** click here to see the full Framework Plan

“Take 3”

Robert Ogilvie Elementary

Camp Cameron Field Trip – Mrs. Gauthier’s grade 3/4 class and Mr. Hetherington’s grade 5/6 class spent a couple of days at our district’s Outdoor Education Center.

They had a wonderful experience with team building, outdoor recreation and learning activities.

Thank you to SD60, the bus driver, the teachers and the parent volunteers.  The students will remember this experience for years to come.

Jerelyn Orcutt, Principal, Robert Ogilvie Elementary

Our students are participating in two (2) weeks of Arctic Winter Games.

The Arctic Winter Games promote an atmosphere of social interaction that enhances self-esteem, as well as strengthening cultural awareness and understanding,

Classes participating in this event learn some of the history of the Arctic Winter Games and how these activities led to cultural and social interaction between the Indigenous people over time.

There are four (4) events that the students compete in as demonstrated above:    Kneel Jump, One Foot High Kick, Side Reach and Sledge Jump.

Griff Peet, Principal, Duncan Cran Elementary

Taylor Elementary 

How many hours are 79,704 minutes?  That is how many hours ourTaylor Tigers read at home in the month of February!

Congrats to all of our Taylor Tigers who participated in the Reading Challenge!   We had 90% student participation.

Thank you to Mrs. Frankham for organizing and thank you to all the families for supporting this challenge!

Nancy Maxfield, Principal, Taylor Elementary

The post Superintendent’s Report – March 2023 appeared first on Together We Learn.

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Intellectual Development

SD60 Curriculum Grids

Staff have been developing curriculum grids for all areas and grade levels to support planning for student learning.  This has been particularly useful for our new teachers and those on Letters of Permission (LOPs).

Ministry Reports on Student Achievement for SD60

A variety of reports are available on the Ministry of Education and Child Care website for Student Success.   Below is an example of a chart on graduation rates for SD60.  Staff and trustees will be looking at a variety of provincial and local learning evidence over the next couple of months in the context of our Framework for Enhancing Student Learning.

Distributed Learning Programs in School District 60

The Ministry of Education and Child Care has officially announced that School District 60 – through its Key Learning Center, has been selected as a Provincial Online Learning School.  This means it can offer programming to students across BC.  Please check out the possibilities for coursework and programs here.

Human & Social Development

Grade 10 students back volunteering at the FSJ Hospital.

Please click here for the news story published by the Alaska Highway News.

Careers & Skill Development

Mind Over Metal

CWB Welding Foundation Mind Over Metal camp initiative began with a two-week pilot camp in 2014. Since then, it has have grown to facilitate over 200 camps for more than 4,000 youth across Canada.  A camp at NPSS began on January 31st with several students invited from our middle schools.

Targeted at youth ages 12-17, Mind Over Metal camps are changing the perceptions of youth and their parents about welding, welding-related and skilled trades careers.  Hands-on learning at these camps builds confidence and self-esteem and gives many students a reason for continuing on to secondary, post-secondary and apprenticeship.  Welding has captured their attention and is giving them a focus for their future.

https://www.cwbweldingfoundation.org/event/mind-over-metal-youth-fort-st-john-bc/

Support for Ukrainian Students & Families

Operations / HR

Staff have been invited to participate in the annual POPEY Conference coming up in April:

Truth & Reconciliation

A new semester is underway at NPSS and our Indigenous students continue to be supported by the Indigenous education department.

“Take 3”

École Central Elementary School of the Arts

The City of Fort St John proclaimed February 5-12, 2023 to be FRENCH IMMERSION WEEK.

This meant a week dedicated to French Immersion Programs that provides students, educators and families an opportunity to celebrate and share their achievements.

École Central Elementary participated in a variety of cultural activities, such as eating maple syrup rolled in snow, making edible snowmen (bonhomme Carnaval), went outside for outdoor winter events and we finished our week with an assembly where we sang French songs.

Lynne Côté-Aubin, Principal, École Central Elementary School of the Arts

Community Breakfast – On Monday, February 13th, Robert Ogilvie Elementary held its first school community breakfast.

Jump Rope for Heart – Our school is excited to be participating in Jump Rope for Heart this year!

Jerelyn Orcutt, Principal, Robert Ogilvie Elementary

Alwin Holland Elementary

Laurie Petrucci, Vice-Principal, Alwin Holland Elementary

The post Superintendent’s Report – February 2023 appeared first on Together We Learn.

** click here to see the full Framework Plan

Intellectual Development

K-12 Reporting Policy

https://www.prn.bc.ca/board/k-12-reporting-policy-framework-2023-2024/ 

Why?

