Fernside School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

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

Fernside School is a full primary school located in rural North Canterbury which provides education for students in Years 1 to 8. The school’s vision is for students to: work together to grow together. The school values are GROW: gratitude, respect and kindness, optimism, working together. These values underpin the school’s planning and programmes. An experienced principal joined the school in Term 4 of 2021.

Fernside School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• relevant and purposeful learning for all
• creating meaningful connections
• providing a safe and fun learning environment.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of strengthening the school’s approach to expected positive behaviours on student engagement, behaviour, and culture.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• leaders and teachers have noticed that there are inconsistencies in expectations for desired behaviours and in using restorative practices
• to help students to demonstrate the GROW values by making meaningful connections and positive behaviour choices.

The school expects to see:

• improved positive behaviour choices and engagement by students
• students better able to articulate and demonstrate the GROW values
• increased teacher knowledge, skills, and consistency of practice.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support its goal to evaluate the impact of strengthening the school’s approach to expected positive behaviours on student engagement, behaviour, and culture.

• A wide range of assessment and evaluation tools are used to determine students’ progress and next steps for learning.
• Purposeful analysis of engagement and behaviour data to measure trends and identify areas for improvement.
• A well-established learning culture, aligned to the school’s GROW values, and focused on the learning and wellbeing of each learner.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• explicit teaching and recognition of desired behaviours to increase meaningful connections and positive behaviour choices
• measuring and evaluating the impact of their approach to positive behaviour expectations.

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 Schools

 28 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