It’s the season of fresh starts; a time to reassess and reflect on the year that has passed. At Sarah Thompson School, we do this through the lens of the School Annual Results Report (SARR). Every year, through surveys, we ask our stakeholders (students, parents and staff) to tell us how we’re doing. We want to know that we’re providing the best possible educational experience for our students. Our results continue to be at a high level, with most of our goals in the excellence range. We take pride in the fact that 93% of those surveyed believe that learning is universally accessible at Sarah Thompson. Further, almost 99% of those surveyed believe that learning is generative, responsive and multi-dimensional at our school. This fits with our belief that we support a universal learning environment where everyone learns through meaningful and challenging experiences. As a 21st Century learning environment, we strive for a culture of excellence. Each student is a leader and within that has his or her own barometer of excellence. This is different for every student and we celebrate and support this. Our goal is to empower every learner and we know that through consistent evaluation of our programs we will successfully meet the needs of all our students.
As we continue to ensure a high level of engagement at our school, we endeavour to provide students with unique and inspiring experiences. In the next couple of months, our parents will be invited to both a Literacy and Numeracy Night. This will be our opportunity to involve parents in the teaching process and see first-hand our instructional design practise. We know that there is a strong correlation between a child’s ability to read and his/her academic performance. Because so much of our schooling relies on our abilities to read, children must have strong reading skills to succeed and thrive in school. Added to that, math is all around us. At our school, students investigate a variety of strategies and become proficient in at least one appropriate and efficient strategy that they understand. Over time, students refine their strategies to increase their accuracy and efficiency. With parental support, students have the opportunity to learn through real-life mathematical problems. It is by working together, we enrich the academic experiences of our students.
A couple of events of note: On January 13th our school with be hosting the Alberta Opera Company for the performance; The Steadfast Tin Soldier. This is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a tin soldier’s love for a paper ballerina. It should be a wonderful play.
As well, the student-led conferences will be January 26th and 27th. This event will give our students the showcase to present information about all the wonderful work that has been taking place in their classrooms.
From all of us here at Sarah Thompson School, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
