Barriere Elementary School4475 Airfield Road

Box 250, Barriere BCV0E 1E0

School Improvement PlanFor the School Years of

2017 ~ 2022Prepared by the Staff and Principal of BES

June 16th, 2017Included: 2017-2018 and 2018-2019

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Uaks8UllTeZokHGeCM71tt-6r53wWoRH_4qLFUr3mFg/edit#slide=id.g1d9c8a2dbd_0_0

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Table of ContentsTitle Page

School Vision/ Context of Barriere Elementary

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School Goals 2017/2018 4

Professional Learning Plan 2017/2018

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Update – 2018/2019 9

Feedback Spring 2019 15

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School VisionCare, Connect & Contribute

Mission StatementThe school community of Barriere Elementary will design opportunities to connect students to

their learning and support thoughtful student citizens who care, connect and contribute with confidence.

School ContextBarriere Elementary has 248 students in grades K to 7. The the majority of our students travel via school bus to and from school each day. The school population is comprised of a wide variety of students, from predominantly rural, forestry, small business and agricultural based families. The school has 47 students of First Nations ancestry coming from Simpcw First Nation and from First Nations communities across the province. There is also a transient demographic to the community and BES, which results in a general influx of students to the school throughout the year, many who bring with them complex social/emotional challenges.

Barriere has a strong community connection and parents take an active role within the school to assist with hot lunches, one-to-one reading programs, supervision, and other volunteer roles. The school offers both a breakfast and lunch program which is utilized by many students daily. The Elementary has an active athletic program and students take part in all district sports. The school offers a “Strings” program where interested students have the opportunity to learn the violin and cello. Many of our students also participate in 4H, an agricultural focused club which promotes public speaking, community service and youth leadership.

Students and staff at BES are both respectful and cheerful individuals who celebrate our rural identity as well offer great acceptance to those who join our school community. The majority of staff and educational assistance reside in Barriere and have students in the school. On a regular basis staff take time out of their schedules to support students and ensure they have a wide variety of opportunities available to them, from coaching multiple athletic teams, to organizing community events or leading boys and girls group.

Academic & Cultural Context At Barriere Elementary School, we are in our first year of developing our attributes of a learner. We used a process of ongoing staff engagement (meetings/conversation/activities), clarification and definition of learning attributes, student and parent surveys, and district data. From this, our staff, students and community have determined cooperation, connection to learning, contribution, caring and confidence to be the attributes essential for our students to be able to demonstrate success in the the K-12 system. Further refining clarified the attributes down to care, connect, and contribute.

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The process involved revisiting the school’s vision, mission and behavioural expectations, discussing our academic future, establishing goals for our School Improvement Plan and arriving at a point where we want to unify our school planning process around cohesive strategies that strengthen student and staff learning opportunities.

School GoalsGoal 1.1 - Students will demonstrate growth in thinking, communication, personal and social competencies.

Rationale: As students and staff utilize new learning frameworks and pedagogy, such as PBL, Inquiry & Design Learning and Presentations of Learning, the ability to communicate and demonstrate their learning to a broader audience becomes increasingly important. This goal aligns with the attributes of a BES learner as identified by staff, students and parents as well as the aspects of our new Vision.

Data Related to Goal:Anecdotal observations by staff found that the more students were involved with the planning of their learning, the more involved, engaged and committed they were to participating in their learning. Data collected from the school’s participation in Instructional Rounds also indicated that when students were asked higher order thinking questions, or provided with multi-step tasks they were more actively engaged with the content.

Timeline & Evidence:

June/September ~ Review the Instructional Rounds data with Staff. Establish a staff team tasked with the development of a questioning matrix that is scaffolded from from simple yes/no questions to higher order thinking tasks.September/October ~ Draft process of question matrix to be shared to all staff for review and further refinement.October/November ~ Prepare final draft of questioning Matrix and have visual posters printed for each classroom (publish).November to February ~ Use the question Matrix with our students and review with staff and students what is working, what is not and make edits accordingly (reiterate).February ~ Continue use of questioning matrix and begin to develop measures to see if our approach to questioning is making a difference in how our students respond to tasks, how teachers design tasks, how they ask questions and what is the impact/growth on student learning. March ~ Engage in design process to create a visual matrix in relation to measure student Core Competencies, specifically in regards to student self assessment. This may be a design that is started earlier in the year in conjunction to questioning matrix, but is the intended next step of improving staff and student questioning skills.

