From the Superintendent

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Reflections

2011-12-15

The fall went by very quickly and here we are at the holidays! I'd like to congratulate our new Board of Education members; the new Board was sworn in at the December 6 meeting. We have 5 returning Trustees: Shannon Hood, Rhonda Smith, Jim Jenkinson, Betty-Lou Barrett and Sandra Smaill. New to the Board are Jane Fearing, Amber Byklum, Rosemary Oaks and Mac Campbell. I'd also like to congratulate Sandra Smaill on her election as chairperson, as well as Shannon Hood on her election as Vice Chair (Golden) and Jim Jenkinson as Vice Chair (Windermere). All new Trustees attended the BC School Trustees' Academy in Vancouver this past week.

School Plans for student success were shared across the District during the week of October 3. All plans were approved by Trustees and are linked to the District Achievement Contract, which can be accessed via the front page of this website under "important links". You'll find the success plans linked to page 29 of the document.

Six of our newest school leaders, Laurie Macdougall (VP at Lady Grey), Darryl Smith (VP at GSS), Gail Rines (Principal at Martin Morigeau), Jen Quigley (VP at SSS), Viveka Johnson (Principal of McKim) and Crystal MacLeod (VP at McKim) are involved in a leadership program that is jointly offered by Districts 5, 6, 8, 10, 20, and 51, with the support of the Ministry of Education. The inaugural session was held in Nelson and facilitated by Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser, who are faculty members at Vancouver Island University and authors of the book "Leadership Mindsets" which is the theme of the program.

I spent a day "shadowing" our very talented French Language Specialist in Golden, Krista Fouillard, and I was amazed at what the students are learning. Krista's challenging position includes providing an "Introduction to French" program to all K-3 students in the zone, as well as providing the Core French program to all students in grades 4-7. She team teaches with the regular classroom teachers, and she even does classes by Skype to our primary class at Field Elementary. There was a great article in the Golden Star issue that came out on December 7.

The Intergenerational Project at Columbia Garden Village is going strong. There are now two Kindergarten classes operating out of the Centre two days per week. This project, besides connecting these generations, is also fostering enhanced reading skills of the students as well as positive social development. The teachers are Bailey Lepage and Barb Carriere.

The Hockey Skills Canada program at JA Laird is much more than a hockey program. If you dropped in for a visit you would be amazed to see how 57 students in Grades 5-7 under the leadership of Stacy Decosse and Kyler Gauthier are fully engaged in their learning. There is a great article by student Jedd Sharp that will be coming out in the next Learning Leadership report. Watch for it.

I'd also like to highlight the work of teachers Heather Brown and Dwayne Zahara at DTSS who have been making Science 8 fascinating to their students by framing the curriculum in a project based format. This is great, innovative work.

Independent Directed Studies, or IDS has been around for years as a way for students to earn credits toward graduation by pursuing individual interests related to the curriculum. Golden Secondary is taking this to new levels by engaging more students than ever before in IDS opportunities as part of their success plan; there are currently 11 students for whom IDS has become part of their regular timetable.Congratulations to GSS for working to facilitate the personalization of learning for these students.

Smart Boards are making their way into more and more of our classrooms, bringing a powerful tech tool into the hands of students. Marysville Elementary has been bringing real focus to the educational benefits of the Boards and related software by collaboratively working on exploring the uses with students. The kids and teachers are having a great time!

There are so many more examples of schools personalizing learning for students; I will try to feature these in a number of these columns over the year. Please also look for these examples in the Learning Leadership report which is published monthly and linked to the main page of the website.

On this same topic I was pleased to be at a meeting this past week with the Deputy Minister of Education who shared stories of innovative projects around the Province and talked with us about the new BC Education Plan. Please review the plan and share your thoughts. It's also linked to the front page of our site.

