Wakefield Road , Favona, Auckland
View on mapTēnā koutou e mau manawa rahi ki te kaupapa e aro ake nei, ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa. Mā wai rā e kawe, mā tātau katoa.
We acknowledge the collective effort, responsibility and commitment by all to ensure that the child remains at the heart of the matter.
Favona School provides education for students in Years 1 to 6. The roll is approximately 298. The largest group of students is of Pacific heritage, who make up 82% of the roll. The school supports four language enrichment units in Māori, Niuean, Samoan and Tongan; each unit integrates cultural ways of learning and celebrates students’ respective languages and identities. The school’s vision encourages staff and students to weave together learning for the future.
| How well are learners succeeding? | Success and progress for all learners is increasing. |
| What is the quality of teaching and learning? | The school is improving teaching and learning. |
| How well does the school curriculum respond to all learners needs? | Learners have sufficient opportunities to learn across the breadth and depth of the curriculum. There is a variable focus on supporting learners to gain skills in literacy and mathematics. Learners with complex needs are well supported to achieve their education goals. |
| How well does school planning and conditions support ongoing improvement? | The school is establishing planning and conditions that support improvements in the quality of education for learners. |
| How well does the school include all learners and promote their engagement and wellbeing? | The school successfully promotes learners’ engagement, wellbeing and inclusion. |
| How well does the school partner with parents, whānau and its community for the benefit of learners? | The school is improving its reporting to parents / whānau about their child’s learning, achievement and progress. The school is improving its collection and use of information gathered through community consultation to inform strategic planning and curriculum decisions. |
| Student Health and Safety | The school board is taking reasonable steps to ensure student health and safety. |
This table outlines how well students across the school meet or exceed the expected curriculum level.
Foundation Skills | |
| Reading | A large majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are becoming more equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Writing | A large majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are equitable for all groups of learners. |
| Mathematics | A large majority of learners meet or exceed the expected curriculum level. Results are equitable for all groups of learners. |
The school is behind the target of 80% regular attendance.
The school has a suitable plan in place to improve attendance.
Regular attendance is improving towards or beyond the target.
Chronic absence is reducing over time.
The school is improving its approach and the reliability of its practices to accurately find out about achievement against the curriculum.
Teachers are developing their use of assessment information to adjust teaching practices to ensure ongoing improvement in teaching and student progress.
The school is developing good quality planning to increase the rate of progress for all groups of students.
The school has to some extent improved achievement and progress for those learners most at risk of not achieving since the previous review.
The school has to some extent extended achievement and progress for learners working at or above curriculum levels since the previous review.
The school is making progress towards meeting Government reading, writing and mathematics targets and/or pānui, tuhituhi and pāngarau targets for 2030 and agrees this will need to be a key strategic priority.
This section of the report provides more detail for the school to include in strategic and annual planning for ongoing improvement across the school.
Students have a strong sense of wellbeing and belonging to school that strengthens their engagement in learning.
Leaders and the board implement meaningful strategic planning that clearly focuses on key areas of improvement, sustainability and what is best for each child.
Language enrichment classes provide strong culturally responsive learning environments for students and their families; these environments increase engagement for students and positive participation for parents.
Leaders and teachers establish high levels of relational trust with students and their families that supports students to take risks in their learning.
Leaders and staff are taking steps to integrate the new structured literacy and mathematics curriculum expectations schoolwide and to meet the Government’s 2026 requirements for assessment and reporting.
Well-considered staff professional development is targeted, planned and purposefully implemented for ongoing improvement of teaching and learning.
The agreed next steps for the school are to:
The agreed actions for the next improvement cycle and timeframes are as follows.
Within six months:
Every six months:
Annually:
Actions taken against these next steps are expected to result in:
All schools are required to promote student health and safety and to regularly review their compliance with legal requirements.
During this review the Board has attested to some regulatory and legislative requirements in the following areas:
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
ERO’s role will be to support the school in its evaluation for improvement cycle to improve outcomes for all learners. The next public report on ERO’s website will be a School Report and is due within three years.
Me mahi tahi tonu tātau, kia whai oranga a tātau tamariki
Let’s continue to work together for the greater good of all children
Sharon Kelly
Director of Schools (Acting)
18 June 2025
This website provides further information about the school’s student population, student engagement and student achievement. educationcounts.govt.nz/home
Favona School is a contributing school in Mangere, Auckland. It caters for a diverse group of approximately 420 students of whom 20 percent are Māori, 27 percent Tongan, 22 percent Samoan, 12 percent Cook Island Māori, and five percent Niuean. About one-third of students participate in a formal English programme for speakers of other languages.
The school’s overarching vision is based on the motto of ‘rarangatia ngā rito akoranga – weave together the threads of learning’, and includes the school’s values of aroha, manaakitanga, hauora and auaha.
