OUR PRINCIPAL

A word from the Principal

I have been part of this amazing school community since being appointed as principal in 2014. What struck me most about Fernlea and its community was the feeling of manaaki or the heart that was displayed. This is a school where we strive to create an environment that is caring and where learners can learn, achieve and succeed together. We do this by teaching a wide and varied curriculum that focuses on the needs and interests of our students. We believe that academic success is important, but that success is also about students reaching their full potential in whatever they do, whether it is on the sports field, on stage or in the classroom.

When appointing staff, our highest priority is to find teachers who are motivated and enthusiastic and have a passion for teaching. This is because for students to achieve personal excellence they need to feel safe, happy and valued by the teacher. A positive relationship between the student and teacher and whānau is fundamental for quality learning to take place.

Students at Fernlea School use our values and Positive Learning for Behaviour expectations to help them with their learning.

We acknowledge that for students to be successful they need to have a grounding in English and mathematics. We believe that it is important that English and mathematics are taught in real-life contexts so that students can relate to what they are learning.

We are working hard to integrate information technology into our school curriculum and have made significant financial commitments to ensure that students have access to up-to-date technologies such as iPads and chromebooks. Our senior classes have 1:1 devices.

We have an extremely spacious and attractive environment and we are proud of our playground facilities. We encourage our students to show a Can do Attitude (one of our values) and give things a go, so you will see students climbing trees, riding scooters and skateboards and playing games such as tackle rugby and bullrush.

We have a role that ranges between 200 and 240 and are very proud of the positive relationships that students have at Fernlea. If you would like to be part of the Fernlea School community, please give Tracy in the office a call for an enrolment pack. If you would like to be shown around I am happy to do this personally.

Tony Field

Principal

Fernlea School