Mt Pleasant School

Education institution number:
3443
School type:
Full Primary
School gender:
Co-Educational
Definition:
Not Applicable
Total roll:
335
Telephone:
Address:

82 Major Hornbrook Road, Mt Pleasant, Christchurch

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Mt Pleasant School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within sixteen months of the Education Review Office and Mt Pleasant School 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 Pleasant School is located in northeast Christchurch. It provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. The school is fully authorised to implement the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme alongside the New Zealand Curriculum. This supports the school’s vision to ‘Unlock the MAGIC in every child through nurturing, enriching and inspiring’. A new principal was appointed in 2022.

Mt Pleasant School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

  • nurture wellbeing by; ensuring ākonga feel safe and included, utilising the natural play environment and fostering a positive community culture

  • strengthen collective efficacy among teachers in order to have consistently strong practices and outcomes for all learners

  • develop digital capabilities of all learners to become designers, creators and innovators

  • implement the Aotearoa New Zealand histories curriculum connecting it with the Te Kura o Paeraki | Mt Pleasant cultural narrative.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Mt Pleasant School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively kaiako collaborate together to raise student literacy learning outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

  • support increased achievement in writing, particularly for students in Years 5 and 7

  • ensure consistency of understanding and practice in literacy teaching and learning

  • strengthen moderation processes to support alignment across the school.

The school expects to see:

  • shared understanding and implementation of best practice literacy teaching
  • consistent, regularly planned moderation practices across all teams
  • improved progress and achievement for identified groups within Years 5 and 7.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal of knowing how effectively kaiako collaborate to raise student literacy learning outcomes.

  • A strong learning culture and relationships with kaiako and ākonga.

  • Positive student learning and engagement that is supported through high quality teaching strategies and programmes.

  • High expectations of kaiako for successful learning outcomes for all students.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • embedding effective literacy practices across the school to ensure high expectations are consistently met

  • strengthening school-wide moderation practices to provide aligned teacher judgements of student achievement.

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

19 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

Mt Pleasant School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of February 2023, the Mt Pleasant School, 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 Pleasant School, 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

19 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

Mt Pleasant School - 01/12/2017

Summary

Mt Pleasant School has a roll of 371 students, including 23 Māori students.

Since the 2012 ERO review, the school has maintained high levels of achievement in literacy and numeracy. The next steps identified in the 2012 report have been addressed. Those where further work needs to be done are identified as next steps within this report.

Over the past four years, the school has undertaken a comprehensive application process and has recently been authorised to offer the Primary Year Programme (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate.

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

The school is very effectively responding to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated.

The school has high-quality processes and practices in the areas of curriculum, leadership, stewardship, and relationships with parents, whānau and the community.

Students learn, achieve and progress within broad and rich curriculum programmes. The school and community are engaged in reciprocal learning-centred relationships.

Effective leadership builds relational trust, participation and collaboration across the school and beyond. The board focuses on the effectiveness of the school in achieving valued student outcomes.

School leaders and teachers need to continue to develop culturally responsive approaches to teaching and learning.

At the time of this review, high levels of achievement in numeracy and literacy had been sustained for the past three years.

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

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

Equity and excellence

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

The school is very effectively responding to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need to be accelerated.

There are high levels of engagement, progress and achievement. In the past three years most students have been at or above the National Standards in numeracy and literacy. In 2016, boys and Māori students achieved well in reading and girls achieved very well. In writing, the disparity for boys achieving at or above the National Standard has been gradually reducing overtime. Most children achieve well in mathematics.

Teachers work within teams and across teams to make sure that their achievement judgments are robust. They have undertaken some moderation with local schools. Further cross-school moderation is likely to be an outcome of the school recently joining a Kāhui Āko|Community of Learning (CoL).

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

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

The school has high-quality processes and practices in the areas of curriculum, leadership, stewardship, and relationships with parents, whānau and the community.

Children learn, achieve and progress within broad and rich curriculum programmes. The integrated themes across learning areas of the Primary Years Programme (PYP) provide meaningful contexts for learning. The learner profile and attitudes of the PYP provide prompts for teachers to take into account each child's strengths. This is assisting teachers to achieve its mission of developing creative and inquiring individuals.

Children benefit from the staffs collective responsibility for monitoring achievement and accelerating the progress of those who need it. Teachers analyse their own class data and work with their team members to determine the best ways of improving achievement. They are well supported by teacher aides and others who work with individual children and small groups. Senior leaders celebrate when children make accelerated progress.

Effective leadership builds relational trust, participation and collaboration across the school. The structure provides leadership opportunities for many staff. The development and introduction of the PYP over several years has given many opportunities for teachers to work collaboratively. This has resulted in high levels of consistency in approaches to teaching and learning across the school.

The school and community are engaged in reciprocal learning-centred relationships. Parents are welcomed into the school. They have opportunities to meet and talk with teachers in informal settings, twice-yearly conferences and consultation meetings. The community strongly supports, and is well supported by the school.

The board is focused on the effectiveness of the school in achieving valued student outcomes. Student progress and achievement is a focus of every board meeting. Trustees are well informed about this on a regular basis. They monitor and analyse their health and safety responsibilities using an effective electronic system.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

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

The process of individual teachers inquiring into their practice is in the early stages of development. School leaders need to be planning for how they will evaluate the impact of recent curriculum initiatives.

