1. Students
a. Seven experienced educators assessed the grade 4 and 7 Foundation Skills Assessments for our district to enable us to plan effectively for continued student improvement in Literacy and Numeracy.
b. WE DAY – 212 students and teachers had an amazing day listening to Craig and Mark Kielburger, Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, Peter Mansbridge and students from all over BC talk about Mental Health and global citizenship. It was an amazing experience! A group of our students and sponsor teacher, Laurie MacHale were invited to the Honoured Guests’ Breakfast to hear about the new upcoming pilot of WE Wellbeing that we are rolling out this January.
c. Students excitedly participated in elementary Volleyball tournaments for grades 4 to 7 in November. Many thanks to Jim Gray for massive amounts of coordination and experience to make it all happen.
d. Our students will be bursting with song and celebration during the run up to the holiday season!
2. Staff
a. Student Support Service Teachers met on November 30th for a full day of training on the new MyEd Competency Based IEP and will be continuing to move our district forward in this area.
b. January Non-Instructional Day. (2a) Most educators will participate in school-based activities. Other options for teachers in the district include:
i. Elementary:
1. Uncovering the Core Competencies
2. Core Competencies Literacy and Self-Assessment
3. Teaching Personal Safety/Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention for Intermediate Students
4. Grade 4 – 7 teachers: Learning about, “Kids in the Know” sexual abuse prevention/personal safety program.
ii. Secondary:
1. Science World
2. ERAC,
3. Google Apps and Read and Write.
c. Career Education staff attended the Career Education Society Annual Conference to develop a wider array of teaching and learning ideas for our students’ career preparation.
d. Teacher Librarians facilitated an opportunity for secondary teachers and school leaders to review educational materials from ERAC and several BC publishers. The new curriculum is motivating teachers to look at new resources and pedagogy to effectively teach the revised BC Curriculum.
e. Teachers at Elphinstone attended the first Mental Health Literacy Go To Educator training on November 27th – thanks to staff, Wendy Charters and Susan Bailey for delivering this important curriculum.
3. Community
a. The District Parent Advisory Council examined the relationship of technology and learning at the November DPAC meeting at PHSS. The next meeting will be on January. 24th at Elphinstone Secondary School.
b. The Habitat For Humanity Key Ceremony for 3 families at the Wilson Creek Sunshine Coast Village took place in November. The District’s Train in Trades Carpentry program is a partnership with Habitat For Humanity to build the homes while gaining career skills.
c. Our first Grade 7 drug panel took place at Gibsons Elementary on Dec. 4th – big thanks to our partners at CYMH, VCH, RCMP, Community Services and the local GP’s for supporting this initiative.
d. Parent Engagement: regular sharing of videos to celebrate the importance of family connections.