Dipton School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 18 months of the Education Review Office and Dipton 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 

Dipton School is a small, rural primary school in Northern Southland. It provides education for students from Years 1 to 8. A new, experienced principal began in Term 4 2022.

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

• make a positive impact on students’ learning through communication and relationships

• make a positive impact on students’ futures by providing excellent teaching and learning opportunities

• provide an environment that is conducive to learning.

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

ERO and the school are working together to effectively evaluate the changes teachers have made to the reading programme to support students' progress.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that:

• the school wants all students to achieve well academically
• teachers have identified that some students were not making the desired progress through the extra support they were receiving

teachers have changed the way they are teaching the reading programme to a more inclusive approach.

The school expects to see students achieving well and an evaluation process that provides strong evidence for the impact changes to teaching are having on students’ learning.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support it in its goal to have all students succeed in literacy.

• All staff have in-depth knowledge of every learner which helps them tailor programmes to meet individual needs.

• Teachers work collaboratively to support students’ learning.

• Teachers embrace new learning and participate in regular professional development and discussions to benefit students’ learning.

• The board has funded extra staffing to keep classes small and provide individuals with one-to-one support.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

• broadening the contexts for the evaluation focus to other areas of literacy to ensure teaching is also having a positive impact on students’ writing achievement

• further building schoolwide evaluation practices so that changes in teaching strategies are monitored, responded to and having a positive effect on students’ learning.

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.

Dr Lesley Patterson
Director Review and Improvement Services (Southern)
Southern Region | Te Tai Tini

12 December 2022 

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