Prinicpal Report April 2014

Principal's report April 2014 General Lake Public School The school year is flying by as General Lake continues to be dedicated to excellence in teaching and learning, as well as a safe, caring and respectful environment. The school continues to grow and improve as we look towards moving into Valour. Teachers have been involved in a variety of Professional development activities related to our School improvement plan including math instruction, technology e-learning and IPAD use. During the last PD day, thanks to our Valour Principal Bryan Baird, staff was set up with google accounts and trained on google chrome from our ICT coach Oliver Gallery. Oliver has also been invited by staff to do further training with classes and individual staff members. Staff workshops have also been scheduled around our new Ministry sponsored full day every day kindergarten, as well as the new French as a Second Language curriculum document. Vice Principal Mrs Robillard and I continue to meet with teachers regularly about the school improvement plan and we continue to work together with staff aligning class goals to meet the needs of all of our students. One exciting development around our School Improvement Plan involves a focused intervention in Language and Math with our English classes. On March 24th students in Mr Blimkie's jk/sk class and Mrs Slepica Stewarts sk/1 class, were grouped into three classes to help support individual needs and provide a focused intervention. With the help of SERT teacher Mrs Conway and educational assistants Mrs Van Hoof, Mrs Charbonneau, Mrs Murphy and Mrs Moreau, the students are involved in various activities to meet their needs. Our other SERT teacher, Mrs Calver, has begun implementing a similar strategy involving an intervention with our Core English teacher, Ms Bennett, in the French Immersion kindergarten group. We look forward to celebrating their successes in the next 6 weeks. All grade 7/8 students were able to attend National We day in Ottawa thanks to the generosity of the School Council providing funds for the buses. Ms Hansen and her ‘WE team’ are now organizing a Mini We Day event for the school for Thursday, May 8 during Education Week. We would like to extend an invitation to all School Council Members to attend this event. The theme of Education Week is ‘Achieving Excellence in Education’. We will also be having our Spring Book Fair during this week. Mrs Robin Van Hoof will be organizing this event and will be looking for volunteers to run the Fair during the day. Our Annual General Lake Science Fair was extremely successful with a tremendous show of support from both our parents and our students. Intermediate students judged over 50 projects submitted by the Grade 2-5 students with Valour hats going to the first place students and certificates to the 2nd and 3rd place entries. Scientists from AECL came to judge the Grade 6-8 divisions. Winners Abby Jupp. Miranda Lockley, Sheridan Skanes, Paige Niles, Emily Norman and Clayre White continued on participating in the Renfrew County Science Fair on April 5, 2014 at the Civic Centre. Jump rope for Heart will take place on May 2nd at 11:00am. Students from each colour team will be invited to come down to the gym to participate in skipping activities for 30 minutes. The idea is that someone from the various Spirit Colour team will be skipping at all times during the time period. We will conclude with a character assembly at 2:45. The Teddy Bear Clinic provided by military personnel on April 17 for our Kindergarten to Grade 2 students was a resounding success. Students visited events both inside and outside of the school. Members of the media were on hand to take pictures of the fun-filled interactive event. Both students and staff were extremely pleased with the event. Our EQAO schedule for our grade 3 and grade 6 students has been finalized. Students will begin the Language portion of the test during Block 1 beginning at 9:30 on May 27, May 28 and May 29. The Math will follow the next week from June 2, 3, and 4 during the first block. Occasional teachers have been booked for the morning to provide programming for other students in the split grade who are not participating in the EQAO. We are hiring two tutors for the classroom to assist the teachers with the preparations. These tutors will also be supporting our Kindergarten classes during nutrition breaks. On Thursday, April 10, 2014 we honoured over 150 student Volunteers. Thanks to the School Council’s support we were able to provide pizza and drinks to all of our students in recognition of the valuable work they do as a volunteer in our school. Following the food, students watched a couple of inspirational videos and participated in some dancing in the gym. Our annual Volunteer recognition event has been set for Thursday, May 15 from 10:45 until 12:00. We are hoping all of our Parent Volunteers will be able to join us for that day. We will begin in the gym for a short assembly then enjoy a light lunch. As part of our school closing plan, General Lake Apparel and yearbooks have been made available for sale. Thanks to the support of the School Council we were able to keep the cost of the yearbook low at $6.00 each. Sales will continue until May. In the yearbook only Grade 8 graduates and staff names will be identified. We will also be looking at plans for a final assembly in June to officially close the school, as well as say goodbye to staff and students who will be leaving the school or retiring. We welcome any ideas or suggestions from the General Lake community. Our last day of classes is June 27, 2014.