Fairburn School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within six months of the Education Review Office and Fairburn 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 

Fairburn School is in Ōtāhuhu, Auckland and provides education for ākonga in Years 1 to 6. The school’s vision statement is ‘Kia kotahi te hoe o te waka kia whaia te mātauranga: Towards knowledge and excellence we paddle as one’. This statement is underpinned by the Fairburn School values of Whakaute (Respect), Whakaarohanga (Consideration), Ngākau Māhaki (Kindness), Pononga (Honesty) and Kawenga (Responsibility).

Fairburn School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• strengthen effective oral language teaching practices throughout the school
• empower ākonga to become self-regulated learners who take increasing responsibility for their learning
• grow and maintain culturally responsive practices across the school.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Fairburn School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how well the school conditions raise the achievement of all ākonga through developing learner agency.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to:

• raise the achievement of all ākonga in the core curriculum areas of literacy and mathematics
• enable ākonga to have ownership over their learning
• embed assessment for learning practices across the school.

The school expects to see:

• ākonga actively participating in and making decisions about their learning
• ākonga working collaboratively with peers and teachers to provide effective feedback and feed forward
• assessment for learning practices consistently integrated into teaching and learning
• ākonga articulating their learning progress, achievement and next steps and involving their whānau in the learning process.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to raise the achievement of all ākonga through developing learner agency:

• the school learning culture promotes the Fairburn School values and ensures all ākonga have a strong sense of belonging, identity and connection to the school
• ākonga with diverse learning requirements are well supported, monitored and effectively resourced
• staff foster professional and collaborative relationships that focus on the learning and wellbeing of all ākonga.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• developing shared understanding and expectations among ākonga, teachers and whānau of learner agency to enable ākonga to have ownership over their learning
• providing ongoing professional learning opportunities that promote effective implementation of assessment for learning practices and strengthen school-wide consistency
• continuing to inquire into teaching and learning to raise the achievement of all ākonga.

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

9 August 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