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April to May ~ Development and refine self assessment and questioning matrix’s and prepare self assessment poster for publishing and classroom use.June ~ Review/Reflect/Revise and plan next steps.

Strategies & Structures● PBIS - Re designed Behavioural & Social matrix to be implemented● PBIS Practice (Assemblies)● Presentations of Learning (Assemblies)● Behavioural Referrals● Student Survey (Staff & Student Developed)● District Well Being Surveys

Goal 2.3 - Students will apply their learning to address problems relevant to their lives and communities.

Rationale: The school community wanted to target goals specific to connecting students to their learning, which would also link to contributing to their local and broader communities, while again, aligning with our Vision statement.

Data Related to Goal:Staff reviewed Data from student Foundation, Skills Assessments, Nonfiction Reading Assessment, School Wide Writes and new instructional practices/approaches (PBL, Vertical Learning Surfaces, Maker Day Design) to identify the need to target connecting students to their learning in meaningful ways. Staff felt that student writing and numeracy abilities increased when students were actively engaged and interested in the content. This theory was tested using Improvement Sprint cycles in May in regards to writing structures in the grade 5/6/7 levels. The results indicated the more students actively talked, moved, collaborated and reviewed their work, better quality writing was produced.

Timeline & Evidence:

June & September ~ Two staff who have been trained and using Improvement Sprints will introduce the concept to the whole staff and review the process.October ~ Have staff identify target areas to design IS cycles around and establish staff teams to provide mutual support.November ~ Begin 3-4 week cycle of IS.December ~ Review data and progress of IS cycles measured against student engagement and academic growth. BC Performance Standard Rubrics to be used as a baseline measure.January to May ~ Repeat the IS cycle with the intent to mentor all staff in using the process. The first year will really be about using the process and getting staff comfortable with the IS structure, while collecting data over 3-4 week cycles that can be used to compare against

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standardized assessments. The first goal is to increase student engagement in the learning process and increase opportunities for students to actively participate, demonstrate and collaborate with content. The second goal is to encourage students to set timelines and measurements around their own learning, planning and goal setting as it applies to their lives.

Strategies & Structures● PBL/Inquiry models● Maker Design Initiatives● Lesson Plans designed around New Curriculum, Buck Institute Templates and Maker

Design● Presentations Of Learning at Assemblies● Connections and transition activities with BSS● Utilize Outdoor Classroom to build connections with local municipality, TRU, Simpcw

First Nation

Goal 3.1 - Students will experience learning through Aboriginal ways of knowing and doing.

Rationale: To identify a goal that would increase awareness and connection to First Nations worldview and presence in our school community and society, while increasing community connections and providing a leadership opportunity for our students.

Data Related to Goal:Anecdotal data from staff, parents, students, and Simpcw First Nation, concluded that more, or a different approach, needs to be applied to increase meaningful awareness of First Nations contributions and ways of knowing and doing in our school.

Strategies & Structures● PBL/Maker Design Ethnobotany Garden ● Presentations Of Learning at Assemblies● In conjunction with our AEW, our Aboriginal Boys & Girls Groups, the grade 7 class

will take on a leadership role in researching, planning/designing and hosting our next year Day of Sucwentwecw.

Timeline & Evidence:

September ~ Students (grade 6/7), staff and AEU begin to plan for Day of Sucwentwecw, beginning with raising awareness and identifying human resources to support this project.October ~ Orange Shirt Day activities and awareness are planned and promoted beyond a day before the day. This will involve guest speakers from Simpcw FN, and SD 73 coordinator support. Grade 6/7 students will begin to include younger grades in the planning process.

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November - April ~ Students & staff will continue planning for the Day of Sucwentwecw, but will also work to incorporate themes of bullying and social acceptance, which will be highlighted in planning for Anti-Bullying Day in February.February - Anti-Bullying Day activities planned and led by intermediate students, incorporating themes of reconciliation.April ~ Day of Sucwentwecw Assembly planned and led by BES Intermediate students

Professional Learning Plan 2017/18Project Based Inquiry/Inquiry Based LearningSeveral Lead staff continued to participate in PBL and Maker Day Training for the 2016/2017 school year, and will continue in the 17/18 year. Moving forward in 2017/18 staff will continue to develop lesson plans/projects that incorporate the principles of design theory that complement the the redesigned curriculum Core Competencies. The lesson plans developed through collaborative partnerships will be shared with all staff with the intent of developing a pool of lesson resources for classroom teachers to utilize. The collaborative time will be developed from the recommendations of our Instructional Rounds, utilizing the school’s .40 teacher librarian and staff meetings to create the time needed to develop these new teaching resources.

