Dominion Road School

Dominion Road School

Te Ara Huarau | School Profile Report

Background

This Profile Report was written within 12 months of the Education Review Office and Dominion Road 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 

Dominion Road School located in Mt Roskill, Auckland and provides education for Years 1 to 6. Since the previous ERO review a new senior leadership team has been established, comprising of the principal and two associate principals.

Dominion Road School’s strategic priorities for improving outcomes for learners are:

  • for students to have ownership over their learning by providing a learning environment that enables students to develop the skills and attitudes to be active learners

  • developing and implementing a school curriculum that reflects our school community and is responsive to the needs of our learners

  • embed school wide practices that improve and support hauora and wellbeing for all and promote a school community that is inclusive, welcoming, and environmentally sustainable.

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

ERO and the school are working together to evaluate how effectively:

  • teachers are using culturally responsive practice to lift learner engagement and outcomes

  • teachers use assessment information to improve teaching practice and lift achievement.

The rationale for selecting this evaluation is that teachers, and leaders have identified groups of students who are not achieving at expectation.
The school expects to see:

  • teachers empowering students to take on more responsibility for their learning

  • the increased use of formative assessment practice throughout the school

  • students continuing to develop the skills and attitudes to be active learners

  • growth of staff capability to provide a responsive, adaptive curriculum

  • increased use of culturally responsive content and practice to improve outcomes for all students.

Strengths

The school can draw from the following strengths to support the school in its goal to improve outcomes for all learners:

  • leadership that is continually adapting implementation and strategy to deliver on the school priorities

  • teachers who are strengthening teaching strategies and practices to continue to promote greater equity

  • the school and community are engaged in reciprocal learning centred relationships and partnerships.

Where to next?

Moving forward, the school will prioritise:

  • developing learning strategies which empower students to take more ownership over their learning

  • the implementation of the school’s local curriculum to lift learner engagement

  • evaluation of professional development initiatives in maths and literacy.

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.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

23 August 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

Dominion Road School

Board Assurance with Regulatory and Legislative Requirements Report 2022 to 2025

As of March 2022, the Dominion Road School Board has attested to the following regulatory and legislative requirements:

Board Administration

Yes

Curriculum

Yes

Management of Health, Safety and Welfare

Yes

Personnel Management

Yes

Finance

Yes

Assets

Yes

Further Information

For further information please contact Dominion Road School Board.

The next School Board assurance that it is meeting regulatory and legislative requirements will be reported, along with the Te Ara Huarau | School Evaluation Report, within three years.

Information on ERO’s role and process in this review can be found on the Education Review Office website.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

23 August 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

Dominion Road School

Provision for International Students Report

Background

The Education Review Office reviews schools that are signatories to the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021 established under section 534 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Findings

The school Dominion Road School has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code and has completed an annual self-review of its implementation of the Code.

At the time of this review there were no international students attending the school, and no exchange students.

Filivaifale Jason Swann
Director Review and Improvement Services (Northern)
Northern Region | Te Tai Raki

23 August 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

Dominion Road School - 17/11/2017

Summary

Dominion Road School caters for children in Years 1 to 6 and currently has a roll of 374 children. Māori children make up about 10 percent of the roll and Pacific children about 33 percent, with the largest group being Tongan. About one-third of children have English as an additional language.

Since the 2014 ERO evaluation there have been changes in leadership. The board has responded well to the next steps identified in ERO’s 2014 report. Teachers have participated in professional learning to strengthen their collaboration with children and families.

Dominion Road School is one of six schools in the Puketapapa Community of Learning|Kāhui Ako (CoL). The agreed achievement challenges for this CoL include improving achievement in writing and mathematics, engaging with parents/whānau, and using in-depth inquiry to inform teachers’ practice.

How well is the school achieving equitable outcomes for all children?

Dominion Road School is implementing specific strategies to respond to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration. The school’s processes and actions are becoming increasingly effective at helping to achieve excellence and equity for all children. These include a focus on:

  • direction setting that is strategic and focused on improvement

  • collaborative and responsive leadership for equity and excellence

  • increasing professional capability to improve collective capacity

  • implementing a responsive curriculum that promotes student ownership of learning

  • leaders and teachers engaging well with parents and whānau.

Agreed next steps for the school include ensuring that current collaborative practices are reflected in the curriculum document, and continuing to strengthen learning partnerships with parents/whānau. Strengthening internal evaluation will help the school to measure the effectiveness of its practices and systems and will support ongoing improvement.

Children are achieving well. The school demonstrates strong progress toward achieving equity in educational outcomes, supported by effective, sustainable processes and practices.

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.

Equity and excellence

How effectively does this school respond to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration?

Dominion Road School has implemented specific strategies to more effectively respond to Māori and other children whose learning and achievement need acceleration.

School leaders, the board and teachers are reflective and focus on making improvements to help promote equity and excellence. The board and leaders have well documented improvement plans to accelerate children’s progress, including a strategic focus on priority learners. Teachers regularly monitor the progress of learners who are most at risk of not achieving.Leaders and teachers have strengthened assessment processes over time. These processes are ensuring greater consistency in overall teacher judgements in relation to the National Standards.

