SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 83 |
SCHOOL PLANNING COUNCIL REPORT TO SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS & BOARD OF TRUSTEES |
SCHOOL NAME Falkland Elementary |
SCHOOL YEAR 2009/2010 |
SCHOOL NUMBER 08389011 |
SCHOOL MISSION STATEMENT and UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS |
SCHOOL MISSION STATEMENT Our mission is to facilitate students’ emotional, social, physical, and intellectual development in a safe, caring environment. School Motto: Choose to be and do your best.
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Falkland Elementary is a small rural school located in downtown Falkland. Many students live in the neighbouring countryside. Some students are driven from Westwold. Approximately half are bussed to school. Our student population is diverse as noted above. Members of the community work in the agriculture or forestry industry or operate small businesses. Many parents commute to Armstrong, Vernon, or Kamloops for their work. The school is a focal point in the community with many people coming to school events whether or not they have children attending the school. Student performances and Christmas Concerts always play to a full house. The community
supports the swimming program for students in kindergarten to grade 5 and students in grades 6 and 7 participate in a babysitting/home safe course every other year, taught by a parent. The staff at Falkland Elementary is dedicated, positive, enthusiastic and caring. We have 4.9 FTE teachers and three C.E.A.’s (Certified Education Assistants). With such a small staff, individuals assume many additional responsibilities in order to provide opportunities for students. Teachers coach soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross-country running, track and field, leadership, and put together a grade 7 yearbook, as well as working with students to organize talent shows, dances, and other seasonal events in addition to their regular teaching assignments.
A local moms and tots Learn and Play program operates out of the school on Monday mornings and the Boys and Girls Club runs an after school club Tuesdays and Thursdays after school. An after school sports club is run by parent volunteers on Wednesdays after school. There are also dance lessons Mondays after school from 3:00-6:00 pm. Parents and community members also volunteer generously to benefit our students. Some of their activities include assisting in classrooms, assisting with the Winter Rec. program, teaching the babysitting/home safe programs, the DARE program, and driving for team sports and field trips. Other parents are actively involved in the
Parent Advisory Council, the School Planning Council, the Safe Arrival and Breakfast Club programs, the bi-weekly healthy hot lunch program, the milk program, and various fund-raising projects. A new playground was purchased by the P.A.C. for the school and was installed this fall by parents and staff. |
SCHOOL GOALS |
GOAL 1 STATEMENT: To improve students’ ability to identify their role in conflicts and to accept responsibility for their actions. To work with students to improve their ability to solve conflicts and to increase their social responsibility. |
Rationale: Helping students in their ability to resolve conflicts (solve problems) is an important daily activity at any school. Our staff is committed to using the principles of Restitution school-wide in helping students in conflict resolution while at the same time maintaining aspects of E.B.S. involving pre-teaching and positive reinforcement of expected behaviours. Learning packages are used at the office to provide an opportunity for students to reflect on their behaviour and the consequences of their actions. Our school beliefs (Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe) are well known by all students, yet our most recent bully survey results indicated that there are still 8% of students who feel bullied at our school. This is a slight increase from last year. However, rather than using happy, sad, and neutral as options, students were asked to choose only between happy and sad. Also, the types of bullying are becoming increasingly less severe and students are more apt to identify minor comments as bullying. This is an area we will need to focus on. We continue to focus on reinforcing these beliefs in a variety of ways and individual class beliefs are posted in all common areas of the school. Regular assemblies and reminders are used to review and reinforce expected behaviours on an ongoing basis. We feel that
this has helped to develop the students’ understanding of what socially responsible behaviour looks like, sounds like and feels like at school. However, we still feel the need to continue to frequently and effectively address issues and concerns amongst students so weekly class meetings have been implemented in all classes since September 2008. We have taught students to use the Social Responsibility Performance Standards “Solving Problems in a Peaceful Way” to assess their own behaviour and students have demonstrated a higher level of self analysis and responsibility with regards to their own behaviour. We have also noticed that the types of behaviours described as bullying are of are different (53% of identified incidents are of bullying are verbal. Office referrals have decreased this year (25 from September to April, 2009 as compared with125 referrals from September to May 2008). We will continue to reinforce and re-teach these expectations and provide students with opportunities to develop socially responsible behaviours through leadership opportunities and regular review. |
Performance Indicators and Data Analysis o Student and parent satisfaction surveys o Student Bully Survey (twice/year) o Office referrals (125 in 2008; 25 in 2009) |
Targets: All students are taught to use the Performance Standards Solving Problems in Peaceful Ways rubric; the number and severity of office referrals will decrease; satisfaction survey results to the question “At school, are you bullied, teased, or picked on?” will be 90% indicating “few times” or “at no time”; number of identified bullies will decrease on bully survey.