• Reporting has been largely unchanged from 1994-2016, with small changes that came with new curriculum (core competencies, local decision making)
• Alignment with curriculum, provincial assessments, and between districts

What’s the Same

• 5 communications of student learning;  3 written and 2 of flexible format​
• Written descriptive feedback to accompany scale or letter grade/percentage​
• Letter grades and percentages at Grades 10-12​

What’s New

• Student reporting practices that align with B.C.’s curriculum and provincial assessment system​
• Timely and responsive feedback on student learning that parents can understand​
• Provincial Proficiency Scale at Grades K-9​
  • Emerging – Developing – Proficient – Extending
• Graduation status update at Grades 10-12​
• Student self-assessment of the Core Competencies and goal setting in all grades in the 3 written reports​
• Changing the “I” reporting symbol to “IE” to denote “insufficient evidence” of learning instead of “incomplete” learning​
• All learners, including students with a disability or diverse ability, will receive regular communications of student learning in the same way as their peers in any other program​

Human & Social Development

Calling all Grade 4/5/6 Teachers! 

Mental Health Literacy – Professional Development – Friday, January 27th, 2023

Elementary-Mental Health Literacy Curriculum Poster

Careers & Skill Development

Career Education Provincial Pilot K-8

A group of our K-8 teachers will be participating in a provincial pilot around career education with support from our Careers Department:

K-8 Career Exploration – Project Overview

ADST Projects on our Digmore Site

As part of the District Framework goals, each month from now until the end of the school year, we will be highlighting one ADST project from the Digmore site.

All videos and lessons can be found here on the Digmore site.

The ADST video will also have numeracy or literacy lessons to support it.  

This month will be the Night Owl project.

Operations / HR

A recruitment and retention initiative, the New French Teacher Welcome Project.

Our local Canadian Parents for French chapter is looking to connect with this national initiative to welcome new immersion teachers and facilitate a longer stay in the community.  Similar support in the past helped recruit and retain our own Lynne Côté-Aubin, whose story was recently profiled on their website.

Fitness & Stretching Classes for SD60 Employees

Another reminder that the Barre fitness class continues to be available in the new year to all staff, free of charge, every Wednesday from 4:30-5:30 p.m. at Margaret ‘Ma’ Murray Community School gymnasium.

Truth & Reconciliation

Local Education Agreements (LEAs)

• Another set of action plans have recently been developed with the Doig River First Nations implementation committee
• We met with the Halfway River First Nation on community, just before the break, and reviewed possible initiatives moving forward with their LEA

Indigenous Professional Development Day – Friday, May 5th, 2023

The committee, composed of a cross-section of district groups have been planning for this district-wide professional development day.   This has become our biggest pro-d event and has been very well received by staff.

Equity Scan 

• There will be a community meeting/survey with parents at the North Peace Cultural Centre on Thursday, January 26th, 2023.
• Meetings are planned with students at the middle and secondary levels to get their feedback.

“Take 3”

Buick Creek Elementary

The evening was concluded with Santa Claus presenting goody bags to the children.

It was great seeing the whole community in our gym after a few years of not being able to do so.

Christine Mann, Vice-Principal, Buick Creek Elementary

Hudson’s Hope Elementary-Secondary

Our Annual Christmas Concert was held on December 7th, 2022.  Students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 presented a variety of singing, skits, Reader’s Theatre, and poetry, including: “North Pole, Rock N Roll”, “The 12 Days of Christmas”, “Snow, Snow, Snow”, “The Grinch”, “The Baker’s Dozen”, and “The Christmas Truce”.  It was a very energetic Concert, with a gym packed with spectators.

Derrek Beam, Principal, Hudson’s Hope Elementary-Secondary

Energetic Learning Campus

The ELC has a strong tradition of giving back to the community and Christmas is one of our favourite times to do this.   The students and staff raised over $7,000 in donations to go towards our Christmas Hamper fund.  We were able to help four (4) families at Christmas time.

Lori Coulter, Vice-Principal, Energetic Learning Campus

Bert Bowes Middle School

Jason Gill, Principal, Bert Bowes Middle School

The post Superintendent’s Report – January 2023 appeared first on Together We Learn.

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Intellectual Development

The District held its Annual Band Concert on November 24 to kick off the holiday season.  There were close to 100 beginning band students performing for the first part of the concert and then the junior and senior bands performed for the second part.  Parent attendance was at a maximum;  filling the North Peace Cultural Centre theatre throughout the evening.  

Tools being developed in anticipation of the new Reporting Order

The following is an example of a draft self-assessment tool related to the BC Curricular Competencies.  The District continues to gather information and prepare for the September implementation of the Reporting Order.

