From the Principal

Welcome to the Flanshaw Road School web-site. We hope you enjoy browsing through our web-site and getting to know more about our school. Flanshaw Road School is committed to excellence, and to being at the fore-front of educational innovation in New Zealand.

About our School:

Flanshaw Road School is a Decile 5, multi-cultural, contributing primary school in Waitakere City, Auckland. Our school has, and continues to develop, a strong learning culture. All the people who work in our “Learning Community” are totally committed to supporting all our students to achieve.

Flanshaw Road School has a range of facilities which are enjoyed by many groups that make up the local community. The school is set on a 2.5 acre site. There are three blocks of permanent classrooms, three pre-fabricated classrooms, a library / ICT building, a community hall, a dental clinic, a work-shop and storage sheds. The school has a swimming pool complex (used in Term 1 of each year), two adventure playgrounds and large, open recreation areas.

The Flanshaw Early Childhood Centre is also located on the school site, with most of the students from the Centre coming to our school as five year olds. The seamless transition from the Centre to the New Entrant classes ensures our students a great start to their years at school.

Demographic Information:

Flanshaw Road School has students from a range of cultural backgrounds. 40% of our students are New Zealand European, 20% are Maori and 20% are of Pacific Island descent. 10% of our students are Asian, the remaining 10% representing a range of countries from Europe, Africa and South America. Most of our students have been born in New Zealand and are from English-speaking backgrounds.

Our Core Values:

The school’s Mission Statement is “To provide students with the opportunity to achieve their potential by encouraging them to develop academically, socially, physically and culturally.”

At Flanshaw Road School we want our students to leave our school well-rounded students who are confident, multi-talented and academically successful learners. Our teachers are dedicated, energetic, skilled practitioners who are committed to supporting every child to achieve. Programming is strong across the school – in Literacy, Mathematics, Inquiry-based Learning, the Arts and Health and Physical Education.

Programmes:

To support our “at-risk” students we provide in-class support, one-to-one support, and withdrawal group programmes for identified students. We work closely with a range of education agencies in developing Individual Education Plans for students with special needs. Children who have English as a second language have regular lessons, in small groups, with a trained English Language Assistant. Pastoral care of all our “at-risk” learners is monitored by the Special Needs Team to ensure all our students feel happy, safe and supported in their learning.

We also have a Gifted and Talented Education Programme that operates within classroom programmes, through Modules across the school and in conjunction with other schools in the Te Atatu Cluster of schools. In 2006, as well as expanding our current G.A.T.E programmes, Flanshaw Road School will be co-ordinating the Te Atatu Cluster Gifted and Talented Initiative.

The Flanshaw Road School Community:

Raising student achievement, and supporting students to succeed in their learning, is at the heart of all decisions made at our school. The Flanshaw Road School community is very supportive of their children, and of the school. It is the strong home-school relationships we have built with our community that underpins the caring, inclusive, family-orientated culture of Flanshaw Road School.

To support families from different ethnic groups, the school organizes regular meetings with parents each term to share information about student progress and achievement. These meetings also provide opportunities for parents to talk with the school’s Management Team about the school, and the programmes we run. If needed we invite interpreters to these meetings so parents can ask questions and have queries answered without there being a language barrier.

In Conclusion:

As Principal of Flanshaw Road School, it is my privilege to work with the many wonderful students, teachers, staff and parents that make up the Flanshaw Road School community every day. We hope you enjoy our web-site, and that, if you have not had the opportunity, you visit our school. We look forward to meeting you.

Cherie Taylor-Patel

PRINCIPAL