Don Buck School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 6 months of the Education Review Office and Don Buck School 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

Don Buck School is located in Massey, Auckland and caters for students in Years 1 to 8. The school vision is for all ākonga to be exceptional through their skills, talents, and passions. This vision guides the school to positively affect the lives of teachers, tamariki and the community.

Don Buck School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

• develop the DBS culture of teaching and learning.

• growing exceptional teaching.

• building Don Buck School as a community hub.

You can find a copy of the school’s strategic and annual plan on Don Buck School’s website.

ERO and the school are working together to determine the impact of consistent effective teacher practices and processes on improving positive learner outcomes.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• to ensure all ākonga access and experience high quality teaching and learning where learner needs are consistently prioritised.

• to provide and connect whānau and learners with snapshots of real-time agentic learning using online tools, and through open class sessions.

• explorative learning foci that support learners building curiosity and creativity.

• alignment with National Education Learning Priorities (NELP), to ensure barrier free access to learning.

• to give life and focus to the vision of the ‘DBS Beat’ and school values.

The school expects to see:

• consistent and adaptive teaching practices, focussed on creating opportunities that support engaged, agentic and challenged learners, all focused on improving learning outcomes.

• progress and achievement tracked, analysed, and used by teachers and leaders with a focus on building capacity and capability explicitly in numeracy and literacy to ensure equitable outcomes.

• teachers knowing their learners and knowing the practices that enable them to reach their and their learners ‘exceptional’ potential.

• grow leadership for all.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to determine the impact of consistent effective teacher practices and processes on positive learner outcomes:

• ākonga have a powerful sense of belonging.

• tuakana-teina relationships embedded into the school vision and WAKA values.

• a school culture focused on improving teaching and learning.

• vision encapsulates a shared language focused on being exceptional together.

• openness to the community and working towards becoming a community hub.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• gap analysis and acceleration practices, focused on lifting student progress and achievement, explicitly in literacy and numeracy.

• continuing to relentlessly focus on attendance with the aim of 90 percent regular attendees.

• an ongoing focus on building consistency in the practices and processes of teaching and learning.

• reviewing internal evaluative practices to consider schoolwide consistency and best practice systems.

• developing coaching, with the leaders using a common language to work alongside and support teacher growth.

• strengthening whānau/parent and community partnerships around ‘learning talk’.

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

2 November 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