Vertical Learning SpacesIn April and May of 2017 a small team of staff from BES attended two Non Permanent Vertical Learning Spaces workshop with Peter Liljedahl. The intent is to develop and implement new practices in how we engage, instruct and assess our students. This has formed focus point for collaborative lesson design with a school based team providing direction and support throughout the year, which will be shared with all staff at monthly design meetings.

Improvement SprintsIn May and June 2017, a small team of teachers attend a workshop/training about utilizing the Improvement Sprint (IS) cycle designed for student assessment, intervention and data collection. The team returned to BES and implemented the IS model for three weeks, combined with the Vertical Learning Spaces approach to measure and collect evidence regarding student achievement specific to sentence and writing structures. The data was reviewed, the next IS was planned, and another series of IS were implemented. This structure will be used more widely next year, targeting both Primary and Intermediate teachers.

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Overall 2016/17 Timeline & Engagement Process To Develop & Plan For Improvement GoalsSeptember - Engaged staff and established consensus to revisit and tune the school’s Vision, Mission and Behavioural statements

October - Met with Positive Behaviour Intervention Supports team and whole staff, and began revamping school wide behavioural expectations matrix

November - Met with staff to engage in conversations and activities which focused on identifying the attributes of a Learner that BES staff would like to support and foster. We referred to the SD73 Strategic Plan (Draft), the OECD 7 Principles of a Learner, The First People’s Principles of Learning, and past organizational experiences

November - presented new draft of PBIS norms to staff for review & feedback, inclusive of First People’s Principles (Mastery, Belonging, Confidence, and Independence)

November - Staff drafted vision & mission statements reflecting the of a learner attributes work done as well as the new draft of behavioural expectations

January - staff reviewed possible vision and mission statements and was introduced to the idea of Instructional Rounds (presentation by two staff) and the potential to participate in a spring IRound

February/March - Engaged students with a survey from K-7 to collect data regarding:● What would you like from/at your school…● What would you like/want from a teacher….● What would you like/look for from a friend….

This information was used as a check to see if the feedback/data reflected the direction of the staff in regards to vision/mission/behavioural expectations, and to further refine and clarify the direction of the BES Growth Plan.

February/March - engaged parents with a very similar survey to collect data regarding what they would like from their child’s school.

March - re-engaged all staff with previous work identifying attributes of a learner and then worked through the process of identifying 4 Key Attributes, which then was refined into a Problem of Practice to be utilized in BES’s participation in Instructional Rounds (April 12th, 2017)

March - Reviewed data with staff collected throughout the year, and last year’s growth plan, to define a direction for the new school learning plan, inclusive of SD73’s District Strategic Growth Plan.

April - Instructional Rounds. Staff reviewed the recommendations to develop strategies and structures to support implementation of our learning plan

May - Adopted BES School Learning Plan & presented to SD73 School Trustees and Super/Assistant Intendants.

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2018-19 School Learning Plan UpdateBarriere ElementaryMay 31, 2019

Review & Overview

Success

This year our school continued to focus and build on our SLP Goal 3.1:Students will experience learning through Aboriginal ways of knowing and doing.

Rationale: To identify a goal that would increase awareness and connection to First Nations worldview and presence in our school community and society, while increasing community connections and providing a leadership opportunity for our students.

Two primary highlights emerged from this focus.

