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TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
& BOARD OF TRUSTEES |
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M. V.
BEATTIE ELEMENTARY |
SCHOOL
YEAR 2009/2010 |
SCHOOL
NUMBER 08389017 |
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A.
SCHOOL
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SCHOOL
MISSION STATEMENT Our
mission is to educate students to be Creative,
academic, thoughtful and successful (CATS). Our
vision is that in our school we will become a “Professional Learning
Community” by achieving excellence in learning, taking pride in our accomplishments
and respecting and valuing our school community. |
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SCHOOL
PROFILE / UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS
(including staffing and special education assignments) The
following is from the latest census information (2006); some information is from
a previous census. MV Beattie is the only elementary school (246
students, plus an additional 83 Strong Start students) in the city of Enderby
which has a population of approximately 3134 people (Enderby Community
Data-2008). In our community 21% are single parent families (compared to 16%
B. C.) and the median family income is $34,936 ($20,000 less than the provincial average). Unemployment
is 12.4% compared to B.C. at 8.5%. Although we have a core of long term
resident middle class families, we are faced with a high turnover of 15-20 %
of our students between June and September. This is because there are a number
of families needing and using lower cost housing in this area. Many of our families
and students have and do change communities and schools often. In addition,
the city borders on the Spallumcheen Indian Reservation and we have 61 (25 %)
First Nations ancestry students; approximately half of our First Nations
students live on reserve and half off reserve. In addition our EDI scores, while improving
continue to be below provincial and district levels. Our aging facility has many major concerns
as it is made up of two older buildings; the Brick Building was built 1913
and was restored after a fire in 1975. We are currently working with MQN Architects
in Vernon with the support and commitment of the Ministry of Education and School
District to design and build a new school.
Total
Staff Teaching
staff 16; CEA’s 11; FNSW
2, Custodial 2; Clerical 1; Administration 2; Library .50; Music .65;
LRT 1.2, 1.0 Strong Start (ECW) Total
students
246 k-7 students girls 127(52%) boys 119 (48%) 83 strong start
students First Nations students
61 girls 25 (41%) boys 36 (59%) First
Nations Literacy Program Grade 4-7, 10 students Learning
Resource Teachers Low Incident
students
19 students (43 categorized students –
1701 Verification form) High Incident
Students. Approximately 60 students receive service. Speech
and Language (.5) 15+ students waiting for
assessment of which many are suspected to be priority 1. Counselling
(.2)
Primarily resources used for assessment and school based team input. Attendance
2006-07 6.9 % absenteeism rate 2007-08 6.1 % absenteeism rate 2008-09 4.9% absenteeism rate Our absenteeism has continued to improve
dramatically the past few years (29% improvement). The
demographics of our community are unique, therefore our school has introduced
a Social Responsibility program (based primarily on the belief of Restitution
and Relationship building) |
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GOAL STATEMENT # 1: To continue
to develop social responsibility,
positive interpersonal relationships
and building connections with all students through a collaborative
approach which includes staff, students and parents and continues to focus on
student and school pride. 1a. Continue
to foster relationships with First Nations families through Bridging the Communities,
special school events, and cultural activities and connections. |
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Rationale:
We have had a significant
decline in ‘major’ office referrals the past several years– 69% reduction in 2007-08(see graph
#1). This year we have continued with
a similar reduced number of office referrals.
This is due in part to the following:
a) Staff wide implementation and
comfort with Restitution b) Efforts of students and staff to
make connections c) Smaller student population d) Opening week activities e) Increased supervision f) Number of extra-curricular activities
at lunch (particularly floor hockey, rugby, Battle of the Books, school play,
mountain biking, cross country, volleyball, golf and basketball) g) Strong, skilled classroom
teachers Further, as a staff we believe
in the research that a majority of student success is supported by and attributed
to Positive Human Interactions within a school (78%- Discipline with Love and
Logic, Cline/Fay, and also by Dianne Gossen and others). Building
on our program of the past three years, we will continue our opening week social
responsibility lessons. We have also
included specific grade and activity lessons plans, school wide activities and
grade group work. We will continue
this approach this year. Further we
will follow up with classroom and school beliefs developed with our students,
reviewing these throughout the year. This
goal is also related to and linked to our goal of continuing to build
positive relationships and ensuring that every student is connected to peers
and to an adult or adults in the school.
