Terrific Kids – Oliver Elementary School has recognized these Terrific Kids for their enthusiasm. In back row from left are Chace Alaric, Sahil Deol, Trey Fortune, Ansh Sharma, Claudia Polk, and Japleen Aujla. In front row are Melody Oldfield, Takdir Dhaliwal, Riley Wiker, Sabreen Deol, and Dilshaan Dhaliwal.
Photo contributed
The board is excited to announce that we are reviewing our meeting policies to provide more opportunities for the public to participate in our meetings.
We are in the process of proposing a change to the Education Committee structure to allow representatives from principals, teachers, support staff, the Aboriginal Education Advisory Council and parents to participate in meetings.
We are also in the process of adding a new policy called “Public Participation at Board Meetings” that will enable members of the public to speak to the board about items on the agenda prior to the board discussing the items. These policies will be available for public input, on our website, until the November board meeting.
This November, we will be doing the MDI (Middle Years Development Instrument) with all Grade 4 students. Information on the MDI is available at http://earlylearning.ubc.ca/mdi/. The MDI is a unique tool for two reasons: It gathers information about the “whole child” rather than simply focusing on academic progress; as well, it allows us to hear children’s voices and so taps into areas that have great significance in children’s lives that are not typically evaluated in our communities. The MDI measures five dimensions of healthy development during the middle childhood years: social and emotional development, connectedness, school experiences, physical health and well-being, and after-school time.
We are cautiously optimistic about our Early Development Index (EDI) results. Our school district was one of seven in BC to show a critically different change in overall vulnerability. Overall, we had a vulnerability rate of 32 per cent, compared to a provincial rate of 32.5 per cent and down from 36 per cent in “wave 4.” This is a significant improvement and is very encouraging. We will need to further analyze the results to understand their full meaning.
We will continue to work with our inter-sectorial partners to find new ways to support our families and move this important agenda forward. The EDI community summary report for our district is available at http://earlylearning.ubc.ca/maps/edi/nh/sd53/.
Eight staff from four schools took over 80 students to the 2013 “We Day” activities in Vancouver on October 17-18. This conference focuses on inspiring students to make positive changes in the world, as well as promote and foster social responsibility and leadership. This conference featured many outstanding presenters and entertainers including Martin Luther King III, Avril Lavigne, Kofi Annan, Shawn A-in-Chut Atleo, Kenyan Boys Choir, Hedley (band), cast members of Degrassi, Adam Beach, and many more. We Day is the movement of our time – a movement of young people leading local and global change.
We Day is tied to the yearlong We-Act program, which offers educational resources, campaigns and support materials to help turn the event’s inspiration into sustained activation. Through We-Act, students commit to taking one local and one global action to better the world, earning their way to We Day.
The district has recently submitted a plan for approval to the Ministry of Education for the allocation of $294,183 to address learning improvement issues in classrooms across the district, as required by the Learning Improvement Fund legislation. The spending plan consisted of $157,860 for additional teacher support in classrooms, $79,100 for additional education assistant time in classrooms and a reserve of $19,447 to address other needs that may arise. This plan also identified $37,776 as part of the SSEAC framework agreement with CUPE.
September 30 enrolment is now confirmed. This number determines our funding by the Ministry of Education (school districts are funded per student). We have a total of 2,359.56 FTE (full-time equivalent) which is an overall decrease from September 2012 of 3.0 FTE. Elementary schools have increased by 27 FTE, secondary schools decreased by 21.25 FTE and YouLearn has decreased by 8.75 FTE from September 2012.
Our district has entered into an agreement with Yukon Education. According to this agreement, there is now a working relationship between YouLearn and Yukon Education and students from the Yukon can enrol in YouLearn at a cost of $6,000 per student (K-9) or $750 per individual course for Grades 10-12. We currently have 10 full-time K-Grade 9 students enrolled in this program.
Terrific Kids – Congratulations to these “enthusiastic” kids from Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary School. In back row from left are Stephanie Matevia, Kuwarjot Brar, Alex Hart, Emily Streeter and Matthew Mythen. In front row are Dylan Fead, Ty Belanger, Logan Martin, and Clohe Giard-Hurteau.
Christine McKay photo
Marieze Tarr
Special to the Chronicle
