Our Flaxmere School Vision is:

  to create a community of life long learners, where everyone is expected to achieve and excellence is pursued.

Whāia te iti kahurangi
ki te tūohu koe
me he maunga teitei

Pursue excellence – should you stumble,
let it be to a lofty mountain.

 Our school is named after the harakeke or flax. The harakeke is a tough, flexible and resilient plant that can thrive in all sorts of situations and played a vital role in early Maori culture, being woven into thread for nets, protective cloaks and food baskets.

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VALUES : NGA HOROMATA

We see our school as a ‘learning community’ based on shared expectations and virtues, so that all students, staff and parents work in harmony to realise our vision.

A set of  20 common virtues link those that are involved in the school. They are demonstrated through the day to day behaviours and are the foundation on which school performance is built.

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Our logo of the three flax leaves represents the learner in the centre, the protection and support provided by the learning community surrounding it. It recognizes the growing power of our learners and the important partnership which exists between home and school. All learners moving in the same direction.

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TEACHING BELIEFS

Our teaching & learning beliefs are based on our school Mission Statement:

 “Provide learning opportunities where children succeed and feel good about themselves, others and their surrounds”

Our learning beliefs realise strong, flexible learners, who feel good about themselves, others and the environment.  They are represented by a cloak made up of strands – our five belief strands. For the early Maori cloaks were symbols of power, as well as protection and these apply equally to our shared teaching and learning beliefs. 

‘The five strands of our Teaching Beliefs
that make up our learning cloak!’

We believe that: 

1.   All students should be actively involved in their learning.

 We will:

          Involve students in the planning and self review process

          Scaffold their learning

          Foster a positive attitude towards learning

          Provide experiences which motivate and challenge students

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2. Learning occurs through effective teaching practice.

 We will:

          Use formative assessment practices to inform the learning needs

          Identify, promote and support best practice

          Engage in school wide and individualized professional development

          Promote reflective practice

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3. Relationships are the key to learning

We will:

          Promote positive reciprocal relationships within our learning community

          Provide a safe learning environment that encourages, supports and respects each individual

          Recognise potential in all individuals

          Promote and demonstrate the school virtues

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4. Students should be challenged to achieve excellence.

We will:

          Encourage students to be reflective learners

          Provide a variety of opportunities that challenge students’ abilities and build on experiential learning

          Encourage students to always achieve to the best of their ability

          Have high expectations in all areas of learning

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5. Our quality learning environment reflects high standards.

 We will:

          Expect everyone to take responsibility for maintaining our quality learning environment

          Lead by example

          Provide opportunities for students to participate in the development of the environment, to engender pride and respect

          Expect cleanliness and tidiness in all areas
 

We want all of our students to leave with their own protective learning cloaks that will be individually woven for each learner from all the important future skills needed to assist them on their individual learning journeys:

·        caring values/virtues

·        an ability to make good choices

·        an appreciation of their own identity and strengths

·        a knowledge of how to learn, with their love of learning intact