Marist School (Mt Albert)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 14 months of the Education Review Office and Marist School (Mt Albert) working in Te Ara Huarau (impacted by Covid lockdowns), 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

Marist School is a Catholic state integrated, culturally diverse school located in Mt Albert, Auckland. The school was established in 1927 by the Marist Sisters. Marist School works within an ILE (Innovative Learning Environment) and is a school for children in years 1 to 6.

The strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• Whānaungatanga: to grow a strong sense of belonging for all learners and our Marist whānau striving for excellence in wellbeing.
• Ako: deliver an engaging and innovative curriculum that empowers faith-filled, confident, and creative learners with a focus on excellence and equity in teaching and learning.
• Whenuatanga: provide all ākonga with high quality facilities that promote engaging and innovative learning opportunities through a future focused localised culturally responsive curriculum.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of a continued focus on belonging and wellbeing across the school’s local curriculum to ensure equitable and excellent outcomes for all ākonga | learners.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• the school continues to develop a local curriculum with learners and equity at the centre
• to recognise and meet the needs of changing cultural diversity through inclusive practice
• to support whānau engagement in any innovation or curriculum development
• a focus on sustained, highly effective programmes for academic success for all learners. 

The school expects to see:

• a culturally responsive localised curriculum that ensures equity and excellence
• high quality teaching and learning practices embedded within a robust inquiry model
• a responsive approach to gathering and analysing data that ensures progress and achievement for all learners.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to evaluate the effectiveness of a continued focus on belonging and wellbeing across the school’s local curriculum.

• a committed professional staff and learning community who promote a positive learning culture
• engaged whānau and community who actively support the school
• embedded Catholic school values and a rich history that supports a sense of belonging
• effective academic and pastoral care that supports the wellbeing of all learners.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• collaborative practice, including reviewing student achievement information to identify, plan for and support for learners
• effective targeted professional learning and development for teachers to support the implementation of the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum and Digital Curriculum
• continued effective academic and pastoral care support for all learners to ensure equity and excellence.

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.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

25 November 2022 

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