Board Report
Board chairs from across the province met with Ministry of Education staff in Vancouver last week to
discuss the implementation of the new curriculum and the introduction of the New Framework for
Enhancing Student Learning.
Our province is releasing a new curriculum to better prepare students for a changing world. BC’s new curriculum will be introduced over the next 3 years with implementation mandatory for September 2016 for kindergarten to grade 9.This year most elementary schools are exploring and implementing many of the changes as this is a transition year.
The curriculum was developed with more than 100 teachers and with support from the BCTF, BCPVPA and BCSSA. For the first time all subjects have been developed by BC teachers. The curriculum is focused on students: to engage them in their learning, to explore their interests and passions, to ensure that they understand what they are learning and can apply what they have learned to real life situations, to gain skills that they need to enter post-secondary and the workforce and to enable our students to compete in a global economy.
The core focus will remain on a solid foundation in reading, writing and math. Assessment and reporting will be changing to match the new curriculum. Our district will be introducing parents to one of the new ways of assessment at our next Learning Forum, which will be held at the Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary School library on November 4th at 7:00 pm.
The topic is e-portfolios and parents and community members will learn how this form of reporting is meaningful and engaging to students and parents. As you can imagine, introducing a new curriculum also means that teachers will require training and so in the 2015-2016 school year 2,000 teachers from across the province will receive training on the new curriculum in order to provide support and in-service for all teachers in their districts.
Every district in the province will plan for this in-service to occur during 10 hours of non-instructional time thiscalendar year. We are currently in conversations about when these two days of training will take placeas this will mean amending the school calendar for the 2015-2016 school year. This is not the only plan of support we have in place to assist teachers and administrators in becoming familiar with the changes in the new curriculum. Schools are engaging in meaningful discussions already and have been encouraged to engage their parents in understanding the changes.
BC’s new curriculum includes Aboriginal perspectives integrated at all grade levels and includes the
history and legacy of the residential school system in the grade 5 curriculum and in the Social Studies 10 and 11 curriculums. To support teachers with their comfort level and knowledge of these sometimes
sensitive topics, the district invited all grade 5 and Social Studies 10 and 11 teachers to a day of inservice and dialogue on Monday October 19, led by Helen Gallagher, Aboriginal Contact Teacher and
Natasha Schroeter, Network Leader for Engaging Aboriginal Learners. They also had the opportunity to
review the many resources available.
Four schools and more than 100 students and staff attended the We Day 2015 event in the Rogers
Arena. Students earn their tickets to attend by taking action to better the world both locally and
globally. They have to commit to make a difference and their contributions are celebrated at We Day
with celebrity performers as well as motivational speakers. This year they were lucky enough to listen to Chris Hadfield, Silken Laumann, Henry Winkler and see bands such as Hedley and the Barenaked Ladies
perform.
Senior staff met with each school to review enrollment, allocation of staffing, school budgets and
changing needs where there were increased numbers of identified students with specific learning needs.
This is a useful process for district staff to understand the decision-making process unique to schools and communities as well as the challenges and priorities due to changes in enrolment. As you may have read in my last Board Report, enrollment is down by 67.44 FTE (full time equivalent) students which will
impact staffing as we are funded per FTE students. At the end of the process, approximately $106,000
of teacher staffing from the Teacher Education Fund (TEF) reserve was allocated in consultation with
staff and SOSTU. In addition, approximately $193,000 of Special Education and operating funds were
allocated to schools to support students. A small amount of dollars remains in TEF for any new needs
that may arise throughout the school year. Senior staff is preparing now for discussions regarding the
2016-17 budget process. Discussion topics and recommendations will be placed on the Board meeting
agendas and reported in this report as they develop.
Staff provided a report from the Sexual Health Working Committee. This committee explored various
options of delivering this very important curriculum. A recommendation that came from the
committee’s survey of teachers was to maintain the current model with updated resources. If parents have any input into what they think about the current delivery model, please let the Board of
Education know your thoughts.
The district has 22 Yukon students registered with YouLearn through our partnership. This is a decrease of 2.
Should you have any questions, please contact me at 250-498-1333.
Submitted by Marieze Tarr, Chairperson
School District No. 53 (Okanagan Similkameen