2008 Satisfaction Survey Results: Parent: 90% Grade 4: 88% Grade 7: 86%2009 Satisfaction Survey Results: Parent: Grade 4: Grade 7: School Bully Survey results: October 2006: 9% identified as bullies May 2007: 7% identified as bullies October 2007: 14% identified as bullies March 2008: 15% identified as bullies October 2008: 11% identified as bullies April 2009 % identified as bullies |
Considerations: Office referrals and bully survey results indicate a need to continue to focus on respectful behaviour towards others and to continue to develop skills which create a safe and respectful school environment. We have noticed that the severity and number of office referrals has diminished this year. |
Action Plan/Strategies: o School wide communication at assemblies and on morning announcements o Student self assessments and teacher assessments using Social Responsibility Performance
Standard o Multi-age groupings activities throughout the year o 1st Nations Support Worker: Circle of Courage lessons; Honour Your Health Focus o
Get Set character development program used with grades 6/7 classo Office Referrals entered in CIMSo 30 second interventionso Restitution and E.B.S. strategies usedo Posters re: rights and responsibilities in common areaso Bully survey twice a year (December and April)o Start-up (September): week long focus on social
responsibilityo Social Responsibility rubric (1-4 scale) reviewed and referred to regularlyo Student secretaries before school; recess; luncho Roots of Empathy program for our K,1,2 class (staff member
trained and program implemented 2008/2009)o Class and school social contracts and beliefs established and posted in common areaso P.E. equipment monitors (recess and lunch)o Milk “moonitors” daily at luncho Weekly class meetings in all classes |
GOAL 2 STATEMENT: To improve students’ comprehension skills by teaching them to develop their abilities to connect, question, visualize, infer, and transform. |
Rationale: Classroom observations indicate the need for students to demonstrate more in-depth comprehension of what they read. |
Performance Indicators and Data Analysis: o PM Benchmarks o Cathie Peters reading assessment o Tracking form for students’ files initiated September 2006o BC Performance Standards Reading rubrico Demonstrated through oral and written language |
Targets: o 80% of students will meet or exceed expectations on the reading comprehension on report cards o 80% of students will achieve at or beyond grade level using the Benchmarks
or Cathie Peters assessment
Students meeting or exceeding expectations on report cards: (2008) (2009) Grade 1 50% Grade 2 29% Grade 3 58% Grade 4 70% Grade 5 56% Grade 6 60% Grade 7 69% Currently ____of students are fully meeting or exceeding expectations on their report cards for their classroom reading. |
Considerations: The data shows that there continues to be a need to develop students’ ability to comprehend what they read and fully demonstrate this understanding both in their writing and spoken communication. . |
Action Plan/Strategies: o Build resource sharing into staff meetings: Dawn Reithaug materials; Reading 44 strategies; Reading Power (Adrienne Gear) and Cathie Peters strategies to develop increased comprehension of reading material o Direct instruction of reading strategies, figuring out unknown words, word wall words o Four Blocks strategies o Team planning time to discuss strategies o Adrienne Gear non-fiction workshop attended by staff |
GOAL 3 STATEMENT: Teachers will become proficient with the new Math Performance Standards to better assess students’ individual Math needs and to address the needs of multi-grade classes. |
Rationale: Teachers would like to better acquaint themselves with the new Math performance standards to ensure that they are teaching the relevant curriculum to their students. This is particularly important due to the multi-grade class nature of our school. |
Performance Indicators and Data Analysis: · BC Performance Standards for Math (2008) |
Targets: · 80% of students will fully meet or exceed expectations on their report cards for their classroom Math assignments based on the BC Performance Standards Math rubrics Students meeting or exceeding expectations on report cards:
(2009) Grade 1 % Grade 2 % Grade 3 % Grade 4 % Grade 5 % Grade 6 % Grade 7 % Curently, ____% of students are meeting or exceeding expectations on report
cards. · All teachers will become proficient with and knowledgeable of the new Math Performance standards and will use them to increase student achievement in Math |
Considerations: With all of our classes being multi-grade, and including special needs students, the teachers feel that it is necessary to ensure that they are well versed with the new Math Performance standards in order to streamline the delivery of the Math curriculum and to ensure that students’ needs are met and resources are utilized effectively. |
Action Plan/Strategies: o Use Pro. D. time to analyze and discuss the new Math Performance standards o Continue the gradual implementation of Math Makes Sense materials as they pertain to the performance standardso Purchase additional resources (books; manipulatives; specialist teachers)o Math focus nights for parents and students o Classes will continue to be “platooned” to accommodate two grade levels per group |
C. SCHOOL GENERATED COMMUNITY CONSULTATION (staff, parents, students and, where applicable, aboriginal community) |
The community is involved in developing and implementing the School Goals in the following ways: § Staff meetingsst Nations Support Worker |
D. SCHOOL GENERATED COMMUNICATIONS |