I was very pleased to be able to attend a number of school concerts/celebrations this week as we head into the holidays. I just want to say "thank you" to staff and students for the time you put in to bring in the season in such a special way. In particular I have to note the staff of Windermere Elementary for your Michael Buble number, and to Bruce Childs at Laird for the work with the students on all the songs about changing the world for the better. The music and the message were both great.

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone, and have a great 2012.

Paul

2011-09-19

The school year is off to a great start and I'd like to highlight a couple of items from this past week. Special thanks to Lady Grey for hosting the first Board meeting of the year. In particular I'd like to thank Vice Principal Laurie Macdougall for taking care of the arrangements at the school. Also, I had the great pleasure on Thursday of attending the 20th Anniversary Celebration of Golden Secondary School. The new building opened its doors in 1991 and many memories were shared in an excellent assembly held for all students, staff and the community. Following this gathering there was a BBQ with student and community entertainment. Congratulations GSS!!

2011-08-27

I'd like to welcome all students, parents and staff to the 2011-12 school year. Board Chairperson Greg Anderson and I have prepared a welcome back message for you with links to District information you will be interested in. Please find it by copying and pasting the link below or by clicking on the link on the Notice Board on the opening page of the website.

http://www.sd6.bc.ca/pdfs/governance/2011_2012_Welcome.pdf

Please note that parents are most welcome to join us for our opening assemblies which will be held in each zone. The information is also available on the Notice Board.

Looking forward to a great year in SD6!

2011-07-21

What a pleasure it was to read an article recently in the Kimberley Daily Bulletin regarding the sucesses of our Kimberley Sports School hockey players, both current and graduated. The high quality experience of our students in this program, under the capable leadership of Jerry Bancks is certainly a model for others to emulate. This tradition of hard work and excellence is setting up more students at McKim and Selkirk for great achievements. Although there is quite a list of alumni and current students enjoying success in the BCHL, AJHL, WHL and even the NHL, we want to offer particular congratulations to Carter Bancks, who recently signed an entry level contract with the Calgary Flames, after completing a season with the AHL's Abbotsford Heat. Check out the full story in the July 8 edition of the Bulletin (www.dailybulletin.ca).

2011-06-14

As the school year draws to a close I am pleased to take this opportunity to acknowledge all of you for the commitments you’ve made in the area of your own personal learning in 2010-2011. The Learning Leadership Report has served this year to pull together the great learning opportunities that are going on across School District 6 and demonstrating how much this work is valued. Our district is a special place. It’s the kind of environment where people feel empowered to learn, to grow, and to put wonderful ideas on the table that can make a difference to our students. It’s a great honour to be associated with all of you. As some of you prepare for a well deserved break and others of you are are entering into a period of time where you will be focused on ensuring the services and facilities in our school district are in top shape for 2011-12, on behalf of the board and senior staff, thank you.

2011-02-20

I hope this gives you a flavor of the diversity of activity that is happening in our District.

At the halfway point in my first year as Superintendent, I can tell you that I continue to be amazed and inspired by the quality and commitment of students, staff, parents and our community partners. I only wish time didn’t go by so quickly!

The Metis student conference held in January was an incredible success. I spent a day with these 70 students from all over the region and thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of presentations and the opportunities for the students to deepen their cultural knowledge. It was truly an honour to be part of it and I want to especially thank Rhonda Haws, our Support Worker at Selkirk Secondary for the role she played both in securing funding and in organizing this event.

I was pleased to welcome 12 new International students to GSS for 2nd Semester. Vice Principal Clint Dolgopol and Principal Iris Trask did a fabulous job of involving International program students who have been here awhile as well as Canadian students to lead a “discussion style” orientation that answered all kinds of questions about life in the school, the community and dealt with questions about computer passwords and locker assignments, etc. Our international program continues to grow in all three zones and I was very pleased to see such a great welcome combined with an effective process to get these students off to a great start in their new home.

Science World made a big impact on SD6 in the week of January 31. We had very entertaining science presentations and demonstrations, and the week culminated in a Science Fair at DTSS on Saturday Feb 5. This was a partnership between Science World, KRIC (Kootenay Research Innovation Council) and SD6. Check out the pictures on the site.

