Duvauchelle School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 8 months of the Education Review Office and Duvauchelle 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 

Duvauchelle School is a small, contributing primary school, located on Banks Peninsula, which provides education for students in years 1 to 6. The school’s vision is to be where tamariki grow to be AWESOME: Authentic, Welcoming, Excelling, Smiling, Outdoors, Motivated, and Engaged. An experienced principal joined the school in 2020.

Duvauchelle School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are to:

• have high aspirations for every learner | ākonga, and support these by partnering with their whānau and communities to design and deliver education that responds to their needs, and sustains their identities, languages and cultures

• reduce barriers to education for all, including Māori and Pacific learners | ākonga, neurodiverse learners | ākonga and those with learning support needs

• ensure every learner | ākonga gains sound foundation skills, including language, literacy, and numeracy.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate the impact of their refreshed, localised curriculum on improving student achievement, agency, and belonging.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is:

• the school has identified the need for students to deepen their connection to Banks Peninsula and Aotearoa histories to strengthen their senses of belonging, time, and place

• learners represent a broad and diverse range of cultures and learning needs that could be better served by a refreshed, localised curriculum.

The school expects to see learners:

• all making sufficient and expected progress across the curriculum

• able to articulate what they are learning and why, their progress and next steps

• demonstrating strong senses of belonging, of self, and the school motto of “being the best me”.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to evaluate the impact of their refreshed, localised curriculum on improving student achievement, agency, and belonging.

• A calm and respectful environment, inclusive for learners, which has a focus on every child being accepted for who they are.
• Learning is child-centred with next steps informed by student voice as well as progress and achievement data.
• Leaders and teachers use assessment tools and achievement information to identify, support, and monitor priority learners’ needs.
• All three teachers work across all year levels in the school to strengthen their knowledge of each learner, build a culture of collaboration, and develop learning relationships with all learners.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• professional learning with local iwi and cluster schools which will deepen understanding of local history

• collaboratively evaluating the existing curriculum plan to strengthen links to the Banks Peninsula area and histories

• preparing and implementing the revised curriculum and evaluating its impact on learner achievement, agency, and belonging.

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

25 July 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