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Pinnacle Global Academy

https://www.pinnacleacademyk12.com/ 
# of unique students – 0
Type of provider – School, private
Primary distance modality – Unknown

Pinnacle Global Academy failed to respond to repeated requests to participate in this year’s study. The profile below was created using publicly available material.

Background

Pinnacle Global Academy is a co-educational, private composite school based in Auckland. The Education and Training Act, 2020 defines a composite school as “a school that offers education to students in any of years 1 to 8 and in any of years 9 to 13” (Government of New Zealand, 2024a, p. 38). The school originally began in 2013 as Pinnacle Learning, but was rebranded in late 2021 after it was approved to offer the Pearson Edexcel International Curriculum, including Primary, Pre-IGCSE, International GCSE (IGCSE), and International A Level (IAL) programmes. Pinnacle Global Academy was approved as a private school by the New Zealand Ministry of Education in late 2022.

Governance

According to the Education and Training Act 2020, a private school is defined as a school registered under section 214, which reads:

214 Registration of private schools

(1) This section applies if the managers of an existing school or proposed school wish the school to be registered as a private school under this section.

(2) The managers must apply to the Secretary, on a form provided by the Secretary for the purpose, for its provisional registration as a primary, secondary, or special private school, or as a school of 2 or all of those descriptions.

(3) The provisional and full registration of private schools, and the operation of private schools, must be done in accordance with Schedule 7. (p. 164)

Schedule 7 of the act provides approximately 10 pages of legislative regulation around the following areas.

  • Provisional and full registration of private schools
  • Criteria for registration as private school
  • Suitable premises
  • Additional and substituted premises to be approved
  • Tuition standards
  • Managers to be fit and proper persons
  • Manager must have regard to statement of national education and learning priorities
  • Managers must advise Secretary of school ceasing operation
  • Review of private schools
  • Secretary’s actions in relation to private schools
  • Duration of suspension
  • Process for cancellation of registration
  • Grants for private schools
  • Record-keeping in relation to grants to private schools
  • Providing accounts to Secretary
  • Suspensions and expulsions from private schools

Resourcing

As a private school, Pinnacle Global Academy is resourced through individual tuition paid by the students and their families. While there was no information received about the specific amounts for each of the fees. According to the school’s website the structure of fees was dependent on which programme students and their families elected to enrol in.

(1) Pearson Edexcel academic courses (e.g., mathematics, English, science, computing)

    • application fee, administrative fee, assessment fee, tuition fee, teaching resources and materials fee.

(2) Chinese language course

    • pay per semester
    • one-time payment of half-year tuition (i.e., 2 semesters, 40 hours), which includes a 5% discount
    • one-time payment of tuition for the whole year (i.e., 76-80 hours), which includes a 10% discount

(3) Competitions and holiday programs 

    • pre-test assessment, course fee, test fee, training fee before competitions, and on-site coaching fee

Programming

According to the school’s website, the programming offered by Pinnacle Global Academy focuses on “Pearson Edexcel International Curriculum, including Primary, Pre-IGCSE, International GCSE (IGCSE), and International A Level (IAL) programmes.” Their website also includes language about personalised learning, flexible learning, and individualised instruction – without including much detail to describe those terms beyond catchphrases.

Activity

While their website advertises “13,000+ students,” based on the Education Counts website Pinnacle Global Academy did not enrol any students during the 2023 school year.

References

Government of New Zealand. (2024a). Education and training act 2020. https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0038/latest/LMS170676.html