We are moving forward with planning for the Intensive French program for next year….parent meetings, demo lessons, and an exchange between Windermere Elementary and McKim Middle School where the Grade 6 and 7 program is operating. Our Grade 8s at DTSS will move to 9 and we will be starting our first group of Grade 8s at Selkirk Secondary in September. It is fantastic to see the development in this program.

The Golden Review Focus Group has had two meetings to discuss the implementation of the Recommendations in the CSELP report. There is a team at each school and many aspects of offering a K-3 Introduction to French program, having Core French start at Grade 4 instead of 5, and starting an immersion cohort of Grade 4s in 2015-16 have been discussed. There are decisions still to make about how we structure the changes but the questions that are being generated by these discussions will assist us greatly in moving forward. Assistant Superintendent Cheryl Dyer and I visited Fernie to see the Grade 4 Immersion program in action at Isabella Dicken Elementary. Many thanks to Principal Dawn Voysey and Superintendent Bill Gook for facilitating this for us.

We had a very successful Professional Development Day on February 14 across our District. Activities included a review of the new Fine Arts curriculum, a gymnastics workshop, Smart Learning, Self-Regulation, 21st Century Learning, collaborative problem solving, Intensive French, using Moodle, Autism workshop, developing class websites, effective teaching and learning strategies (for Special Ed Assistants), Greenhouse and community gardens. This is not a complete list! There were also a number of staff on Self Directed plans for the day. This opportunity to hone our knowledge and skills is really valued in SD6.

There will be a unique opportunity for 12 DTSS students to become more aware of different cultures, geography, entrepreneurship opportunities, hospitality and tourism opportunities, food security issues, social and environmental issues and to explore ways to engage youth in all of these areas when they participate in an upcoming “slow-food” exchange. It is a YMCA Youth program, and our DTSS students will be teamed up with 14 students from St. Catherine’s, Ontario for a week. The event will start out with a dinner put on by students in the Rocky Mountain Café at DTSS on Friday, March 4. This promises to be a great learning experience for these students, who will travel to Ontario in May. Thanks to DTSS teacher Alison Bell for organizing this event.

We are so lucky to live where we do, and to have staff who know how to celebrate the opportunities for our kids and make them such a meaningful part of education in SD6. Thanks to Andrew McCarthy, GSS teacher for the huge role he played in organizing the EK Ski/Snowboard championships at Kicking Horse last week. I also want to applaud the energy and expertise of outdoor education teachers Jen Meens at Selkirk and Tom Freebairn at GSS for the amazing opportunities you are creating. Winter camping and ice climbing are rare experiences….but not in our District!

Kelly Hrudy, of Hockey Night in Canada fame will be in Invermere this week visiting our students at JA Laird and participating in a social event at Copper Point Resort. The Hockey Canada Skills academy is having a fantastic inaugural year, and the event will be a celebration of that success. Thanks to teacher/coach Daphne Neal for organizing this event and thanks to everyone in the community for your support of this program.

On a final note, I was so pleased to hear the JA Laird – Silver Strings performance at Radium Resort on February 19. This fantastic concert was a warm up to the upcoming trip to Vancouver in April, for which they are busy raising funds. Good luck to these students and teacher Leisa O’Sullivan.

I feel like I have just touched the surface of the great things happening in SD6. Thanks everyone, and have a great Spring Break!

2010-12-05

I have been all over the District in the past couple of weeks and I have had the pleasure of meeting with all our Principals, and the pleasure also of visiting the majority of classrooms. I was able to see students across our district truly engaged and enjoying their learning, which was truly inspiring for me. Thanks to all Principals, Teachers and Support staff for the warm welcome as I visited you and continued success! Our students are in amazingly capable hands.