GOAL 4 STATEMENT: To increase the role of the fine arts in our curriculum( visual and performing art as well as music programs). |
Rationale: Teachers feel that we do many art activities but that there needs to be a focussed approach to planning and implementing these activities so that a scope and sequence of activities can be followed as students go through our school. |
Performance Indicators and Data Analysis: · BC Performance Standards for Math (2008) · Grade 4 and 7 parent and students satisfaction surveys At school my child is learning about the Fine Arts |
Targets: · 80% of students will fully meet or exceed expectations on their report cards for their classroom Fine Arts assignments based on the BC Performance Standards Fine Arts and Music rubrics Students meeting or exceeding expectations on report cards:
(2009) Grade 1 % Grade 2 % Grade 3 % Grade 4 % Grade 5 % Grade 6 % Grade 7 % Curently, ____% of students are meeting or exceeding expectations on report
cards. · All teachers will work together to develop a Fine Arts curriculum for the school that will expose students to a consistent scope and sequence of Fine Arts activities throughout their K-7 schooling |
Considerations: We would like a more focussed and organized approach to teaching the Fine Arts at our school. |
Action Plan/Strategies: o Use Pro. D. time to organize a scope and sequence of activities for all grade levelso Research and connect with resident and community specialists in a variety of the fine artso Develop a catalogue of projects and instructors for the planned activities |
C. SCHOOL GENERATED COMMUNITY CONSULTATION (staff, parents, students and, where applicable, aboriginal community) |
The community is involved in developing and implementing the School Goals in the following ways: § Staff meetingsst Nations Support Worker |
D. SCHOOL GENERATED COMMUNICATIONS |
The community is informed about the School Goals and achievements in the following ways: § Newsletters and monthly calendar (paper copy sent home and posted on school website) |
The community is informed about the School Goals and achievements in the following ways: § Newsletters and monthly calendar (paper copy sent home and posted on school website) |
School Planning Council: We certify that this report represents the joint effort of the following
Hetty de Wi |
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Parent Member’s Na |
e Signatu |
e Da |
e Stacey Wab |
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Parent Member’s Na |
e Signatu |
e Da |
e Megan Clemitso |
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Parent Member’s Na |
e Signatu |
e Da |
e |
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Teacher Member’s Na |
e Signatu |
e Da |
e Jodi van der Mee |
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Principal’s Na |
e Signatu |
e Da |
e Superintendent: I confirm that the requirements of SD #83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap) School Planning Council Policy have been fulfille
Doug Pearso |
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Superintendent’s Na |
e Signatu |
e Da |
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Goals Accomplished and maintaine
To increase the health of students by integrating physical activity and healthy eating into the daily routine of our school community
2.1 Physical Activity
2.2 Healthy Eati |
g Rationale: It is well known in the media that children today are becoming increasingly inactive and the rate of childhood obesity and diabetes is increasing. We want to be pro-active with our students and teach them to develop healthy eating and activity habits at an early age so that this will become part of their lifestyle. We have incorporated daily fitness as well as PE into our timetable. As well, we have become an Action School. The PAC has supported our goal by making significant changes to the PAC lunch program which now provides healthy selections on a bi-weekly basis. In addition, our breakfast program provides healthy food choice |
. Considerations: The Healthy School goal was developed during the 2007/08 school year with the introduction of daily fitness, healthy lunches, Bounce at the Bell, and an emphasis on exercise and healthy choices. Therefore “baseline data”, which was collected in May, 2007, reflected improvement from over the past ten months. Sportfit testing also indicated a need to improve core strength and flexibility so we introduced weekly school wide yoga and
added core strength exercises to daily fitness. We looked at results for Curl-ups and the Stork Stand as indicators of flexibility and the 800m Run as an indicator of overall fitness. As well, we noted that this year the hike to the flag took a full five minutes less to accomplish than last year. |
Performance Indicators and Data Analysis: · Daily fitness logs in classroo |
s Targets: · 100% of students will increase level of physical activity (Daily fitness logs) May 2008 Sportfit results indicated: Curl-ups 70% of students had improved results Stork Stand 39% of students had improved results 800 m run 70% of students had improved results 2008
Satisfaction Survey results: Are you learning about healthy food and exercise? Grade 4 students: 78% Grade 7 students: 79% Parents: 85% At school do you get exercise?
Grade 4 students: 100% Grade 7 students: 86% Parents: 10 |
% Action Plan/Strategies: · Development of an Action Plan (Action Schools) · School Fruit & Vegetable Snack Program” - a joint initiative of the Ministries of Education, Health and Agriculture implemented September 200 |
       
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