Welcome to the new school year at Dilworth.
2023 is a hugely exciting year for our staff and students as we launch new initiatives, facilities and programmes that have been under development for some time.
From curriculum design to the opening of new buildings, athlete development to financial literacy, there’s change and progress aplenty.
Here’s a few of the initiatives to watch out for in 2023:
- We enter our first full year with Child Wise accreditation - the only school in New Zealand to have achieved this significant accreditation in child safeguarding.
- We launch Ako Puāwaitanga, our Flourishing curriculum. This is a new faith and science-based approach to wellbeing that’s been designed and tailored to Dilworth students.
- We welcome our first cohort of Year 7 day students, and look forward to operating a composite day student and boarding Year 7 at the Junior Campus for the first time.
- All year levels will ultimately spend part of their school journey at the Mangatāwhiri Campus (formerly known as the Rural Campus), as we launch our integrated Learning in the Outdoors curriculum. In 2023, that will include Year 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 students.
- We officially open our brand-new, architecturally designed 96-bed Year 9 boarding house at the Senior Campus.
- Our first athlete development programme kicks off, led by former All Black Ant Strachan, our Head of Athlete and Coach Development.
- Isabella Dilworth Lodge is up and running – this is a family-run home situated on the Junior Campus that provides additional wraparound support to students when they need it.
- We commence our fully aligned and redesigned junior curriculum, which sees music, languages, financial literacy, Māori performing arts, sign language and more introduced to all junior students.
- Our new chef Craig Johnston has reset our menus and the way we deliver food at Dilworth, because we know the importance that good nutrition plays in learning.
Headmaster Dan Reddiex said it was an exciting time for Dilworth.
“We’ve spent two years redesigning the school - covering all aspects of the student experience - and we’ll be seeing these efforts come to fruition in 2023 as all the planning is put into practice,” he said.
“It’s all driven by the opportunity and desire to make a significant and lasting impact on young people’s lives and their families. That’s our purpose.”