We have laid out a week long, cross grade plan to start our school
year, including lessons, daily assemblies, and student led activities. Attendance is usually correlated
with student and parent satisfaction and a sense of connectedness to the
school. The current rate of 4.9%
absenteeism (a 29% improvement) suggests that students do feel a great sense
of connection with the school. |
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Performance Indicators and Data
Analysis: GRAPH
1 GRAPH
2 GRAPH
3 GRAPH
4 |
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Targets: Create a safe environment for
all students all of the time at M. V. Beattie. Maintain or improve the current
level of office referrals (e.g. after a dramatic decrease work hard to
maintain - (not return to previous
levels). E.g. continue average of less
than 25 office referrals per month (ultimate goal of less than 1 per day). Continue our restitution
program, creation and publication of a code of conduct, review school wide
expectations the first week. Target.
Through signing page in planner, ensure that all parents have seen and
reviewed the code of conduct and expectations, goal 95%. Maintain clear ‘bottom line
behaviours’ that are understood school wide and lead to greater consistency
from classroom to classroom and classroom to playground. This is an area that requires even greater
focus and effort this year. Refine and define what an office
referral is. Create and implement
school wide standards in terms of parent contacts, steps to implement before
office referrals, student support). Ensure that every student
(target 100%) has an adult that ‘knows’ them and they are connected to (staff
awareness surveys). Goal that all classes obtain at
least 60% of students fully meeting social responsibility performance
standards on teacher year end assessments (see graph #3) Maintain absenteeism rate below
5% (see graph #4) |
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Action Plan/Strategies: Have
already created a teacher team to lead and direct our efforts in social
responsibility and relationships. Release
time for staff in June to plan first week of social responsibility training
and education for students. Further development
of classroom, grade and cross grade lessons regarding school wide
expectations. Continuation
and refinement of student teams that encourage cross grade responsibility and
support. Continue
publication of school code of conduct and expectations in student planners. Half day
Relationship, Connections and Restitution training of ALL staff the first
Pro-d day in September. -
Bring
in Noon Hour Supervisors, CEA’s, Clerical staff (possibly bus drivers) to
review importance of adult connections, strategies for restitution, and
consistency of discipline referrals and processes. Ongoing training
of Noon Hour Supervisors in Restitution strategies and school wide
expectations and goals. Develop
a school wide Restitution expectation where the operational mode of all
students supports compassionate respectful behaviour. Review
of Michelle Borba’s work around moral intelligence and teachings. Staff
book club: Building Moral
Intelligence-Michelle Borba Hold on to your
kids – Gabor Mate/Gordon Neufeld Staff
commitment to do professional development activities together around social
responsibility and relationships e.g. Gordon Neufeld Professional
Development Opportunity Continue
with a grade 6/7 anti-bullying
team/leadership team Grade 7
participation in Me to We Day in Vancouver School
wide participation in Me to We Buddy
classes Multi-age
groupings Have ‘regular’
sociograms in classes to identify any students that are potential isolates. Ensure
that every student has an adult they are connected to through staff and
student surveys. Continue
Bridging the Community program to increase connections and contacts with our
First Nation’s families and students Further
develop parent restitution training evenings and opportunities. Increase
number of Personalized student posters around respect, pride, bullying
(rather than commercial posters), to personalize and ‘connect’ students to
each other and the school. Contact
with parents of students who have extended absences. Continue
with our breakfast and lunch programs which support many of our social
responsibility and ‘relationship connectedness’ goals. Creation of a scrap-book
outlining all activities for this goal (including activities, pictures,
achievements, etc.) EXAMPLE
1 RESPECT Is
being a good sport. James
Ginther Treat
others he way you want to be treated.
Lexi
McGeachy Solving
problems with your words. Malique
Tatum Is
Manners. Adele
Halper Respect
is something
you earn, by giving it. Jasmine Linz Is being a good sport . James Ginther Treat others the way you want to be
treated. Lexi McGeachy Solving problems with your words. Malique Tatum Is Manners.
Adele Halper Respect is something you earn, by giving it. Jasmine Linz Is being a good sport . James Ginther Treat others the way you want to be
treated. Lexi McGeachy Solving problems with your words. Malique Tatum Is Manners.