Here are a few great stories from SD6:

Rhonda Haws, Aboriginal Education Support Worker at Selkirk Secondary in Kimberley was part of a successful grant application in partnership with SD5. They received $38,000 from the Metis Nation of British Columbia to bring together 10 metis students from each school zone (70 in total) for a series of educational workshops and talks about Metis education. All of the Aboriginal Support Workers in both districts will have the opportunity to be involved as well. Each community zone will also have Metis presenters coming into their community to present workshops at other times. Congratulations to Rhonda for helping to create this great opportunity for students.

Speaking of grants, the JA Laird Hockey Skills Canada Program received a $15,000 grant from the NHL Players' Association to support the purchase of equipment. The students in this program are learning a lot about hockey skills but are also improving their personal fitness due to the on-ice and dry land training built into the program. Congratulations the admin team at Laird, Jill Jensen and Stacy Decosse for your vision in developing and supporting this opportunity, and also to the teachers, students, parents and community partners for your involvement and support.

Please watch for the story in the news section of the website on the Missoula Theatre event at Martin Morigeau Elementary in Canal Flats. The MMES PAC hosted this workshop from November 15 to November 20. Two actor/directors, Charity Gardner and Samantha Parrish auditioned students and assigned roles, and worked with 40 students to prepare an amazing musical drama involving students from K to 7. Sincere thanks to all the students, parents and staff involved in this event.

An exciting intergenerational project is happening in the Windermere Zone. On Friday, December 3, Barb Carriere’s Kindergarten class started class in a special room at Columbia Garden Village, the assisted living facility in Invermere. Students will be having their class there every Friday for the remainder of the school year, and during that time resident volunteers from CGV will be working with students on their reading, writing and oral language skills. The idea was inspired by a story told in the book “The Element” by Sir Ken Robinson, where a similar project in the US had a dramatic impact on student learning, and in the process had an amazing positive influence on the lives of both the children and the residents. This project in SD6 is made possible through a partnership between SD6, Golden Life Management, Interior Health, and of course, parents and students. We acknowledge Barb for her leadership in getting this program happening, as well as Lisa Tenta, EMP Principal, Special Education Assistant Christine McNeil, and Adrienne Turner, the manager of CGV for her tremendous support.

2010-11-07

Time is certainly speeding by this Fall…but I am also amazed at what has been accomplished so far. Thanks to everyone for the excellent feedback on District Day. I know the Staff Development Committee carefully reviewed the feedback and has already made some decisions about next year and beyond based on that information.

Our enrolment count for 2010-11 shows that we have 50 students less than last year in our District, which is not as steep an enrolment decline as we were expecting. Because of the implementation of Full Day Kindergarten in Golden and Kimberley, we actually have 21 more “FTE” students than we had in 2009-10. The other interesting enrollment fact about SD6 is that we have more international students than we have ever had, with 81 full-year students between Selkirk, DTSS, Laird and GSS. I’d like to recognize and thank Duncan MacLeod, our International Program Coordinator for his work in supporting the program and I would certainly like to thank all our Administrators, Teachers, Support Staff and Homestay coordinators and families who are making SD6 such a positive place for these students.

Many of our schools held Terry Fox runs during September. It is very inspiring to see so many of our young people supporting Terry’s incredible legacy. Well done.

All the School Plans for Student Success have been presented and these have been approved by trustees and school teams. We are so enthused about the variety of plans, and the clear focus in our District on supporting deep learning and the development of social responsibility in a variety of ways. We will gather again in the spring to celebrate our successes. As well, Rick Davis, Superintendent of Achievement, visited our District on November 3 and met with Senior Staff, Admin, Teacher, CUPE and Parent reps. We had a very good discussion about the Achievement Contract for our district, personalizing learning and a variety of other topics.

