Circle Of Care: Students
- Report cards were sent home on March 5th and schools will dismiss one hour early on Wednesday, March 10th and Thursday, March 11th for the opportunity for parent teacher The vast majority of meetings will be virtual or phone calls. (1b)
- Welcoming You to Kindergarten! KinderSPARK! And SPARK! To Kindergarten: Registration is now open for families to join these two wonderful and supportive transition programs which kick off in April. (1b)
- The “Seamless Day Pilot Project” is beginning in March at West Sechelt Elementary using a Ministry of Education grant, and is anticipated to continue through the 2021/ 2022 school year. This innovative program welcomes young students to before and after school care with an early childhood educator. The program will be monitored for effectiveness and efficiency and may then be expanded in future years. (1b)
- In August of 2020 the district established the Sunshine Coast Online program to support parents who were not comfortable sending their children to schools due to the pandemic. At this time, and in anticipation of the province being in a far better place with respect to the pandemic in September, we will be discontinuing Sunshine Coast Online for K to grade 9 students at the end of June, 2021. Parents were notified at the beginning of this school year that their children would be able to return to the school at which they were enrolled as of June 2020. (1b)
- February 24th was Pink Shirt Day: This year’s theme was ‘Lift Each Other Up’. Empathy, compassion & kindness are important to us. When you are being kind, everyone is included and accepted for whom they are. Kindness is always a choice worth making. Our schools always find creative ways to show their commitment to kindness & lift each other up! (1f)
- The Story Behind the Art: Students and staff members from Langdale and Cedar Grove have enjoyed the travelling gallery of Salish Weave prints by Coast Salish artists. The students encounter the prints through experience and sharing, facilitated by Indigenous Learning staff. (1h)
- Gender Equality in the Work Place: The Industry Training Authority (ITA) is developing a strategy to shift the gender balance of the trades training workforce from its current landscape – one that is predominantly populated by men – to one that is more diverse and inclusive. We are proud of the many opportunities that our students have as our staff encourage everyone to try new skills that can lead to exciting futures that are freed from a focus on gender stereotypes! (1l)
Circle of Care: Staff
- Trauma Sensitive Practice in Turbulent Times with Kim Bartel: 30 staff members, including teachers, counsellors and EAs, are participating in a unique series of four webinars and discussion sessions that addresses the dynamics of heightened emotion, allowing school-based practitioners to explore trauma-sensitive practice in real-time – bringing the theory into action. (2a, 2b, 2c, 2d)
- CLEVR: Across the district we heard a need for increased efficiency and transparency related to the workflow and data of our central referral system. With our new system CLEVR, workflow is fully automated and tracked within a notifications board and data is easily accessible. Increasing efficiency and allowing for real time data allows our school staff to spend more time with students empowered by relevant information to improve responsiveness, program planning and communicate to families. (2a, 2c)
- Numeracy support for teachers:
- MathUP is an online tool designed to support teachers in learning & teaching math. National expert, Marion Small, has done an exceptional job of helping educators teach with intention, ask rich questions, teach three-part lessons, consolidate students’ learning and gain math content knowledge.
- Intermediate teachers have met monthly with Marc Garneau and Selina Millar to engage in collaborative exploration of this math support. (2b)
Circle of Care: Community
- Askable Adult Workshops for Families: 120 families have registered, across the district, to participate in their choice of 4 workshops presented by Jessica Wollen from Shift Education:
- Primary (K-3)
- Intermediate (4-7)
- Secondary (8-12)
- Neurodiverse Learners (all ages)- Learn to better support the neurodiverse learners in your life. Learn Strategies and resources to support health education at home.
- Recordings of each session will be made available through our district YouTube channel following the events. (2e, 3a)
- NSMEC Grade 3 Biodiversity of the Salish Sea and Grade 6 Human Impacts on the Salish Sea programs: Ten grade 3 classes across the district are currently participating in the Biodiversity of the Salish Sea program with our community partners at NSMEC and grade 6 students are set to take part in their program this May. (3c)