create a positive, healthy, connected and inclusive climate for learning, that develops engaged resourcefulness and lifelong learners. Develop a curriculum that celebrates Te Ao Māori and the histories of Aotearoa that is reflective of our rich multicultural community.

  • Lead Learning Capability: To provide high quality delivery of teaching and learning by actively role modelling lifelong learning. Ensure that the wellbeing of staff is fully supported by leadership.

Mt Cook School (Wellington) is undergoing a review of its Strategic Plan and Annual Plan. You can find a copy of the school’s draft strategic and annual plan on Mt Cook School (Wellington)’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the maths programme meets the needs of learners and accelerates their progress in mathematics.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

  • the school wants all learners from a range of cultures to experience excellent maths teaching that meets their needs and provides enjoyment, challenge and confidence

  • that while aspects of the curriculum have been reshaped and strengthened, leaders and teachers agree that it is timely to review the schoolwide maths programme

  • that it will support the alignment of systems and processes, strengthen curriculum delivery and lift the achievement of all learners.

The school expects to see the achievement of all priority learners accelerated through the alignment and cohesion of systems and processes, the building of culturally responsive practices, the development of consistent classroom practice and strengthened learning partnerships with whānau.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate how effectively the maths programme meets the needs of learners and accelerates their progress in mathematics.

  • Mt Cook staff has a strong learning culture and is committed to building knowledge and strengthening teaching practice to improve student outcomes in maths.

  • Mt Cook School is committed to tracking achievement data and evidence-informed inquiry to understand how well students’ achievement in maths is accelerated.

  • Mt Cook School highly values its community’s diversity and strengths, and always prioritises pastoral care to ensure high engagement in learning for all students.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • the provision of appropriate professional learning opportunities in maths that promote changes in teacher practice and student outcomes

  • the development of clearly aligned and well understood ‘Mt Cook School Expectations’ for the teaching of mathematics across the school

  • the use of the new school management system to track, monitor and evaluate maths data and the impact of changed teacher practice.

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

8 May 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

Mt Cook School (Wellington)

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of November 2022, the Mt Cook School (Wellington), School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Further Information

For further information please contact Mt Cook School (Wellington), School Board.

The next School Board assurance that it is meeting regulatory and legislative requirements will be reported, along with the Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report, within three years.

Information on ERO’s role and process in this review can be found on the Education Review Office website.

Shelley Booysen
Director of Schools

8 May 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

Mt Cook School (Wellington) - 30/05/2017

Summary

Mt Cook School is a multi-culturally diverse school, located in Wellington’s inner city.

At the time of this ERO review, 260 Years 1 to 8 students from 35 ethnic groups attended the school. About half of all learners are from families whose first language is not English. Many are new migrants to New Zealand and emergent English Language Learners. Māori children make up 12% of the school roll, and 9% are Pacific.

The school has participated in professional learning and development in a range of areas, including a national writing project at Years 5 to 8, learning through play and mathematics.

Since the June 2014 ERO report, leaders have used findings from internal evaluation and inquiry to build knowledge to inform and drive school improvement. Teachers respond positively to schoolwide development to continue enhancing outcomes for children.   

How well is the school achieving equitable outcomes for all children?

The school responds very well to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Many children enter the school with limited or no English language. As a result of timely and well-targeted support, they make very good progress as they advance through their schooling.

At the time of this ERO review, approximately 70% of all learners were achieving at or above in relation to National Standards in reading and mathematics. The percentage overall for writing was lower at 58%.

Achievement for Māori learners has improved over time and the percentages achieving at or above in relation to National Standards equates to all in the school. Achieving equity with Pākehā learners remains a school priority. Pacific children are a group that the board, leaders and staff are focused on to accelerate progress. In 2016, many children accelerated their learning as a result of targeted action in writing.

A localised and authentic curriculum provides a firm foundation for student success. Children learn in a highly inclusive, supportive school community, where shared values are strongly expressed in action. Individual achievement and wellbeing is given priority.