Draft Core Competencies Self-Assessment Gr 4-7

Human & Social Development

FamilySmart is a provincial initiative to support families who have a child struggling with mental health.  Please see the poster below for more details.

HHT Poster – Family Workshop

Careers & Skill Development

The District was fortunate to receive significant donations from the organizations Liberty Canada and the CWB Welding Foundation:

1. Liberty Canada – is donating an enclosed trailer to help support our elementary career programs and will be used to transport materials to support our career days.  They are going to be donating building materials as well and the students at NPSS are going to be building the shelving for the inside of the trailer.
2. CWB Welding Foundation – Peace River North School District has qualified for and will receive 20 CWB WeldSAFE kits. The value of each CWB WeldSAFE kit is on average $750.00 per kit.  We are excited to be able to invest into the safety of students across Canada.

The CWB Welding Foundation, CWB WeldSAFE custom safety kit includes:

• 3M Speedglas Carry Bag, SG-90, black
• 3M Speedglas Welding Beanie, 06-0500-54, black
• 3M Speedglas Welding Helmet 9002NC, 04-0100-20NC-CA
• 3M E-A-R Classic Earplugs, 310-1060, uncorded
• 3M SecureFit 500 Series Safety Glasses SF501SGAF-BLK, Black, Scotchgard Anti-Fog Coating, Clear AF-AS Lens
• 3M Particulate Welding Respirator, 8515, N95
• Lincoln Electric Welding Jackets
• Lincoln Electric Welding Gloves
• Weldready Leather Spats foot protection
• Weldready Welding Jackets Size Small

District Principal of Careers/International, Brian Campbell

Operations / HR

Robert Ogilvie Elementary staff kicked off the holiday season by spending the evening together on November 30th decorating the halls of the school.  It was a great team-building activity and the students were surprised and excited to see the decorations when they arrived at school on the morning of December 1st.  One student said “This is the best day ever!”.

Jerelyn Orcutt, Principal, Robert Ogilvie Elementary

Potential Professional Development Opportunities Organized by the PRNTA for January 27th, 2023

Our local teacher’s union organizes a multitude of offerings for pro-d days throughout the year.  Registration determines which ones are booked and organized.

• Exploring the Connections between Classroom Practice and Self-regulation 
• Making Physical Literacy Work for Your Class 
• Classroom Management 
• Classroom Management for TTOCs 
• Creating Cultures of Peace
• Exploring Place-Based Learning (3–5 hours) 
• Physical Literacy Assessment 
• Physical Activity and Physical Literacy for Everyone: Setting the Stage for Inclusion 
• Physical Activity and Physical Literacy for All (Diverse Abilities) 
• Making Physical Literacy Work for Your Class  
• Dealing with Stress in the Workplace for TTOCs
• Assertive Communication: Positive Interactions 
• Creating a Culture of Professionalism 
• BCTF Code of Ethics: Understanding the Professional Relationship 
• 215 Le Estcwicwéy: Honouring the Children buried at Kamloops Indian Residential School 
• UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 
• An Indigenous Approach to Getting Started with Physical Literacy 

Truth & Reconciliation

The Equity Scan Committee has recently convened and has started to plan for an Indigenous parent gathering (World Cafe format) at the Cultural Centre in January.  More details to follow closer to the event.  Plans are also in place to meet with students at the middle and high schools, analyze responses from the various groups and being creating a district profile.  The goal is to develop an action plan by the end of the school year.

Below is the NPSS Indigenous Newsletter for December

NPSS Indigenous Newsletter – December 2022

“Take 3”

Hudson’s Hope Elem-Jr Secondary

Derrek Beam, Principal, Hudson’s Hope Elem-Jr Secondary

Dr. Kearney Middle School

We held our Annual PJ Drive and this year’s donations are going to the Community Bridge.

Tanya Braun, Vice-Principal, Dr. Kearney Middle School

Sr Boys & Sr Girls Volleyball Teams

Both our Sr Boys and our Sr Girls Volleyball teams travelled to Kelowna to participate in the Provincial Championships.

The Sr Girls team dressed up as “Diva Cowgirls” for the banquet and won ‘best-dressed’!

Alex Bacso, Coach, Sr Girls Volleyball

The post Superintendent’s Report – December 2022 appeared first on Together We Learn.

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Intellectual Development

Update on Psych-Ed Assessments by our School Psychologist

Assessments & needs:

• 172 referrals with 38 not candidates for assessment
• 134 referrals put forth from School-Based Teams and triaged from low to high in need to support establishment of schedule
• 11 Community Living BC (High School Students)
• Total 35-40 assessments will be carried out for 2022-2023
• May lead to a Special Education designation of “Q”, which indicates a learning difficulty in a particular area

Numeracy Collaboration

Guided Reading Workshops

Human & