Dilworth Now

Dilworth now.  - Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

“Dilworth recognised the need for a specialist in health and safety and student safeguarding. I work across all three of our campuses, giving advice and guidance to senior leadership and the Board, as well as offering help and support to teachers and other members of staff.” - Stephen Ralph, Director of Health and Safety

Keeping students safe from harm is Dilworth’s highest priority, and the school continues to work incredibly hard to build a new culture from the ground up.

Dilworth employs a Director of Health and Safety and a Head of Safeguarding. The roles work together and have contributed significantly to developing and strengthening a culture where student welfare has become a cornerstone responsibility for everyone employed at the school.

Stephen Ralph, Director of Health and Safety - also known as “Safety Steve” - says his role was established in 2023. “Dilworth recognised the need for a specialist in health and safety and student safeguarding. I work across all three of our campuses, giving advice and guidance to senior leadership and the Board, as well as offering help and support to teachers and other members of staff.”

The other area of student safety where Dilworth has focused it’s efforts to create a new culture is in student safeguarding. Head of Safeguarding, Mattie Naseri, is tasked with one of its most critical roles - leading the school’s systems, processes, and wider culture of student safety and welfare.

Dilworth’s Child Wise accreditation in 2022 affirms the school has met the criteria to be a student-safe environment under the umbrella of the Australian Childhood Foundation. Accreditation included an independent review of the school, which came back with a range of recommendations - none of them optional. “It was a major piece of work” Mattie says. “We’ve implemented every one of the recommendations, but we’re always on a journey to get better. We all work to a philosophy of continuous improvement.”

The school also involves students in its decision-making, ensuring their voices are clearly heard. Mattie: “It’s critical our students know we are listening to them—the school is not about us just making the decisions and them following orders.”

Dilworth now.  - A curriculum to set young people up for life.

“The whole curriculum has been written so there is a pattern, a consistent theme of knowledge  and learning concepts, to ensure  a clear pathway for learners all  the way through from Year Seven to Thirteen.” - Madeline Thompson, Director of Curriculum

Dilworth’s unique and comprehensive curriculum sets it apart on the national educational landscape. The school’s curriculum is made up of three distinct strands: an academic curriculum to develop student learning, Ako Puāwaitanga for wellbeing, and a programme of Learning in the Outdoors to develop emotional resilience and wider life skills. Each component is a critical part of the student experience at every year level.

Dilworth has invested an enormous amount of time, work, and resources over several years to develop this broad and relevant curriculum. It’s been specifically designed and integrated together to give students a superb, all-round education, and their best possible chance of thriving in life beyond school.

The school has full-time subject specialists who teach across both the junior and senior campuses.

Madeline Thompson, Director of Curriculum, says “Having specialists in Years Seven and Eight is quite rare, it means we can make sure younger students get the best instruction in literacy, numeracy, the sciences, and other subjects. The whole curriculum has been written so there is a pattern, a consistent theme of knowledge and learning concepts, to ensure a clear pathway for learners all the way through from Year Seven to Thirteen.”

Dilworth’s recent academic results have been outstanding, with a near 100% pass rate in NCEA. That’s much higher than most equivalent boys’ schools and places Dilworth near the top of the national statistics. The school also offers its own Diploma in place of NCEA Level One.

 

Dilworth now. - Giving Students their Best Chance to Succeed.

“It’s our job to teach them good learning behaviours. Students are critical participants in learning. We need them to be highly active in that role, and using the best strategies we can possibly give them.” - Tonia Calverley, Dilworth’s Director of Teaching and Learning

Dilworth’s core function as a school is to ensure its students receive a first-rate education that will prepare them for life and learning at, and beyond, school to enable them to succeed in any direction they choose.

To stay at the very top of the educational game, Dilworth engages three key strategies: employing superb staff and developing them to be the best teachers and leaders possible; teaching its students the most effective, evidence-based strategies for learning and developing critical thinking; and implementing a specialist curriculum that covers academic learning, student wellbeing, and Learning in the Outdoors.

Tonia Calverley, Dilworth’s Director of Teaching and Learning, says the quality of the teachers employed by the school is the bedrock on which a student’s education will ultimately be built. “I think we can all remember the teachers we had who were really inspiring because they were passionate about their subject and passionate about learning in general.”

A huge emphasis is also placed on teaching students the best strategies to learn well, and to do that, Dilworth has a specialist programme called ‘Learning to Learn’. “We make sure our students understand what good learning looks like, what are the good habits they can learn and apply here at school, and then take with them so they have the capability to succeed when they leave. We’re trying to instill habits that will ensure success well beyond Dilworth.”
 
Tonia says the question most parents want answered is: has all the investment Dilworth has made in teaching and learning paid off? Are their children better learners because of it?

“The answer is yes. We’re seeing greater levels of engagement from students, and better educational outcomes as a result. Our students are benefiting and will continue to benefit into the future."