It would be timely for school leaders to continue to evaluate the PYP programme to ensure sustainability of systems and processes.

School leaders need to continue to develop their culturally responsive approach to teaching and learning. This includes increasing the visibility of biculturalism within the curriculum and wider school environment.

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?

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

Agreed next steps are for leaders to:

  • continue refining evaluation and inquiry activities into school plans and actions

  • further develop culturally responsive approaches to teaching and learning.

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

Dr Lesley Patterson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Southern (Te Waipounamu)

1 December 2017

About the school

Location

Christchurch

Ministry of Education profile number

3443

School type

Full primary

School roll

371

Gender composition

Girls 52%

Boys 48%

Ethnic composition

NZ European/Pākehā 92%

Māori 6%

Pacific 2%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

June 2017

Date of this report

1 December 2017

Most recent ERO reports

Education Review December 2012

Education Review May 2009

Education Review June 2005

Mt Pleasant School - 17/12/2012

1 Context

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

Mount Pleasant School is a focus for community activities in its suburban Christchurch hillside location. The community around the school was significantly affected by the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes and the school grounds provided a safe area where families were able to support each other.

There is a positive and supportive school culture in which students feel safe. Parents are warmly welcomed at the school. They are well informed about their children’s learning and school activities. The school strongly promotes parent involvement in goal setting and in actively supporting their children’s learning.

Mount Pleasant School is involved in collaborative partnership arrangements with other local schools. They share practice, moderate assessments and each year plan learning events that students can participate in together.

2 Learning

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

A high number of students at Mount Pleasant School achieve at or above National Standards in reading, writing and mathematics. This high level of achievement is also evident for Māori students.

ERO observed high levels of student engagement in learning activities. Students spoken with were very positive about their learning programmes and their relationships with teachers.

Students engage well in learning with some very good standards of teaching. Teachers have taken useful steps to further improve their judgements of student achievement in relation to National Standards through moderation processes with staff of other schools. Student achievement targets now more clearly identify groups of students whose progress needs to be accelerated. Interventions to support these students with their learning are implemented in inclusive ways.

Student learning programmes in the junior area of the school give priority to developing literacy and numeracy skills. Teachers in these classes are improving their use of assessment information to closely monitor student learning, identify needs and adapt their teaching.

The next steps for the senior leaders and teachers are to:

  • review the effectiveness of interventions for targeted groups of students who require additional support with their learning
  • further strengthen the analysis and reporting of student achievement information,
  • strengthen performance appraisal by including student progress against achievement targets in the appraisal process.

3 Curriculum

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

Since the January 2009 ERO review the board and staff have developed the curriculum to include a strong focus on the school’s vision, values and competencies that guide students’ learning and social interactions. These are well understood by students who can clearly explain their purpose.

Guidelines for teachers' planning have also been extended to cover all learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum. These provide an effective basis for teachers’ planning of integrated units of work that make links across curriculum areas to add meaning and enrich students’ learning experiences. A useful procedure has been developed for assessing student progress in developing key competencies.

Implementation of a comprehensive information and communication technologies (ICT) development plan has begun. In 2012 the focus is on upgrading of equipment and infrastructure. Teachers identified that they now need more professional learning so that they are better able to support students in the effective and efficient use of ICT tools for learning.

Next steps for trustees, senior leaders and teachers are to:

  • further explore opportunities to integrate learning areas, extend student skills and opportunities for inquiry learning, and foster student directed learning within the New Zealand Curriculum
  • increase the visibility of bicultural values and strategies that teachers use that reflect New Zealand’s bicultural heritage
  • develop guidelines that reflect teachers’ shared understanding of school wide beliefs and practices for effective teaching.
How effectively does the school promote educational success for Māori, as Māori?

The school monitors Māori student progress and achievement and reports that most Māori students achieve at or above National Standards.

Teachers should now continue to develop their cultural competencies and bicultural perspectives in programmes and in the environment of the school.

4 Sustainable Performance

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

The school is well placed to sustain and improve its performance.

The board has a comprehensive programme of self review that covers curriculum and the school’s operation. This is implemented in a well structured manner and provides useful information for the board to use in decision-making. This process could be further strengthened by more consistent use of measurable targets, particularly in relation to planned improvements for students.

Strong supportive relationships exist between trustees and school staff. Trustees collaborate as a team and are committed to supporting the school and improving outcomes for students. The board uses a number of effective strategies to gain parent views on directions the school should take.

The senior leaders work effectively together focusing on improving learning outcomes for students. They provide opportunities and support for teachers to take on leadership roles. The leadership team has effectively lead the development of a positive, collaborative and inclusive school culture.

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.

Graham Randell

National Manager Review Services Southern Region

17 December 2012

About the School

Location

Christchurch

Ministry of Education profile number

3443

School type

Full Primary (Years 1 to 8)

School roll

341

Gender composition

Boys 51% Girls 49%

Ethnic composition

NZ European/ Pākehā

Māori

Asian

Other Ethnicities

85%

4%

1%

10%

Review team on site

October 2012

Date of this report

17 December 2012

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review

Education Review

Education Review

May 2009

June 2005

June 2002