Adele Halper Respect is something you earn, by giving it. Jasmine Linz Is being a good sport . James Ginther Treat others the way you want to be
treated. Lexi McGeachy Solving problems with your words. Malique Tatum Is Manners.
Adele Halper Respect is something you earn, by giving it. Jasmine Linz Is being a good sport . James Ginther Treat others the way you want to be
treated. Lexi McGeachy Solving problems with your words. Malique Tatum Is Manners.
Adele Halper Respect is something you earn, by giving it. Jasmine Linz Is being a good sport . James Ginther Treat others the way you want to be
treated. Lexi McGeachy Solving problems with your words. Malique Tatum Is Manners.
Adele Halper Respect is something you earn, by giving it. Jasmine Linz |
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GOAL 2 STATEMENT: To
improve the performance of all students in Writing with specific support for
Aboriginal students. |
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Performance Indicators and Data
Analysis
School
Wide Results: Our School Wide Write
results show (see Graph #5 –this year’s Grade 6’s for a ‘typical
example’) Show considerable growth
over each year (a general increase in student performance) using the
performance standards (4 point scale), with the expected drop over each
summer and accompanying growth over the year.
These results show that our efforts in writing continue to have
success and need to be maintained. Our
teacher year end assessments demonstrate that writing (particularly in grades
2, 3 and 6-see Graph #6) are rated by teachers as our students’ greatest area
of need, and while the overall trend is of improvement in writing; writing
continues to be an area where our students need support, instruction and
improvement. There is also some
indications from this year’s FSA writing results that our grade 4 and 7
students may have had less than 50% meeting expectations (this would
reinforce the year end teacher assessments – grade 3’s now 4’s and grade 6’s
now 7’s). Our
writing cohort analysis (using teacher year assessments-see Graph #7) show
general growth and improvement in grades 1-4, then a levelling off in grade 5
and then a drop for our grade 6 and 7 students. This trend needs to be addressed and
supported through focus on writing skills in the intermediate grades. FSA
results demonstrate that writing is generally strength (Grade 4 and 7
students, all students and First Nations’ students all over 75% fully meeting
expectations). Of note, this is OLD
DATA – and the FSA results this year are on a different scale (3 point) than
in previous years and frankly are very problematic for use this year.
Indications from the FSA gathered this year (and there are several concerns
in using this data) do indicate a considerable drop in writing (41% fully
meeting grade 4, and 39% grade 7) and that writing is rated lower than
Reading (56% and 61%), and Numeracy (54% and 66%). GRAPH
5 GRAPH
6 GRAPH
7 GRAPH
8 GRAPH
9 |
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Targets:
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Action Plans/Strategies: Form a teacher team to lead and
direct our efforts in writing Continue with the PALS program. (To improve and assist our pre-school and
early primary students) Write to publish. Continue lunch hour homework
support program and Friday afternoon homework support program. Continue with 2 School Wide
Writes. Use of Benchmarks. Continue professional
development (in-class model) with Sherry Devins and writing. Creation of a scrap-book
outlining all activities for this goal (including activities, pictures,
achievements, etc). |
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GOAL 3 STATEMENT: To
foster and promote the student acquisition of Creativity and 21st Century Skills |
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Performance Indicators and Data
Analysis Staff
professional development, readings, and research have led to an increased
focus on Creativity and the need for 21st century skills for
students (see- Ken Robinson, Joel Shimoji, etc.). Further, this aligns with our mission
statement that MV Beattie students are CREATIVE, academic, thoughtful and
SUCCESFUL. Further our belief is that
the focus on Creativity offers our students opportunities that are in many
ways unique to our district. Namely, creative
opportunities such as an Intermediate Drama Production, Science Fair, Talent
Show. In class, the focus is on dance,
drama, art, music that supports different modes of student learning, and also
closely aligns with our First Nations cultural components. In addition the addition of Activity based
learning (experiential learning) and further development of our
‘explorations’ program for grade 6/7 students supports this. Furthermore,
the encouragement of those skills that have been identified as essential to
the coming workforce (critical thinking, creativity, team work, interpersonal
skills, and problem solving) will be supported and encouraged in classroom
activities, multi-grade and buddy class opportunities. Finally
support curriculum delivery of academic areas that support the acquisition of
21st century skills (team work, critical thinking, open-ended
problem solving, group work, cooperation, communication skills, creativity,
etc.) |
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Targets:
(see action plan/strategies). We recognize this as a difficult
