Mountain View School

Mountain View School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

 Background

This Profile Report was written within 9 months of the Education Review Office and Mountain View 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

Mountain View School | Te Kura Tirohanga Maunga is in Māngere Bridge and nestled at the base of Te Pane o Mataaoho (Māngere Mountain). The school provides education for tamariki in Years 0 to 6 who come from diverse backgrounds and a range of local suburbs. Most tamariki who attend the school identify as Māori and/or Pacific. 

The leadership team are working with the school community to manage the growing school roll and evolving demographic. 

Mountain View School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • Marautanga me Whakaako | Curriculum and Practice – Relevant, real, responsive curriculum taught by effective, research driven teachers.
  • Whanaungatanga | Community – Rich relationships based on partnership, participation and protection.
  • Ahurea Tuakiri | Diversity, Identity and Culture – Recognising the value in all and ensuring success through any means possible.
  • Taaria te Waa me Kaitiakitanga | Continuity and Potential – Systems and processes that ensure long term sustainable success.
  • Hauora | Wellbeing – Promoting physical, spiritual, mental and emotional health. 

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well a holistic approach to student wellbeing and learning accelerates achievement outcomes for tamariki. 

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to ensure the continued focus on raising and accelerating achievement for all tamariki. This is a key aspect of a school-wide approach to improving valued outcomes for tamariki and supporting them to thrive with confidence. 

Through the school-wide holistic approach to meeting the needs of tamariki, the school expects to see:

  • tamariki experiencing a learning environment which continually improves and responds to their needs, aspirations, cultures, languages and identities
  • accelerated progress in the foundation areas of literacy and numeracy
  • teachers consistently using effective strategies and practices to promote equitable and excellent outcomes for all tamariki
  • further opportunities to enhance tamariki agency and access to a broad and meaningful curriculum 
  • school-wide leadership of teaching and learning that is well established and focused on continuous improvement. 

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how well they accelerate outcomes for tamariki:

  • the school’s values of honesty, humility, determination, respect, kindness and courage underpin school systems and processes
  • teaching is characterised by respect, inclusion, responsiveness, empathy and safety to support learning and accelerated progress
  • school leaders’ model and ensure a continuously improving, culturally responsive approach based on relational trust across the school community
  • community collaboration is well established and developing into learning centred relationships and partnerships
  • the school has the collective capacity to do and use evaluation for improvement and innovation with a clear focus on equitable and excellent outcomes for tamariki

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will continue to prioritise:

  • the development of a shared understanding of achievement at Mountain View School | Te Kura Tirohanga Maunga across all stakeholders
  • engaging in professional learning related to accelerating progress and achievement for tamariki 
  • building a school culture that aligns with the values and aspirations of the community. 

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

25 January 2024 

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

Mountain View School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2023 to 2026

As of October 2023, the Mountain View 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 the Mountain View 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

25 January 2024 

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

Mountain View School - 18/12/2017

School Context

Mountain View School in Mangere, caters for students in Years 1 to 6. Māori learners make up 18 percent of the roll and 74 percent have Pacific heritage, Tongan and Samoan being the largest Pacific groups.

The school’s vision that ‘the eyes of the children are the visions of the future’ underpins its belief that students as future leaders, will be confident, creative and divergent thinkers who love learning. The school values of aroha, whanaungatanga and manaakitanga promote identity and culture as a basis for individual learning. Respect for others is a shared expectation. The school environment promotes educationally powerful relationships and connects teachers, students and parents/whānau to the school’s educational vision and purpose.

Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:

  • progress towards achievement in reading, writing and mathematics
  • targeted students’ accelerated progress
  • wellbeing and pastoral care.

Since the 2014 ERO report, school leadership and the board have remained stable. School leaders have a strategic approach to appointing teachers and staff who are culturally responsive and reflect the school’s diverse community.

Evaluation Findings

1 Equity and excellence – valued outcomes for students

1.1 How well is the school achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for all its students?

The school is very effective in achieving equitable outcomes for all of its students.