Leaders and teachers regularly report to the board, schoolwide information about outcomes for students in the following areas:
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Mangere Campus, supports the school with its kapa haka and pōwhiri protocols. All students, especially those in Years 4 to 6, have access to digital technologies.
Since ERO’s 2015 report, a new principal and deputy principal have been employed, and approximately one-third of the staff are new to the school.
The school is steadily working towards implementing successful strategies to achieve equitable and excellent outcomes for all students.
Overall, most students achieve at the expected curriculum levels in reading, writing and mathematics. Achievement information is closely analysed, monitored, and reported to the board. School-based information indicates that overall, student groups achieve similar results in reading, writing and mathematics. It also suggests there is some gender disparity.
Relevant schoolwide targets are set to raise student achievement in mathematics and improve student attendance. Targets could be more useful for ongoing improvement if they were specifically identified and measurable.
Culturally responsive teaching practices support students’ language, culture and identity in the school. Senior leaders focus on embedding the school values. These processes have contributed to improving students’ social and emotional competence as learners.
The associate principal oversees and monitors the individual outcomes of students with additional learning and language needs. These students participate in a variety of specialised in-class or withdrawal programmes taken by experienced teacher aides. Staff know the needs and strengths of each of the students who require additional support.
Teachers use a range of school-based and nationally normed assessment tools, and they moderate students’ writing samples to ensure robustness of achievement information. To strengthen the rigour of assessment, teachers should consider ways to moderate literacy and mathematics assessment with other schools. Teachers should also continue to build their use of ‘assessment for learning’ strategies.
The principal acknowledges the benefit of tracking and reporting to the board, student progress and achievement over time at the school. Leaders are developing strategies to accelerate the progress and outcomes for transient students while learning at Favona School.
The school has anecdotal evidence, but is yet to gather schoolwide or long term-evidence, that its strategies are successfully enabling students to make accelerated progress, or sustaining the gains made over time.
The principal and senior leaders are embedding appropriate strategies, and setting foundations for enabling the achievement of equity and excellence, and for accelerating learning. Senior leaders and trustees are building their capacity and capability with scrutinising the impact of decisions on improving outcomes for students.
Senior leaders have a strategic approach to building a positive school culture where students confidently learn and interact. Whānau grouping has been introduced. Whānau groups include various year levels and offer many opportunities for tuakana/teina learning and teacher collaboration.
Senior leaders know their teachers well. School leaders have made some well-considered appointments, including teachers who have specific strengths in leading and supporting the provision of the school curriculum. Senior leaders are implementing a variety of effective organisational practices to support student learning and inform appropriate decision-making. Newly established middle leaders value the support of the senior leadership team to successfully lead their teams. Teachers are reflective practitioners. They participate in appropriately focused professional learning, including building their capability in te ao and te reo Māori.
The school’s values and the New Zealand Curriculum, underpin the school’s developing localised curriculum. A review of the school’s current curriculum is underway to ensure it engages students through their interests and strengths. The curriculum has been broadened to contain experiences outside of the classroom, which include learning at local marae and during local trips.
Senior leaders are focused on building reciprocal, learning-centred relationships with the community. Partnerships with whānau are growing as a result of the opportunities offered to learn alongside their children, and participate in community events. Senior leaders have implemented many strategies to support and communicate with the school’s communities.
The board includes long-serving and experienced trustees who are loyal to the school, and serve and represent their community well. The board has a solid commitment to community consultation and to the new school direction. Trustees participate in appropriate board training to enhance their governance capabilities.
The principal and senior leaders agree that for continued school improvement, they will continue to develop and embed:
Trustees agree that they should review and reflect on their effectiveness as a board in supporting the school to realise its vision, values, strategic direction, goals and targets.
Before the review, the board and principal of the school completed the ERO board assurance statement and self-audit checklists. In these documents they attested that they had taken all reasonable steps to meet their legislative obligations related to the following:
During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:
On the basis of the findings of this review, ERO’s overall evaluation judgement of Favona School performance in achieving valued outcomes for its students is: Well placed.
ERO’s Framework: Overall School Performance is available on ERO’s website.
For sustained improvement and future learner success, the school can draw on existing strengths in:
For sustained improvement and future learner success, priorities for further development are in embedding:
Steve Tanner
Director Review and Improvement Services Northern
Northern Region
7 June 2019
| Location | Favona, Auckland |
| Ministry of Education profile number | 1273 |
| School type | Contributing (Y1-6) |
| School roll | 424 |
| Gender composition | Girls 50% Boys 50% |
| Ethnic composition | Māori 20% NZ European/Pākehā 2% Tongan 27% Samoan 22% Cook Island Māori 12% Niuean 5% Indian 4% other ethnic groups 8% |
| Students with Ongoing Resourcing Funding (ORS) | Yes |
| Provision of Māori medium education | No |
| Review team on site | March 2019 |
| Date of this report | 6 June 2019 |
| Most recent ERO report(s) | Education Review August 2015 Education Review September 2010 Education Review August 2007 |