goal to ‘measure’. However, it can be
assessed by participation rates in many of the activities (drama, Science Fair,
Talent Show, etc.) Percentage of time devoted to
drama and dance in class. Student surveys of activity levels
and satisfaction with (drama, dance, music, art, etc.) |
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Action
Plan/Strategies Form a teacher team to lead and
direct our efforts in creativity and 21st century skills. Drama productions Drama opportunities in classes Intermediates to deliver social
responsibility lessons via drama in classes Increase focus on dance in
Physical Education Continuation of our fine music
program including productions for Christmas Concert, Music Monday and Band
Performance. Science Fair Talent Show Student Leadership Team Social Responsibility student
team Use
of creative teaching methods in academic areas that support problem solving,
critical thinking, group work, creativity, and communication. Continuation
of explorations program. Activity
based and experiential learning activities Creation of a scrap-book
outlining all activities for this goal (including activities, pictures,
achievements, etc). |
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C. SCHOOL GENERATED COMMUNITY CONSULTATION (staff, parents, students and, where applicable, aboriginal community) |
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M.V. Beattie
administration and teachers work closely with our PAC. We again invited parents to be part of our School
Growth planning day (our PAC president did attend and is part of our Creativity-21st
Century skills team). PAC meetings include a
place for staff representatives to give updates and ask questions. This year
on 3 occasions there have also been short ‘educational presentations’ at the
PAC meetings. We have also had a
parent education Restitution evening attended by 10 parents. The main goal is
communication and making connections between parents and staff. Agenda books are the main
vehicle of communication between parents and teachers. Several classes use
monthly newsletters while other classrooms use newsletters for special
events. In addition, we believe we have an open door policy at our school
where parents are encouraged to talk briefly with teachers before class or
after class in the afternoon. For longer discussions, we encourage staff and
parents to set up convenient times to discuss issues pertaining to a child’s
education. Further we have monthly
newsletters and our school website is updated ‘most’ weeks with upcoming
events and current information. We
also have students do morning announcements. The communication with
our Aboriginal community continues to be a model for the district. This year we again had several “Bridging
the Communities Dinners”, and had a First Nations Winter Celebration. ‘Bridging the Communities’ involves the
school community going to the Aboriginal community going to the reservation
and putting on workshops for parents followed by a dinner and informal
discussion. |
D. SCHOOL GENERATED COMMUNICATIONS |
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The
community is informed about the School Goals and achievements in the
following ways: newsletters, Growth Plan Documents, PAC newsletters, PAC
meetings, Joint Parent-Teacher Meetings, School Website, events board at the
front of the school, daily student announcements and the local newspaper
(North Valley Echo). Monthly
newsletters (occasionally more often) are sent home. They outline issues
around our school and always give a calendar of upcoming events where parents
are invited to appropriate activities such as assemblies, performances,
sports functions and special events.
This year we have continued with our newsletter draws, and newsletter
information searches for families. Information on school goals is included in
most newsletters. Most
teachers publish their own classroom newsletter on a regular basis. These are
personal newsletters pertinent to the issues around a particular classroom. For
special events held at M. V. Beattie we often ask the community newspaper to
take a picture and show what we are doing at our school; this happens about
30 times a year. The local paper
continues to provide great coverage. Further
we have had extensive coverage in the District’s Newsletter. We
have an extensive extracurricular program:
Rugby, Volleyball, Floor Hockey, Basketball, Track and Field, Cross
Country, Drama, Science Fair, Mountain Biking, Math Challenges, Battle of the
Books and much more. This is often one
of the best ways of parent contact and interaction (and support). |
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Signature |
Date |
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Dale
White |
Signature |
Date |
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Laurie
Horsman |
Signature |
Date |
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Will
Fazan |
Signature |
Date |
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_______________________________ Carl
Cooper |
_____________________________________ Signature |
________________________ Date |
I
confirm that the requirements of SD #83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap) School
Planning Council Policy have been fulfilled.
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Superintendent’s
Name |
Signature |
Date |