Flaxmere College

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Flaxmere College 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

Flaxmere College is in Flaxmere, Hastings and provides education for students Year 7 to 13. The school’s kaupapa is to promote excellence and equity to ensure all students achieve and enjoy educational success.

Flaxmere College’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• ensure holistic success for all students
• actively promote and guide distributive leadership capacity amongst staff and students
• evaluate and develop the Flaxmere Way for consistent, effective, culturally responsive relational pedagogy (CRRP) for teaching and learning.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively the Flaxmere Way, including differentiation and CRRP, is promoting equitable and excellent learner outcomes. 

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• the need to lift ākonga achievement and equity for all ākonga
• continue to strengthen and embed culturally responsive and relational pedagogy
• develop a localised curriculum that is relevant, responsive to learners and reflects Ngāti Kahungunu aspirations
• a continued priority to strengthening attendance, engagement, retention and achievement
• a need to strengthen leadership throughout the school, allowing greater staff and learner agency.

The school expects to see:

• a responsive localised curriculum that embeds the Flaxmere Way and reflects the culture, interests and aspirations of learners and whānau
• strengthened community relationships and collaboration to enrich opportunities for learners to become confident, connected and actively involved
• improved attendance, engagement, retention and achievement
• distributed leadership strengthened throughout the school, allowing greater staff and learner agency to promote equity and excellence.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate how effectively the Flaxmere Way promotes equitable and excellent learner outcomes:

• has leadership that consistently prioritises and plans for school improvement and for equity and excellent outcomes for all ākonga
• is continuing to strengthen professional capability and collective capacity to improve ākonga outcomes, support improvement and innovation 
• is strengthening capability building for all staff, inclusive of te ao Māori, te reo Māori, me ōna tikanga and matauranga Māori
• culturally responsive and relational pedagogy, through the Flaxmere Way for teaching, underpins teaching at the kura
• has robust systems and processes for tracking, monitoring and reporting student attendance, engagement, retention and achievement.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• strengthening capability of distributed leadership to embed the Flaxmere Way within a responsive localised curriculum
• consultation and collaboration with whānau, hapū, iwi to develop a shared understanding of the Flaxmere Way, and ensure their aspirations are valued and embedded in the localised curriculum
• professional development that strengthens teaching capability with a priority focus on ākonga with diverse learning needs.

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.

Phil Cowie
Director Review and Improvement Services (Central)
Central Region | Te Tai Pūtahi Nui

21 April 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

This school has

• Teen Parent Unit: Te Tipu Whenua ō pā Harakeke
• Kowhai Special School satellite
• Services Academy