The Ministry required all Districts this fall to review Child Abuse Reporting protocols and we have completed that review in SD6 and implemented the new requirement for annual training for all staff, volunteers and contractors. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation in participating in the required training which ensures we are all fully aware of our responsibilities to children in this regard. I want to thank Cheryl Dyer for leading the review, Shary McTighe, Principals and all staff for your focus and attention on this. I’d also like to thank McKim teacher Jerry McMahon for working with me also on doing the Harassment Awareness training across our District in October. We all share the responsibility to create and sustain a harassment free workplace.

As many of you know, our Board approved all 7 of the recommendations made by the Centre for the Study of Educational Leadership and Policy (CSELP) regarding our educational programs in Golden. A Focus group has been assembled to begin working on implementation; this group will provide ideas and suggestions to an administration working group which will lead school based teams. Beginning in September of 2011, we will see an “introduction to French” program beginning at Kindergarten, and significant changes to the way our Core French program operates. Early French Immersion will begin to be phased out, with a middle immersion program commencing at Grade 4 in 2015. These changes are aimed at strengthening Core French and French Immersion in Golden and we look forward to working with partner groups to build the best program we can.

Special mention goes to Lady Grey School in Golden for your recent “bronze” award for your huge commitment to the “hoops for heart” and “jump rope for heart” programs sponsored by the BC Heart and Stroke Foundation. Principal Ian Robinson and teachers Marilyn Kelly-McArthur and Brenda Soujah received special recognition for your commitment to this program and your energy and vision as you inspire students and their families to continue to support this worthy cause, but the whole LGES community deserves a pat on the back.

Thanks to everyone for continuing to keep the “culture of optimism” alive in SD6. It’s great to hear people’s enthusiasm about our key work, supporting learning and making a real difference in the lives of our students.

2010-09-07

Our “District Day” held on Thursday September 2 at DTSS here in Invermere was a great success. We had the opportunity to welcome staff new to the District and to note staff changes for 2010-11. We also had some very inspiring time with Gary Anaka on brain health and vitality which was so relevant to all of us as learners, and as facilitators of learning. We then spent time in the afternoon in a variety of sessions which were for the most part facilitated by our own talented staff presenters. There was a wide range of topics and these sessions were a great opportunity for us to start the year thinking about how we can bring our very best to our work in SD6. Thanks to our District Operations staff for ensuring the schools look so great as we start our new year!

Our newest Kindergarten students in both Kimberley and Golden will be in class this year for a full day each day, for the first time. This is part of a $144 Million commitment of Government to implement Full Day Kindergarten for all students by 2011-12. Invermere students will start FDK next year. We are excited about the opportunity this brings for children and families. More information about FDK is available at: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/early_learning/fdk/

Much has been written about the connection between brain vitality/health/capacity and regular exercise. We have had the requirement for daily physical activity (DPA) in our schools since September, 2008 but now some schools are also piloting new research-supported ideas. Staff at Lady Grey in Golden and JA Laird in Invermere will be facilitating sustained exercise periods for students each day in the morning and noting the impact on levels of concentration and focus. At Laird this activity is embedded in a new Hockey Skills Canada program, which will involve both on-ice and dry land training for grade 5-7 students.

Our greenhouse partnership at DTSS with the Columbia Valley Botanical Society and Centre for Sustainable Living got some positive press this past week in an article in the Globe and Mail on “farm to cafeteria” programs in Canada. Check it out at:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/family-and-relationships/back-to-school/bc-program-schooling-kids-with-fresh-local-fare/article1689392/

Please see the school opening information on the website. There are links on the welcome page including “tips for a smooth start” from the BC Ministry of Education, school opening dates and times and school supply lists.

Welcome to the new year!

• 2010-2011 Achievement Contract
• December 2009 Superintendent's report on student achievement
• District Calendar 2009-2010
• District Directions 2008-2013
• District Directions Carbon Neutral Action Report - June 2010
• District Directions Gardens - June 2010
• District Directions Secondary School Course Options - June 2010
• District Directions Volunteer Activities - June 2010
• District Directions Work Force Strategies 2010 - June 2010
• H1N1 Poster