Fernlea School

School Evaluation Report 

Tēnā koutou e mau manawa rahi ki te kaupapa e aro ake nei, ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa. Mā wai rā e kawe, mā tātau katoa.

We acknowledge the collective effort, responsibility and commitment by all to ensure that the child remains at the heart of the matter.

Context 

Fernlea School is a multicultural school in Wainuiomata, Wellington that provides education for students in Years 1 to 6.  The school vision, Learning, Achieving, Succeeding, Together, is underpinned by the school values of Whakaaro, Tūhonohono, Tae, and Manaaki. 

There are two parts to this report.

Part A: An evaluative summary of learner success and school conditions to inform the school board’s future strategic direction, including any education in Rumaki/bilingual settings. 

Part B: The improvement actions prioritised for the school’s next evaluation cycle. 

Part A: Current State 

The following findings are to inform the school’s future priorities for improvement.

Learner Success and Wellbeing 

• A large majority of students achieve at or above expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics; results are equitable for all groups of learners.
• Learners express a strong sense of belonging and pride in their school; wellbeing information shows that students are well supported to succeed.
•  Students, including those with additional needs, successfully achieve their individual goals within inclusive learning environments. 
• Regular attendance is lower than the Ministry of Education 2024 attendance target; the school is working with parents and whānau and other agencies to support the regular attendance of students.  

Conditions to support learner success

• Leaders have a deliberate, well considered approach to school improvement that strengthens outcomes for learners.
• Leaders and teachers deliberately gather and use information from a wide variety of sources to plan for ongoing improvement for students' achievement and wellbeing.
• Leaders are focused on providing and developing leadership capability across the school to continue to raise levels of student engagement and achievement.

• Teachers use a variety of learning experiences to provide purposeful and well considered learning opportunities; school values, which are well understood by students, underpin learning programmes.
• Students benefit from an appropriate range of effective teaching practices; a wide range of assessment tools support the gathering of data to track and monitor student progress and achievement. 
• Learning Assistants provide additional targeted support for all learners; they are an integral part of teaching, learning and wellbeing programmes. 

• Well considered strategic goals and actions impact positively on students' wellbeing and learning. 
• Trustees, leaders and teachers increasingly giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi through partnerships with Māori whanau and local iwi and integrate quality te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori throughout the curriculum.
• The board appropriately align resourcing to learner-focused goals and strategies; it acts on evidence and input for the school community to make improvements for learners. 

Part B: Where to next?

The agreed next steps for the school are to: 

• embed a culture of teacher inquiry and evidence-based decision making that includes continuing to strengthen capability in analysing professional practice that raises outcomes for learners
• develop a plan to implement changes to The New Zealand Curriculum including agreed teaching approaches and practices that are consistent, responsive and engaging for students and their whānau
• continue to integrate te reo Māori, te ao Māori, tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori into classroom programmes
• continue to strengthen school-wide assessment systems, processes and data analysis capability to deepen teacher understanding of next steps for learning and further lift learner outcomes.

The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.

Every six months:

• continue to analyse learners’ attendance, progress and achievement information to inform the next steps and respond with targeted interventions for identified groups of students
• evaluate the impact of professional learning initiatives on student outcomes to inform strategic improvement goals and direction.

Annually:

• review and report to the board the impact of teaching and learning programmes on achievement outcomes, to know what has been successful and what needs further improvement
• continue to build whānau engagement, with a particular focus on their involvement in their childrens learning.

Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:

• improved attendance, engagement and achievement outcomes for all learners, including an increased number of students achieving at curriculum expectations
• consistent use of responsive teaching practices to meet the varied needs of learners
• embedded te reo Māori and tikanga Māori practices throughout the school 
• strengthened evaluation capability.

ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Evaluation Report and is due within three years.

Me mahi tahi tonu tātau, kia whai oranga a tātau tamariki
Let’s continue to work together for the greater good of all children

Sharon Kelly
Acting Director of Schools

5 February 2025

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