PYP five-year review

A BIG TICK FOR PYP AT DIO

We are incredibly proud of the feedback we received from IB which highlighted the world class Primary Years Programme we deliver at Diocesan Junior school

Each IB school is regularly evaluated to ensure that the standards and practices of its IB programme are maintained.

Evaluation visits support a school’s effort to continually improve the delivery of the programme. As part of the process, the school engages in a self-study to identify the strengths of its programme and identify ways it can continually improve on its delivery of PYP.

Due to COVID, the review took place virtually this year and involved two reviewers online with our staff and students over three days. Although it was somewhat of a challenge to organise with many online discussions with girls, teams of teachers, staff and the Board of Governors, as well as Zoom visits to classrooms, the girls and staff demonstrated very ably the positive learning culture at Dio. Special thanks has been extended to the group of parents who met with the evaluation team via Zoom and spoke so knowledgeably about PYP and their daughters’ learning from a parent perspective.

On the final day, a Zoom meeting was held with the evaluators to hear their findings. As expected, they were very impressed with the PYP being delivered at Dio and also spoke very highly of the staff. Their final statement was that Dio Junior School was a highly impressive school and rated close to the best they have seen for the delivery of the PYP.

They noted that there is a shared understanding of the PYP at all levels across the School – the BOG, principal, staff, parents and students – which all added to their feeling that it is one of the best models they have seen. Special thanks to Nicole Lewis for leading this review in her role as PYP Coordinator.

As a school we have identified some goals for us to work towards going forward. Develop and encourage studentinitiated action: Students showing initiative and taking action in their community as a result of their new learning and knowledge. This links to service learning at Dio. We are currently working with the new Service Learning manager, Lucette Chu, to strengthen service and action learning in the Junior School.

Continue to develop and strengthen our relationships within the community to provide our girls with real-life connections and experiences to their learning.

Your daughter’s programme of inquiry is visible on her year level blog. If you have an area of expertise and are eager to support the programme as a guest speaker or host site visits, we would love to connect with you. Please contact PYP coordinator Nicole Lewis: nlewis@diocesan.school.nz

 An outstanding model of PYP.  Shared understanding of all stakeholders involved in the teaching, learning and assessment of PYP in the Junior School.  Dio students have excellent communication skills. Across all year levels our students could articulate what they love about learning at Dio and could clearly explain what they are learning in their current unit of inquiry.  Evidence that the School goes the extra mile to foster and develop confidence in our students.  Passionate, enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff with a strong culture of collaboration.  Excellent documentation detailing teaching, learning and assessment of PYP in the Junior School.  Wide range of differentiated activities for students provided through planned learning goals to support students to develop understanding of the central idea and lines of inquiry.  Strong specialist and language programme.  Strong culture of IB learner profile and PYP language embedded throughout the Junior School.  Knowledgeable, supportive and active parent community.  Good connections with the wider school community to support units of inquiry.  Great initiatives shown by the School to ensure student voice is evident in learning. For example, groups of students attending collaborative teacher planning meetings, student reflections and student goal setting.  Engaging and learner-centred classroom spaces. Highlights from our evaluation visit