Fairfield School (Dunedin)

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Fairfield School (Dunedin) 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 

Fairfield School is a full primary school located between Mosgiel and Dunedin City. ‘Independence through Responsibility’ is encompassed within a curriculum aligned with the values of Responsibility, Respect and Resilience.

Fairfield School (Dunedin)’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• promote the wellbeing of all students and staff across the school

• change teaching practice to raise student achievement in spelling, reading and writing

• develop a culturally appropriate and responsive context for teaching and learning.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Fairfield School (Dunedin)’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the effectiveness of structured literacy teaching practice on learner progress and outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is to ascertain whether the school’s professional learning and development pathway has increased outcomes in spelling, reading and writing achievement for ākonga.

The school expects to see:

• review and assessment of implemented structured literacy practices with ongoing monitoring that will lead to a responsive and sustainable model

• a programme that enables all ākonga access to the curriculum through strong foundational literacy skills and knowledge

• increased engagement, progress, and achievement for ākonga. 

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to monitor the success of the structured literacy programme:

• a collaborative teaching staff that have high expectations of equitable student achievement

• a strong community-school partnership that supports learning and wellbeing

• a strong approach to literacy teaching that is being applied in a consistent way schoolwide

• comprehensive training that is happening for all staff, including learning assistants, with regular professional development in staff and team meetings

• structured literacy programme implementation that aligns with the school’s strategic direction and priorities.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• consistent assessment and data gathering to monitor and evaluate its ongoing success with the developmentally appropriate literacy programme

• ensuring a sustainable model for ongoing support for identified groups of students not making expected progress.

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
5 May 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