The principal’s and senior leaders’ approach to curriculum development and schoolwide improvement is well considered. Collaborative practice and relational trust is built through deliberate approaches to generating new learning together. 

Stronger alignment of school processes to focus on the groups of learners most at risk of not achieving equitable outcomes is the next key development. Further development of the appraisal process, teacher inquiry, and internal evaluation should support school leaders to transfer successful practices and monitor how effectively new initiatives are accelerating progress for these children.

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.

Equity and excellence

How effectively does this school respond to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

The school responds well to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. It is continuing to strengthen its effectiveness in this area.

Many children enter the school with limited or no English language. As a result of timely and well targeted support, they make very good progress as they advance through their schooling.

At the time of this ERO review, approximately 70% of all children were achieving at or above in relation to National Standards in reading and mathematics. The percentage overall for writing was lower at 58%.

Achievement for Māori learners has improved over time and the percentages achieving at or above in relation to National Standards equates to that overall. Achieving equity with Pākehā learners remains a school priority. Pacific learners are a group that board, leaders and staff are targeting to accelerate progress. Significant disparity exists for this group, with most children English Language learners.

In 2016, a group of Māori and Pacific children in Years 4 to 8 were part of a special programme of targeted support in writing. All of these learners made progress and some accelerated their progress as a result of teachers’ actions.

The school articulates a clear vision and a wide range of valued outcomes in the school charter. Learning, personal and social competencies are well defined, with frameworks and tools available for children to measure their development.

A good range of assessment information is used to make teacher judgements about achievement and progress. Moderation processes are sound, and include both internal and external collaborative critique. This practice contributes well to the dependability of National Standards data.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

What school processes are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?

A localised and authentic curriculum provides a firm foundation for student success. Children learn in a highly inclusive school community, where stated values are strongly expressed in action. Each child’s unique character, strengths, culture and needs are recognised and valued.

Children’s wellbeing is a high priority. Staff respond to parent and student ideas, to develop partnerships for learning. Teachers build children’s confidence and resilience.  

Staff follow very useful processes to gather information about children’s ongoing needs. This information is shared between classes and with senior leaders. Teachers regularly examine data together to look for trends and patterns in student achievement and progress, and to share and develop teaching practices.

English language learners (ELL) are well supported through effective transition processes and tailored language programmes. Frequent communication between the ELL teacher and classroom teachers features the sharing of knowledge and successful strategies for learning.

Supportive leaders are committed to improving learning and teaching. They build collaborative practice and relational trust through their deliberate approach to generating new learning together. This has been a key feature of curriculum development over time at the school. Professional development is a useful process.

In 2016, staff deliberately sought to strengthen the curriculum and teaching for Pacific learners through feedback, research and professional development. Building effective learning partnerships with families is a key focus.

Māori children experience a learning environment where their cultural identity is celebrated and they have opportunities to use their language and show leadership. Teachers continue to develop culturally responsive practices. They place emphasis on the importance of care and reciprocal relationships and have explored key documents such as Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners in relation to their teaching practice.

The writing initiative has supported improved teacher practice in using data more diagnostically for individual learners. This is well used to inform specific teaching actions for individuals and to consider new curriculum approaches.

The inquiry and reflective journaling, undertaken by teachers in the writing project, is providing more depth of knowledge about: learner needs; and teachers’ learning about what is successful practice for the engagement and progress of learners most at risk of not achieving.

The principal and senior leaders have a planned approach to schoolwide improvement. Curriculum development initiatives are well considered. These are based on the intent to improve student achievement and build teaching capability.

Thorough research is undertaken to establish shared understanding of best practice and collaboratively explore this before implementation. External expertise is sought and new programmes are strategically trialled and deliberately reviewed before expanding the numbers of teachers and children involved in the programme. 

The school actively engages families to support children's learning. Trustees work to promote the aspirations of their community. They seek opportunities to build understanding of their roles and responsibilities.

