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