The school’s 2015 and 2016 achievement data show that about two-thirds of children achieve at or above the National Standards in reading. Achievement is slightly higher in mathematics and about three-quarters achieve at or above the standard in writing. The achievement of Pākehā children remains high over time. There is disparity in achievement for some Māori and Pacific learners in reading and mathematics, and for Pacific learners in writing. Recent 2017 achievement data show good shifts in learning and examples of accelerated progress for some learners,including Māori and Pacific, particularly in reading.

Special Education Needs Coordinators closely monitor the achievement of children identified as requiring additional learning support. Leaders and teachers work collaboratively with parents, in-class para-professionals and external agencies to cater for the various learning needs of these children. Achievement information shows that the children make appropriate progress, particularly in literacy.

School conditions supporting equity and excellence

What school processes are effective in enabling achievement of equity and excellence?

The school’s processes and actions are increasingly effective at helping to achieve excellence and equity for all children.

Trustees have a shared commitment to their stewardship role and responsibilities. They use each other’s professional knowledge, expertise and experience. The principal and senior leaders keep trustees well informed about the school’s development.The board has recently completed a review of the school charter, including the vision/whakataukī, values and school code.

The leadership team collaboratively develops and pursues the school’s vision and goals. Leaders and teachers engage in practices, including a Teachers regularly inquire into their practice, adapting and making decisions about how they can better support learners.variety of professional learning opportunities, that build collective capability.

The school’s responsive curriculum supports children to achieve many of the valued student learning outcomes noted in the school’s charter. It is based on a well understood, shared language of learning. The curriculum’s principles of being ‘curious, creative and collaborative’ underpin children’s learning experiences, and assist them to set, monitor and reflect on their goals. Children are offered opportunities to explore ‘passion projects’ that interest them and increase their The school’s curriculum prioritises science, digital technologies and sustainable practices.confidence to become responsible learners.

Curriculum design ensures that children’s cultures are celebrated well. A bicultural focus is becoming more prominent in the school’s curriculum. The principal has actively consulted with local iwi to support the school, and to identify a school whakataukī. The board employs a kaiawhina to improve te reo Māori learning for children and teachers.

Parents and whānau have good opportunities to participate in school events and share in their children’s learning. Student led discussions allow children to share learning goals with their teacher and whānau. The school uses digital technologies successfully to communicate and engage with families about children’s learning.

Positive relationships with local early learning services and the intermediate school are strengthening transition processes for children and families.

Sustainable development for equity and excellence

What further developments are needed in school processes to achieve equity and excellence?

The board and school leaders are committed to improving school processes to achieve greater equity and excellence.

Trustees and the leadership team regularly review their strategic intentions. It would be useful to consider how they can evaluate their effectiveness as a board in supporting the school’s new direction.

Leaders agree that making better use of evaluative critique would strengthen their internal evaluation. This could include measuring the impact of programmes on achieving equitable and excellent outcomes for children, and would provide ongoing assurance for the board about the effectiveness of school practices.

Leaders are committed to engaging with groups of parents, including strengthening learning partnerships with the parents/whānau of those children at risk of not achieving.Māori and Pacific. Good information is shared with parents at hui and fono. These discussions help to strengthen the school’s commitment to improving educational success for Māori children, as Māori, and educational success for Pacific learners. Leaders also acknowledge the importance of

Agreed next steps are to:

  • document the collaborative processes that support current effective teaching and learning strategies
  • strengthen school planning to help promote greater educational success for Māori and Pacific learners.

Board assurance on legal requirements

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:

  • board administration

  • curriculum

  • management of health, safety and welfare

  • personnel management

  • asset management.

During the review, ERO checked the following items because they have a potentially high impact on student safety and wellbeing:

  • emotional safety of students (including prevention of bullying and sexual harassment)

  • physical safety of students

  • teacher registration and certification

  • processes for appointing staff

  • stand down, suspension, expulsion and exclusion of students

  • attendance

  • school policies in relation to meeting the requirements of the Vulnerable Children Act 2014.

Provision for international students

The school is a signatory to the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 (the Code) established under section 238F of the Education Act 1989. The school has attested that it complies with all aspects of the Code.

At the time of this review there were six international students attending the school.

International students at Dominion Road School are provided with very good levels of pastoral care. They are supported to achieve educational success and to integrate into the school community. Effective systems are in place to monitor compliance with the Code.

Going forward

How well placed is the school to accelerate the achievement of all children who need it?

Children are achieving well. The school demonstrates strong progress toward achieving equity in educational outcomes, supported by effective, sustainable processes and practices.

ERO is likely to carry out the next review in three years.

Violet Tu’uga Stevenson

Deputy Chief Review Officer Northern (Acting)

17 November 2017

About the school

Location

Mt Roskill, Auckland

Ministry of Education profile number

1261

School type

Contributing

School roll

374

Gender composition

Boys 53% Girls 47%

Ethnic composition

Pākehā
Māori
Tongan
Samoan
Chinese
Middle Eastern
Indian
Cook Islands Māori
African
other Asian
other

16%
9%
16%
12%
10%
8%
7%
5%
4%
10%
3%

Provision of Māori medium education

No

Review team on site

July 2017

Date of this report

17 November 2017

Most recent ERO report(s)

Education Review
Education Review
Education Review

Novemenber 2014
September 2011
August 2008