The first was in having our First Nations Boys and Girls group help plan/organize and lead activities lead for our Day of Sucwentwecw. This is the second year in a row that students have taken on this task. The day consisted of Buddy classrooms (primary & intermediate) rotating through a variety of stations throughout the day, including: Lahal (stick games), drumming, smudging, medicine pouches, story-telling, Bannock and Indian Ice Cream making, Inuit etc. These stations were led by our own students, ex-grads, staff and parents. Members of the Simpcw First Nation, including the Chief, Shelley Loring, and students and staff from Neqweyqwelsten School (Simpwc) joined us as well and participated in welcoming ceremonies. Overall, students and staff felt the day was a great success and built on the strengths of last year. Teachers left feeling that they now have instructional material (conversations, questions, examples and experiences) from the day that blend more naturally into their everyday lessons. Teachers feel that there are more conversations regarding the role of First Nations within our community, province and country. Students are demonstrating, and have identified, they more confident in asking questions and participating in First Nations related content and activities.With students taking on leadership, communication, and teaching roles, while addressing a challenge/problem that exists in our community and society (the relationship with our First Nations communities), we feel as a school that we also began to address our two other SLP goals:

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Goal 1.1 - Students will demonstrate growth in thinking, communication, personal and social competencies.

Goal 2.3 - Students will apply their learning to address problems relevant to their lives and communities.

The second significant task associated with our goal, was to increase instructional examples of First Nations knowledge, worldview and practices. Staff started the year with bringing in Bernice Jensen for our September Professional Development Day. She worked with staff to explain the workshops she offered, curriculum connections and other service to increase and support First Nations Culture. Throughout the year, Mrs. Jensen worked with all classroom divisions (11) and presented 7 different workshops to staff and students. The school also invited Kenthen Thomas in who presented a school wide workshop/presentation on story telling, and was fortunate enough to have Phyllis Webstad come to the school and share her story of the Orange Shirt. For this event, Raft River Elementary intermediate students joined our school. In February, staff planned a Pro D that involved a workshop on the Blanketing Project (Colonial/First Nations contact and experience). The experience was powerful and staff left with more knowledge and understanding of some of the traumas experienced by First Nations due to European Expansion into Canada. Two staff members then went on to take the training to present the workshop to students.

Connections with the Local Education Agreement between SD 73 and The Participating Bands of the Secwepemc Nation

We believe that much of work this year has aligned with the Value Statement that opens the Local Education Agreement between SD 73 and the participating bands of the Secwepemc Nation which aims at “making a difference by working together” while maintaining a focus on the goal of increasing the academic and personal success of our First Nations Students. Specific areas of connection being:

3.2 Enhance and affirm a strong identity, pride in heritage, and a healthy self-esteem in First Nations Students

3.7 Actively involve, in collaboration with Bands, Elders, and other First Nations resource people in the school system

3.9 Work together to increase awareness of First Nations culture among all students and staff, to provide for the integration of Secwepemc cultural values and information about the Secwepemc people in appropriate curriculum areas

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3.10 Work together with other educational stakeholder groups within the School District, including teachers, administrators, and support staff, to enhance educational opportunities and promote success for First Nations students

Data/Evidence of Growth

Although these connections are explicit to our First Nations students, all students are actively involved in the workshops and opportunities provided to enhance awareness of Aboriginal ways of knowing and doing. Non-First Nations students were active participants in school wide Presentations of Learning specific to sharing knowledge regarding local Secwepemc Bands.

Our Aboriginal rates of attendance has continued to improve overall, and data from our 2018 DEWRS results indicate over 80% of our students feeling they are learning about First Nations content. Students also indicated in the DEWRS survey that 76% of them felt a positive sense of belonging, 87% report positive staff-student relationships, 90% indicated they value school and were motivated to work hard.

In terms of our FSA results, our students moved from 53% to 60% for meeting Mid-Level or Higher for numeracy, and from 81% to 97% in writing.

According to our Non Fiction Reading Results our First Nations students have made steady gains overall in their ability to understand, organize, infer and plan their reading and writing. Overall, all of our student population has made gains in this area, which had illustrated the point that what is good for our First Nations Learners is good for all of our learners.

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Next Steps & Professional Growth Cycle

First Nations Goal Action Statement…if we lead students through the blanketing lesson/experience, then will students have increased  empathy and curiosity towards our relationship with Canada’s Aboriginal People?

...if we connect students with the land and Aboriginal content/knowledge,  then will students gain an understanding of  Aboriginal connection to the land and territorial rights?

Staff will continue to work with SD73 district coordinators, Simpwc First Nation and other community groups to support the growth of students understanding of First Nations ways of Knowing and Doing. The school feels that if we continue to provide opportunities for students and staff to immerse themselves in content and experiences connected to our First Nations people’s then students will begin to naturally ask questions and about our First Nations people’s and be more ready to engage in the conversation regarding Reconciliation.

