- Mount Roskill Grammar School
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Mount Roskill Grammar School 
Location Frost Road,
Mt Roskill,
Auckland,
New ZealandCoordinates 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 HeightsEstablished 1954 Ministry of Education Institution no. 74 Principal Greg Watson School roll 2,266 [1] Socio-economic decile 4 Website MRGS Mount Roskill Grammar 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 proving that wealth doesn't always influence grades.
Contents
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, and recreation features dedicated to final year students), and most recently the new gymnasium and classrooms. At the end of 2009, the new Pastoral Care Centre has been built and will open 2010.[citation needed] Rebuilding of the school's C-Block was started and has finished in the late 2010.
Houses
As of 2009, Mount Roskill Grammar School has 8 houses, namely Baxter, Blake, Hillary, Mansfield, Ngata, Rutherford, Savage and Sheppard. However this is set to change in 2010; 5 new houses have been created and have been named temporarily after the first 5 colours of the spectrum - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green And Blue House names were meant to be chosen at the end of Term 1 of 2010, after students have had their input but so far no names have been decided. Junior students:From the start of the year students will be placed into house groups through their core class groups. For students in year 9 (2009) there will be some change to their form class groups. Students in year 10 (2009) will remain with their existing form class groups Senior students:Students in year 11-12 (2009) will remain with their existing form class groups
Academics
The school has a very proud academic record, with top scholarship results comparable to other higher-decile schools in Auckland. Mount Roskill Grammar School has been described by the New Zealand Herald in 2007 as the "best public school in New Zealand".[2] 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."[3].
Mt Roskill Grammar School's head prefects for 2011 are Joseph Windsor, Manasi Deshpande, Audrey Tay and Warren Duncan [4]
The school has 8 computer labs [5] 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.[6]
iLearn
iLearn is an online learning centre powered by Moodle provided by Mount Roskill Grammar School for their students.[7] 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 newly refurbished website was launched in January 2009 with an all-new look for future and current students.
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 the pursuit of excellence and periodic renewal and revitalization.
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 many sports, music and other extracurricular activities. The Flame is the student newspaper. 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.[8]
The Boys Chorus (Mr G's Boys Chorus) has been 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.
Bishop Viard College in Wellington will share the record of 2 consecutive titles set by Mount Roskill Grammar School in 2006 should they win the 2009 Young Singers in Harmony National Championships held in Auckland.
Awards
- Goodman Fielder School of the Year Award, for Outstanding Performance in Education in 1998.[9]
- Goodman Fielder Secondary School of the Year Award, in 2002, and finalist in the Secondary School section in 1999 and 2001.[10]
Alumni
Main category: Former students of Mount Roskill Grammar School- Russell Crowe, Actor, Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winner.[11]
- Alannah Currie, Thompson Twins member
- Owen Glenn, Businessman[12]
- Graeme Hart, New Zealand's Richest Man. Worth NZ$6.1 billion[13]
- Clinton Randell, New Zealand Idol Reality Show Contestant
- Brett Steven, Tennis Player
- Evarn Tuimavave, New Zealand Warriors player [14]
- Harry McNaughton, Shortland Street Actor [15]
- Nalini Singh, New York times bestselling author
Controversy
In March of 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 16th 2011, Campbell Live, a TV3 current affairs programme aired an interview on bullying at Mount Roskill Grammar[16]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".[17] The school has begun to resolve the matter.[17]
References
- ^ "NZQA Mount Roskill Grammar School Profile". NZQA. http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications/ssq/statistics/school-profile.do?pc=74&year=2007&view=N&decile=N&type=ALL&gender=%#t. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
- ^ "Surprises on NCEA's report card New Zealand Herald". http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10380822. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
- ^ Metro magazine, July/August 2009 issue 335, p. 30
- ^ "Head Prefects 2010". http://www.mrgs.school.nz/ourschool/news.aspx#1010. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
- ^ "Mount Roskill Grammar School Website, Facilities page". http://www.mrgs.school.nz/files-new/files/facilities.asp. Retrieved 2007-05-01.[dead link]
- ^ "Beacon Practice Phase 2 Schools". http://techlink.org.nz/GIF-tech-education/beacon-practice/Phase-1-2-Schools/index.htm#phase2. Retrieved 2007-05-01.
- ^ iLearn
- ^ Radio Tarana Events High School Dance Competition
- ^ 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."
- ^ "Wise Up. A newsletter from the office of Trevor Mallard, Minister of Education, issue 51". 3 July 2003. http://list.beehive.govt.nz/archives/wiseup-releases/2003-July/000018.html.
- ^ also attended Auckland Grammar School; completed his secondary education at Mount Roskill Grammar School.
- ^ "Expat backs business school", Television New Zealand, 21 February 2005
- ^ "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."
- ^ "Vodafone Warriors Player-Evarn Tuimavave". Archived from the original on 2008-04-29. http://web.archive.org/web/20080429184908/http://www.warriors.co.nz/page/player_evarn_tuimavave.html. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ "Harry McNaughton « SHORTLAND STREET CHARACTERS". http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1385185. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
- ^ Keane, P. (Executive Producer). (2011) 13yo living in fear of school bullies. In Campbell Live. Auckland, New Zealand. Mediaworks Ltd
- ^ a b Watson, G. (2011). Statement to Campbell Live. Mount Roskill Grammar Newsletter
Related links
Categories:- Educational institutions established in 1953
- Secondary schools in Auckland
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