School achievement information shows that most students achieve very well in reading, writing and mathematics. These results have been on an upward trajectory since the 2014 ERO report.

Māori students achieve at comparable rates to other students in the school. Currently there is no significant disparity in achievement outcomes. Data show that a cohort of boys, who needed to accelerate their progress in reading and writing, has made significant gains over the past three years.

Students achieve very well in relation to other school valued outcomes. Most students:

  • appreciate cultural diversity and show respect for themselves and others
  • demonstrate confident leadership skills
  • are highly engaged critical thinkers and creative learners
  • value participating in a wide range of learning experiences.

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

The school responds very effectively to Māori, Pacific and other students whose learning and achievement need acceleration. Approximately 10 percent of students are targeted through personalised acceleration strategies, in either reading, writing or mathematics. There is evidence that these students consistently have success in their learning progress. They generally accelerate to expected levels within a 12 month period.

Teachers use robust monitoring and tracking systems to ensure that additional, relevant support is made available for learners to make more progress when needed. As a result, targeted students feel more confident as learners, and this enhances their sense of wellbeing and self-worth.

2 School conditions for equity and excellence

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

School leadership is very effective. Leaders ensure that school initiatives are consistently aligned with priorities that enable equity and excellence. The vision for high quality teaching and learning in the school’s charter is now well embedded. Senior leaders actively model best teaching practice within whānau teams.

Trustees and leaders ensure that the school’s curriculum is culturally responsive and promotes equity through the provision of:

  • a culturally diverse teaching staff who understand the significance of students’ identity, language and culture as a basis for successful, authentic learning
  • effective engagement with both Māori and Pacific whānau to support children’s education at school and in the home, and maximise positive connections to learning
  • a highly responsive school learning environment that promotes rich connections to students’ cultural backgrounds, individual journeys and educational choices.

There is a culture of high expectations for all students to learn and succeed, and also to help others. There are many opportunities in composite classes for students to demonstrate tuakana/teina relationships, learning from and caring for one another. They take responsibility and build capability in a variety of learning contexts. This culture fosters collaborative ways of learning that stimulate and challenge children to be more critical, creative and innovative in their approaches to learning.

The school’s leadership team has focused on, and established effective and successful partnerships with, local and global communities. These networks maximise opportunities for children that support equitable and excellent outcomes. Trustees share a strong commitment to the school’s goals for high levels of student achievement.

2.2 What further developments are needed in school processes and practices for achievement of equity and excellence?

Leaders and teachers continue to focus on sustaining and building on current very good practices that support the achievement of equity and excellence. Ongoing developments include:

  • enhancing high quality teaching practices and bicultural approaches to maximise educational opportunities and outcomes for children
  • exploring further innovative and creative approaches to learning that promote the engagement of all students.

3 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
  • finance
  • 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.

4 Going forward

Key strengths of the school

For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:

  • a culturally responsive learning environment that affirms students’ diverse languages, cultures, and identities as a foundation for effective learning
  • a learning culture that is collectively shared and enriched by students, leaders, teachers, whānau and the community.

Next steps

For sustained improvement and future learner success, development priorities are in continuing to develop new practices that enhance student-led innovation and creativity in learning.

ERO’s next external evaluation process and timing

ERO is likely to carry out the next external evaluation in four-to-five years.

Graham Randell

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern

Te Tai Raki - Northern Region

18 December 2017

About the school

LocationAuckland
Ministry of Education profile number1380
School typeContributing
School roll295
Gender compositionGirls 46% Boys 54%
Ethnic compositionMāori 18% 
Tongan 31%
Samoan 25%
Cook Island Māori 15%
Niuean 3%
other Pacific 2%
other 6%
Provision of Māori medium educationNo
Review team on siteNovember 2017
Date of this report18 December 2017
Most recent ERO report(s)Education Review September 2014
Education Review September 2011
Education Review December 2008