Our next goal shift will be in the area of numeracy: Based on Foundation Skills Results and teacher observation that this is an area of concern and staff is receptive to this area of focus. The numeracy focus is a natural extension of our school’s work over the last 3 years. We have restructured math groupings, worked with the District Math Coordinator in regards to curriculum design and instruction, as well as participating in District Numeracy initiatives.

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Numeracy Action Statement

If we provide staff with professional learning opportunities, specifically focused on

numeracy, then we will see teachers and students improve their overall   foundational

math skills.

Math Goal: To improve students’ foundational skills in Numeracy by developing

stronger number sense and mathematical thinking.

Strategies:

1. To Improve Number Sense through the use of Number Talks

2. To improve Mathematical Thinking skills through the use of Cognitively Guided Instruction and Math Journals

3. Build on our current work with Amanda Russett (3rd year)

4. Continue Primary Collaborative structure with a focus on math

5. Continue with adjusted instructional approaches…

6. NP - Vertical Learning Sp)aces, Instructional Sprints

7. Universal Design for Learning…

In regards to Universal Design for Learning staff has agreed to join a District pilot-project, which involves working with a District Coordinator to oversee unit and lesson plan design and delivery, as well as directed staff professional development, beginning in September (23rd) and continuing throughout the year (October, February and May). This builds on the work of the staff this year. Staff is excited to have a more consistent and cohesive Professional Development plan for the year with a specific focus that allows for the opportunity to blend Universal Lesson Design with the more in depth focus on numeracy BES is engaging in.

Feedback – Spring 2019 – consulted with staff – October 2019

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Learning Partner Engagement1. Engagement with learning partners and district resources is evident, especially

with the Local Education Agreement. What strategies have been used to engage parents / guardians?

a. All parents are invited to attend eventsb. ABEW – hosts family nights throughout the yearc. Field trips – parents are invited to attend and volunteerd. Consistent communication with our parents through class and school wide

newsletterse. Day of Sucwentwecw – stations are run by some of our parentsf. Passion Fair – a couple of classroom researched aboriginal groups from

around the world and displayed their work and presented to parentsg. Art for Others activities – students created and sold itemsh. We are also planning for a presentation of learning in November 2019

2. A specific support framework should identify how students with diverse learning abilities are identified, monitored and responded to. Data should be disaggregated to identify areas of diversity in order to address certain populations of students within the school in order to target strategies.

a. Consistent communication with parents is encouraged.b. School Based Team Meetings are recommended once strategies in class and

at home have been triedc. If needed, External Team Meetings are recommended.d. During staff meetings, we are discussing our classrooms with regards to

individual and whole class needs. We are creating short term and long term goals to work with individual and/or whole class.

e. Report Card, FSA, NFRA, DEWRS, Primary Reading assessments, K-Surveys – data will be collected and shared

i. We will continue to work as a staff regarding the information we find from this data

3. There are 7 strategies that are listed to address numeracy. Recommendation to consider using one or two for a period of time to determine effectiveness.

a. #3 Build on our current work with Amanda Russett (3rd year)i. One intermediate and one primary teacher are attending Numeracy

Workshops throughout the year – they will be sharing the information during Staff Meetings, Collaboration times and ProD days

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b. #7 Universal Design for Learningi. Begun the work with this

1. September ProD – all staff attending - UDL2. Two teachers are attending the December workshop and

sharing the information4. No discrete PL plan included in this SLM. It would be helpful to consider aligning

a PL plan to the goals of the SL plan and itemized by month. For example - in Sept, focus learning on goal [x] -- strategies -- staff meeting focus on [x] and NID, focus on [x] That way, you can track your progress of learning to support your goals throughout the year.

a. This plan is still in the process of being developedi. Professional Development

1. September ProD – UDL (school wide)2. December ProD – UDL and Numeracy3. February ProD – Linda O’Neill (Trauma Based Instruction)4. May ProD- UDL/Numeracy/Goals for next year

ii. Staff Meetings/Collaboration time1. Building on our learning around UDL and Numeracy

a. Staff presenting, collaboration, district coordinatorsb. Will finalize a yearly learning plan in our October 21

staff meeting

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