Mount Roskill Grammar School

Mount Roskill Grammar School
Address
Frost Road,
Mt Roskill,
Auckland,
New Zealand
Coordinates 36°54′43″S 174°44′53″E / 36.911959°S 174.747945°ECoordinates: 36°54′43″S 174°44′53″E / 36.911959°S 174.747945°E
Information
Type State co-educational secondary (Year 9-13)
Motto Sursum
To the Heights
Established 1954
Ministry of Education Institution no. 74
Principal Greg Watson
School roll 2152[1] (March 2015)
Socio-economic decile 4J[2]
Website www.mrgs.school.nz

Mount Roskill Grammar School is a secondary school in the suburb of Mount Roskill, Auckland, officially opened in 1954. The school has students of over 70 different nationalities including approximately 200 International students. The school has been noted by media for its rising academic success and exceptional performance for its low socio-economic decile.[3]

Motto

In 1957 the school was granted its own board of governors and adopted the emblem of the Phoenix with the motto 'Sursum' meaning 'To the Heights'. The Phoenix was chosen for its symbolism of the pursuit of excellence and periodic renewal and revitalization.

Premises

The school has had several structural improvements, such as the construction of new buildings such as the Science Block, the Maclean Centre, T-Block, renovation of H-Block (including the Year 13 Common Room - a room with lockers, kitchen appliances, allowance of blasting out music, and recreation features dedicated to final year students), and most recently the new gymnasium and classrooms. At the end of 2009, a new Pastoral Care Centre was built and opened in 2010.[4] Rebuilding of the school's C-Block finished late 2010.

Academics

The school has a very proud academic record, with top scholarship results comparable to other higher-decile schools in Auckland, despite the fact that it is a decile 4 school. Mount Roskill Grammar School has been described by the New Zealand Herald in 2007 as the "best public school in New Zealand".[3] In 2009 Metro Magazine has also ranked MRGS as the top school in Auckland, saying "Mt Roskill is not uniquely gifted; it has to work hard to get the results it does. But it was in the top 10 for every indicator we looked at, and usually it was first or second. In general its academic results were what you would expect of a decile-9 school.".[5]

Mt Roskill Grammar School's head prefects for 2015 are Glen Lewis and Pearl Lazaro while Parneet Kohli and Mandie Galea are the Deputies.[6]

The school has 10 computer labs [7] catering for students from Year 9-13. Mount Roskill Grammar operates under a strict contract, which every student signs, so that these technologies are not abused. Mount Roskill Grammar is also one of the schools participating in the Phase 2 of the Beacon Practice from GIF Technology Education initiative.[8]

In 2013, 90.7 percent of students leaving Mount Roskill Grammar held at least NCEA Level 1, 82.5 percent held at least NCEA Level 2, and 58.3 percent held at least University Entrance. This is compared to 85.2%, 74.2%, and 49.0% respectively for all students nationally.[9]

iLearn

iLearn is an online learning centre powered by Moodle provided by Mount Roskill Grammar School for their students.[10] The material available is a mixture of videos, word documents and other miscellaneous tasks. This was launched with many technical hurdles Term 3 of 2007. iLearn has been integrated into the new school website allowing students to login using their ID and Password to obtain resources developed by a team of students for their own peers. The site was refurbished in January 2009.

The Maclean Centre

The Maclean Centre for disabled students was opened in 1977, named in honour of Mr B H Maclean, Principal from 1966-1981. The Centre moved into a new building in 2003 and the staff and students are fully involved in all areas of school life.

Extracurricular activities

Mount Roskill Grammar School offers sports, music and other extracurricular activities. Notably there are culture groups in Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Kapa haka, Tongan, Samoan, Tokelauan, Niuean and Cook Islands culture. The Indian Dance group won the 2007 Annual Bollywood Highschool Dance Competition.[11]

The Boys Chorus (Mr G's Boys Chorus) was actively involved in Barbershop Music, winning a record of 5 consecutive Auckland Regional titles in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 as well as the New Zealand National Young Singers in Harmony Championships in 2002, 2005 and 2006. The school at that time was the only school in New Zealand to have won 3 National Championships, and 2 consecutively.

Houses

As of 2015, Mount Roskill Grammar School has 5 houses which have been named after famous New Zealanders - Rutherford (Red), Ngata (Orange), Sheppard (Yellow), Hillary (Green) And Cooper (Blue). Junior students are placed into house groups through their core classes, senior students remain in the houses they were in during year 10.

Awards

Alumni

Controversy

In March 2010, Mt Roskill Grammar School appeared on the TV3 Consumer Rights program "Target" regarding the introduction of their new uniform and the three year phase-in time, a costly introduction to parents of existing students. It was met with opposition by the student body but Greg Watson, the principal, pled ignorance to the issue and has stated that he had received positive support regarding it. Watson has not informed the school if a change will be made to the way the new school uniform will be introduced.

On March 16, 2011, Campbell Live, a TV3 current affairs programme aired an interview on bullying at Mount Roskill Grammar[19] where a member of the study body had been bullied to a point that she spent "12 lessons in the Dean’s office or the administration area across a 7-day period".[20] The school since resolved the matter.[20]

References

  1. ↑ "Directory of Schools - as at 7 April 2015". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
  2. ↑ "Decile Change 2014 to 2015 for State & State Integrated Schools". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Surprises on NCEA's report card". New Zealand Herald. 2006-05-07. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
  4. ↑ "Mount Roskill Grammar School website". MRGS. Retrieved 2013-06-07.
  5. ↑ Metro magazine, July/August 2009 issue 335, p. 30
  6. ↑ "Weekly News Bulletin Feb 07 2014" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  7. ↑ "Mount Roskill Grammar School Website, Facilities page". Retrieved 2013-06-07.
  8. ↑ "Beacon Practice Phase 2 Schools". Retrieved 2007-05-01.
  9. ↑ "School Qualifications -- Mount Roskill Grammar School". Ministry of Education. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  10. ↑ iLearn
  11. ↑ Radio Tarana Events High School Dance Competition
  12. ↑ New Director named, The University of Auckland news, March 2006. Accessed October 12, 2007. "During his 12 years at Mount Roskill Grammar the roll has grown from 1576 to 2340 students. Staff numbers total 210. The school won the inaugural Goodman Fielder School of the Year Award in 1998."
  13. ↑ "Wise Up. A newsletter from the office of Trevor Mallard, Minister of Education, issue 51". 3 July 2003.
  14. ↑ also attended Auckland Grammar School; completed his secondary education at Mount Roskill Grammar School.
  15. ↑ "Expat backs business school", Television New Zealand, 21 February 2005
  16. ↑ "Food for thought", The Sydney Morning Herald, November 19, 2005. Accessed October 12, 2007. "The son of a radiographer, Hart was raised in Auckland where he attended Mount Roskill Grammar School before leaving at 16."
  17. ↑ "Harry McNaughton « SHORTLAND STREET CHARACTERS". Retrieved 2008-05-23.
  18. ↑ "Vodafone Warriors Player-Evarn Tuimavave". Archived from the original on 2008-04-29. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  19. ↑ Keane, P. (Executive Producer). (2011) 13yo living in fear of school bullies. In Campbell Live. Auckland, New Zealand. Mediaworks Ltd
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Watson, G. (2011). Statement to Campbell Live. Mount Roskill Grammar Newsletter

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