Last updated November 2026
Milson School is a state, co-educational primary school for Years 1 to 6 at Rutland Place, Milson, Palmerston North. It opened in 1928 and had 340 students on its roll at 1 September 2026.
Its home zone includes parts of Milson, Cloverlea and Palmerston North Central; the zone map below shows the full boundary. The school’s site lists a senior kapa haka group working with tutors, and Kelly Club runs before and after school care and holiday programmes for Milson School families.
At a glance
- Principal
- Tracy Thorn
- Address
- Rutland Place, Milson, Palmerston North
- Phone
- 06 358 5204
Home zone
Parts of these suburbs: Milson Palmerston North, Cloverlea Palmerston North and Palmerston North Central: check your street.
Zone boundaries are set by the school’s enrolment scheme and can change. Confirm your address with the school before you rely on it.
Who goes here
Share of the 340 students who identify with each group. Students can name more than one, so these add up to more than 100%.
MELAA: Middle Eastern, Latin American and African.
Stand-downs and suspensions
Cases per 1,000 students in 2025, adjusted for the ages of the school’s students, compared with all New Zealand schools.
Suspensions: fewer than 5 cases in 2025, so no rate is shown.
These measure how a school responds to behaviour, and schools set their own thresholds, so they are not a measure of how students behave.
What ERO found
The Education Review Office’s latest report on the school is a School Report from November 2025. ERO noted that a large majority of students start at the school well behind the expected curriculum level, and that numbers of students with additional needs and students learning English have grown.
Less than half of students were at or above the expected level in reading, and a small majority in writing and maths, with results not yet fair across groups.
Attendance is a serious concern: only a small majority attend regularly, the school is behind the Government’s target, and it did not yet have a suitable plan to improve it.
On the positive side, ERO found good quality teaching, well-established planning, effective support programmes for students who need extra help, structured literacy and maths teaching, and a strong focus on wellbeing, inclusion and partnership with whānau.
ERO’s priorities for the school are to put an attendance plan in place and lift regular attendance, speed up progress in literacy with targets for boys and Māori students, embed structured literacy across the school, and review its maths programme against the new curriculum.
Read the ERO reports for Milson School
Enrolling
Students who live in the home zone have the right to enrol, and in-zone families are asked to let the school know early and collect an enrolment pack from the office.
Out-of-zone places are offered under the school’s enrolment scheme, by ballot when there are more applicants than places. The school posts out-of-zone ballot information on its website and says any extra places that come up during the year are advertised.
Schools nearby
Where students go next
Based on home zones around the school’s own address. Families can apply to any school, and your own address decides which zones you are in.
In Milson Palmerston North
Milson School is in Milson Palmerston North. Our suburb guide covers what it is like to live there, with parks, places and local businesses.
Read our Milson Palmerston North guide →Questions parents ask
Is Milson School zoned?
It has a home zone covering parts of Milson Palmerston North, Cloverlea Palmerston North and Palmerston North Central.
What years does it teach?
Years 1 to 6.
How many students go there?
340 at 1 Sep 2026.
Does it ask for donations?
No. It is in the donation scheme, so it only asks for donations for school camps.
What is its Equity Index?
486. The Ministry of Education’s Equity Index estimates the socio-economic barriers a school’s students face, from 344 (fewest) to 569 (most). It is used to share out funding, not as a measure of quality.
Updated automatically when the Ministry publishes new data.
Spotted something incorrect on this page? Let us know.
Sources and data notes 1
- School facts: School details and roll: Ministry of Education school directory, 24 Oct 2026 (CC BY 4.0). Home zone: Ministry of Education enrolment zones (CC BY 4.0). NCEA results, roll history and stand-downs: Education Counts, school leavers 2023 to 2025, stand-downs 2025, rolls 2021 to 2025 (CC BY 4.0).