Internal evaluation is an established process. Leaders collect a wide range of information to examine what needs improvement. Teacher, student and parent voice, external research and school data all contribute to collaborative sense-making and decisions for change. 

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

What further developments are needed in school processes to achieve equity and excellence?

Aligning school processes to focus on the groups of learners most at risk of not achieving equitable outcomes is the next key development. In 2017, the school strengthened its target setting to concentrate more closely on particular Māori and Pacific children at risk of not achieving.

The refined and more specific targets should allow the school to evaluate more regularly and easily whether these particular children are accelerating their progress as a result of targeted actions.

New curriculum initiatives in play-based learning and mathematics are being trialled and extended. Developing further clarity about expected teaching practice, and resulting outcomes for learners, is an important next step. The new approaches should help children to know more about their achievement and next learning steps.

The appraisal system has been strengthened. More rigorous implementation is now required, with constructive feedback and more formalised observations. Inquiry processes are beginning to contribute to the growth of teachers’ professional practice. The developing processes of appraisal and teacher inquiry should support more deliberate transfer and monitoring of successful practices emerging from the writing initiative, to become expected teacher practice schoolwide.

Expanding the investigative phase of internal evaluation to include more systematic review of teaching quality, and strengthening evaluation and monitoring of outcomes for learners, are next steps.

Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review, the board and principal of the school completed the ERO board assurance statement and self-audit checklists. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legislative obligations related to the following:

  • board administration
  • curriculum
  • management of health, safety and welfare
  • personnel management
  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
  • physical safety of students
  • teacher registration and certification
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand down, suspension, expulsion and exclusion of students
  • attendance
  • school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

Going forward

How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?

The school demonstrates strong progress toward achieving equity in educational outcomes, supported by effective, sustainable processes and practices.

Agreed next steps are to:

  • strengthen appraisal, teacher inquiry and internal evaluation
  • continue to align school processes to more clearly focus on groups of learners at risk of not achieving.

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years. 

Patricia Davey
Deputy Chief Review Officer Central (Acting)

30 May 2017

About the school

Location

Wellington

Ministry of Education profile number

2918

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

260

Gender composition

Female, 50%      Male, 50%

Ethnic composition

Māori; 12%
Pākehā; 28%
Indian; 13%
Pacific; 9%
Chinese; 9%
African; 7%
Other Asian; 12%
Other ethnic groups; 10%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

April 2017

Date of this report

30 May 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review; June 2014
Education Review; May 2011
Education Review; December 2007

Mt Cook School (Wellington) - 10/06/2014

1 Context

What are the important features of this school that have an impact on student learning?

Mt Cook School (Wellington) is a full primary, inner city school in Wellington. It currently has a roll of 207 students from 25 different ethnic groups. Thirty seven percent of students, including many Pacific students, speak English as a second language.

A positive, inclusive school culture and the school’s values of excellence, respect, friendship and integrity are clearly evident in the daily life of the school.

Teachers make good use of the inner city environment, enabling students to access a wide range of learning experiences. A new school hall, an additional classroom and the refurbishment of the school library have all enhanced curriculum delivery.

2 Learning

How well does this school use achievement information to make positive changes to learners’ engagement, progress and achievement?

Teachers and school leaders use student achievement data appropriately to group students with similar needs and identify those students who are achieving below National Standards expectations. School-reported end of year achievement data for 2013 showed that approximately two thirds of students were achieving at or above the reading and mathematics National Standards. While there was an increased number of students achieving at or above the writing National Standards between 2012 and 2013, writing results are still lower than those for reading and mathematics. Writing continues to be an area of additional emphasis for teaching and learning.

Schoolwide literacy professional development for teachers is appropriately given priority and well supported by the Board of Trustees. An external facilitator works with teachers to assist them to increase their knowledge about the teaching of writing and identify useful steps for their future development. The facilitator has identified the importance of each teacher differentiating their practice to better meet the needs of students. ERO’s evaluation affirms this ongoing focus.

