WELCOME TO EVERYBODY MATTERS WEEK!
This week we continue our learning and celebrate our uniqueness…as EVERYBODY MATTERS! Remember:
- Our brains make us who we are.
- No two brains are alike (like fingerprints)
- We can grow our brains.
- We need to recognize our strengths.
- We need to celebrate our differences.
- Our diversity is what makes us special!
As we launch this week, we need to remember that together, we are better!! Let’s celebrate that EVERYBODY MATTERS AT SGDSB!!
Remember to take pictures and publish your celebrations.
Thought of the Week: What did you learn at school today?
With Student Led Conferences completed, I am once again thinking about our students’ ability to describe their own growth. SLC are grounded in students making their growth visible to their parent/guardian, thus showing the parent where they started and what they learned and can now do differently from the “beginning”. Are the students in your school able to do this? Are they articulating their growth in the SLCs? Do they really know what success looks like and sounds like in their learning? Again, I return to the importance of success criteria and the entire Assessment for Learning cycle…the tool that we use to move our learners to independence. When we ask students what they learned at school, do they articulate their learning, or what they DID at school? During your next learning walk, ask the students what they are learning and see what they say!!
Health and Safety Reminders: Ryan’s Law
At the Principal Policy Review meeting on Friday, we discussed the Ryan’s Law policy which has now been approved. Please read this policy and ensure that you are following it. Dave had indicated that the Ryan’s Law kits that he distributed must be used at your Staff Meetings as you ensure that your staff understands this policy. We also discussed the notion of students carrying their puffer. Please read the portion of the Act below that will help to answer that question:
Contents of individual plan
(3) An individual plan for a pupil with asthma shall be consistent with the board’s policy and shall include:
1. Details informing employees and others who are in direct contact with the pupil on a regular basis of the monitoring and avoidance strategies and appropriate treatment.
2. A readily accessible emergency procedure for the pupil, including emergency contact information.
3. Details relating to the storage of the pupil’s asthma medication, including,
i. if the pupil is under 16 years old, whether the pupil has his or her parent’s or guardian’s permission to carry his or her asthma medication, and
ii. whether any spare medication is kept in the school and, if so, where it is stored.
Pupils permitted to carry asthma medication
3. (1) Every school principal shall permit a pupil to carry his or her asthma medication if the pupil has his or her parent’s or guardian’s permission.
Same
(2) If the pupil is 16 years or older, the pupil is not required to have his or her parent’s or guardian’s permission to carry his or her asthma medication.
Administration of asthma medication
4. (1) Employees may be preauthorized to administer medication or supervise a pupil while he or she takes medication in response to an asthma exacerbation, if the school has the consent of the parent, guardian or pupil, as applicable.
Obligation to keep school informed
(2) It is the obligation of the pupil’s parent or guardian and the pupil to ensure that the information in the pupil’s file is kept up-to-date with the medication that the pupil is taking.
Emergency administration of medication
(3) If an employee has reason to believe that a pupil is experiencing an asthma exacerbation, the employee may administer asthma medication to the pupil for the treatment of the exacerbation, even if there is no preauthorization to do so under subsection (1).
Updates
Elementary Principal Session on April 29 – the morning portion of this agenda will be dedicated to working with Tania from Pearson. She will walk us through some of the areas of focus from the 51 interviews that took place, and we will then begin to brainstorm ideas to respond to these needs. We will also have the 5 Aspiring Leaders join us that morning.
Blog Responses Last Week – Thanks to Chris, Jen, Jody, Heidi, Katie, Deb, Hillary and Kathleen (and Dave Binette!) for taking up my challenge last week! #nmcblog was inspiring this week!
PD Day – Erica is busy trying to get Trillium videos for the secretaries to use on the PD Day. She has also provided us with a video for Web Attendance for your secretaries that day:http://webatt.sgdsb.on.ca/twebschool/vids/TWebATT.htm
Professional Learning for K-2 WebConferences – April 26th or 27th – These voluntary sessions were just announced. There will be three sessions offered on each date, with the same content being offered on the 26th and 27th. Participants may choose to register for just one session or all three sessions. Each session will have a particular focus related to Growing Success: the Kindergarten Addendum. These sessions will also be archived for anyone that wishes to access them at another time. I will send out the PD Notification for those of you who are interested in attending. I don’t have information on how many links we can have, so there may be the requirement to travel (very likely) to one or two central hubs. I will let you know as soon as I have more information regarding the actual topics, but thought that you may wish to save one of the dates (note that Primary Math is on the 27th).
Preliminary Staffing Report – will go to the board meeting on April 18.
Transition to Secondary School Meetings and Activities – I am hopeful that each school has started to engage in these activities as it is important that transitions to high school are not one time events. There are many ways to ensure that the students feel a sense of belonging to their new school and environment well before they arrive in September. I would like for us to begin sharing these activities at our TMT.
Carried Over from Last Week
Education Week – May 2-6 is Education Week and the theme this year is “Achieving Excellence: Promoting Well-Being”. What are your school plans? Remember that Dave appreciates being sent the plans ahead of time so that he can speak to them on the radio. Also, remember to take photos for the Director’s Newsletter!
Nicki’s Schedule
Mon – out of the district
Tuesday – out of district in am, Fly to Toronto in pm
Wed – OPSOA Conference
Thurs – OPOSA Conference
Fri – Meeting with Red Team at GOPS
Upcoming Dates
April 10-15 -Everybody Matters Week Celebration
April 10- NTIP Steering Committee Meeting (9:00-10:30)
April 15 – Neurodiversity Day Celebration
April 16 and 17 – GAFE Summit for those involved
April 18 – PD Day Agendas due to your VLE/Google site
April 18 – Board Meeting
April 19 – Director’s Update
April 20 – EY Book Study 12:30-3:00
April 21 – A Celebration of Our Children Photos due to Dean Burke by today.
April 21 – Office 365 Training Session (location TBD)
April 22 – PD Day and Earth Day
April 26 and 27 (repeated) – Professional Learning for K-2 teachers – Kindergarten document WebConferences
April 27 – Primary Math PLC
April 27 – Administrative Professionals’ Day
April 28 – Junior Math PLC
April 29 – Elementary Principal Meeting at GOPS 9:00-3:30
May 2-5 – Education Week – “Achieving Excellence: Promoting Well-Being”
May 5 – Staff Appreciation Day
May 12 – College of ECE Presentation in pm for FDK schools
May 16 – NTIP Steering Committee Meeting (9:00-10:30)
May 20 – All Inquiry/PLC release days completed
June 10 – all Teacher Performance Appraisals are complete and signed off on (and sent to the Board Office).
June 15 – Fair Start Completed
June 21 – National Aboriginal Day
June 28 – School Learning Plan Evaluations Due to NMC (with school team input!!)
Learning Fair Celebration Dates – The Elementary Learning Celebration Fair will take place on Friday, May 27, 2016 at GOPS.
Modelling the Conditions for Learning 