Superintendent's Monthly Message

 

October 2008

SAFE (School Action for Emergencies)

The recent approval of our School Board Policy on Lockdown follows a tremendous effort in each of our schools over the past year to develop school-specific plans and procedures aimed at improving the safety and security of our students and staff. In co-operation with the RCMP, our local police forces (Summerside & Kensington/Borden-Carleton) and other emergency responders, school staffs have created plans for their respective schools, including special floor plan maps of their schools to indicate areas where students will congregate if there is any type of a threatening situation in their school or the immediate neighbourhood of the school. Later this month - on Oct 20, 21, or 22 - all Western School Board schools will have their first practise or rehearsal to familiarize students with these new procedures. Just as we have had fire drills for a number of years, we are hoping to see our lockdown practises become another school routine. Individual schools will be sending home information on the date and time for their rehearsals so that students, staff, and parents will be aware of this first drill and have the opportunity to discuss the event both before and after it occurs.

PLEASE NOTE: All schools have been asked to lock all exterior doors (except the main entrance) during the school day to prevent unauthorized entry. All visitors - including parents - are asked to report directly to the Main Office and borrow a ‘Visitors Badge’ if needing to go to another part of the building. We ask for your cooperation and understanding of this decision.

Common Assessment Results

The provincial results for the Primary Literacy Assessment (Grade 3 Writing and Reading Comprehension), Elementary Literacy (Grade 6 Reading Comprehension) and Intermediate Mathematics (Grade 9) have just been released with individual student results being sent home to parents. At the school level, staff will be analyzing these results to see where students did well or where they may have experienced particular areas of difficulty. With the assistance of our colleagues at the Department of Education, staff will identify priorities for instruction, both for whole classes of students (i.e. the program) as well as areas of assistance for individual students. The accumulation of these results over successive years of administration will also identify areas of the provincial curriculum that might require change if we are to provide students with the materials, resources, and instructional strategies necessary for maximum growth and development.

In addressing those areas where we need to focus more efforts, such programs as our new Literacy Coaches, the Primary Intervention Program, the Literacy Place resource materials, the increased number of Resource teachers, the additional classroom textbooks and reading materials, the opportunity for teachers and administrators to refine their approaches and supports to students through targeted professional development, and the re-evaluation of the mathematics curriculum (Grades 1 through 9) are all examples of where we are moving forward. While change takes time to make a difference, we are indeed on the right road.

Canadian Student Leadership Conference

With close to 1,000 students, advisors, and volunteers participating in the CSLC, this was a major educational conference for our area, indeed the largest CSLC conference ever held. As a host, Three Oaks Senior High School and its partners did an exceptional job in providing speakers with excellent keynote addresses and meaningful workshops, not to mention the social activities, for these young leaders of Canada. Through many months of planning and with the tremendous co-operation of staff, community volunteers, and billets during the students’ stay, the conference was a huge success and has made a significant difference in the lives of the delegates and their advisors. To those folks involved in the direct organization and hosting of the conference to the many who helped out in many other ways, thank you for your participation - rest assured your efforts were most worthwhile and sincerely appreciated; indeed, without your help and support, CSLC 2008 would not have been possible.

School Extracurricular Activities

Every school is offering a number of extracurricular activities for students - opportunities to learn new skills whether they be playing an instrument, singing in a choir, playing a sport, belonging to a club, or perhaps participating in student government. Often it is a teacher who leads/coaches these activities but we often see (and need) parental support to ensure these programs can operate successfully - from assisting ‘on the bench’ to helping out with travel arrangements to making costumes to chaperoning to being an extra set of hands, we thank our parents and our community volunteers for the time and effort they contribute to these programs. At the end of the day, it is ‘our’ youngsters who reap the benefits - socially, academically, emotionally and physically. While we acknowledge there are many recreational and cultural activities that occur outside of school, there can be no doubt of the value found through our school programs and acknowledge our school administrators and staff for the excellent work they do in these areas. We are also very aware of the financial implications of offering these programs and offer a big thank-you to those community sponsors who often provide our schools with assistance, whether funds or products, so that we can keep the additional costs to a minimum.
Some activities already in place or being planned for this school year (knowing this list is not nearly all-inclusive of the many experiences shared within and beyond the classroom):

Badminton School Concerts & Drama Productions Basketball Yearbook Cross Country School Bands (Beginner/Intermediate/Senior/Jazz...) Field Hockey Youth Parliament
Flag Football Public Speaking/Oratoire Golf Student Government Gymnastics Terry Fox Run Rugby Relay for Life Softball Christmas Turkeys/Hampers/Shoe Boxes Soccer Encounters with Canada (Ottawa) Track & Field Fitness Training Volleyball Travel Club
Wrestling DARE (Drug Awareness Resistance Education) Science & Heritage Fairs Allied Youth

** On behalf of our 6,600 students who have the opportunity to participate in one or more of these many activities, THANK YOU!

Dale C. Sabean, Superintendent of Education