Student achievement information should be better used to:

  • continue to regularly monitor the progress of all underachieving students towards schoolwide student achievement targets
  • collate and analyse results and regularly report to the board of trustees, including mid-year reporting of schoolwide progress towards National Standards
  • continue to strengthen the moderation of teachers’ overall judgements in relation to the National Standards, particularly in mathematics.

3 Curriculum

How effectively does this school’s curriculum promote and support student learning?

Mt Cook School’s vision and values are an integral part of their curriculum. A well-documented vision of the qualities students will demonstrate, as a result of their years of learning at the school, guide curriculum decision making, with the values of excellence, respect, friendship and integrity. The values clearly link with teachers’ and trustees’ focus on student wellbeing and celebrate diversity in the school.

The principal, teachers and trustees are committed to promoting student wellbeing. Staff take pride in their advocacy for students and shared responsibility for their wellbeing. They use external agencies and community resources to support students and their families when needed.

There is a clear focus on students developing learning, personal and social competencies. The curriculum is responsive to students’ interests and needs. This includes opportunities for students to participate in lunchtime writing and drama clubs. There is a strong commitment to providing targeted support to English language learners.

Literacy and mathematics are appropriately emphasised and other learning areas are integrated into inquiry learning and topic studies. Teachers include inquiry learning to empower students to follow their interests and to manage their learning.

Teachers use a range of appropriate teaching strategies. Students are focused on learning and talk proudly and confidently about their work. Respectful interactions and relationships are evident across the school. Teachers know the students and their families well.

The schoolwide behaviour management programme has been revised to link with the school values and emphasises care and respect for people outside the classroom. Documenting and formalising systems for promoting and reviewing student wellbeing should further strengthen the process.

How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?

Teachers and students regularly learn te reo Māori and a new member of staff has increased the schoolwide focus on tikanga Māori. The number of students attending kapa haka has increased in 2014.

Cultural diversity is celebrated at Mt Cook School. Work will continue with the Māori community to further explore and understand what success for Māori students as Māori looks like at the school. Increasing the rate of progress and levels of achievement for those Māori students underachieving in mathematics should be a teaching priority. Teachers use of te reo Māori should increase and trustees should use Ka Hikitia: Accelerating Success 2013 - 2017 to ensure that strategic decision making and governance promotes Māori success as Māori.

4 Sustainable Performance

How well placed is the school to sustain and improve its performance?

School culture provides a strong anchor for trustees, school leaders and staff to sustain and improve performance. The principal and teachers regularly reflect on their practice and work collaboratively to make decisions about the curriculum.

The principal, senior leaders and teachers have strong partnerships with parents and the community. They regularly liaise with the diverse parent population. Reports are translated into families' first languages.

Schoolwide professional development in literacy is regular and builds teacher knowledge and practice in a sustained way.

Key next steps are to:

  • strengthen the appraisal process, by including robust feedback, to guide ongoing improvement linked to school focus areas and student achievement targets
  • continue to develop evidence-based self review with clear criteria that focus on outcomes for students.

Board assurance on legal requirements

Before the review, the board of trustees and principal of the school completed the ERO Board Assurance Statement and Self-Audit Checklists. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legislative obligations related to:

  • board administration
  • curriculum
  • management of health, safety and welfare
  • personnel management
  • financial management
  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student achievement:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)
  • physical safety of students
  • teacher registration
  • processes for appointing staff
  • stand-downs, suspensions, expulsions and exclusions
  • attendance.

When is ERO likely to review the school again?

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.

Joyce Gebbie

National Manager Review Services Central Region

10 June 2014

About the School

Location

Wellington

Ministry of Education profile number

2918

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

207

Gender composition

Male 53%, Female 47%

Ethnic composition

Māori

NZ European/Pākehā

Asian

Pacific

Other ethnic groups

14%

39%

33%

9%

5%

Special Features

Technology Centre

Host school for Resource Teachers: Literacy

Review team on site

March 2014

Date of this report

10 June 2014

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

May 2011

December 2007

May 2005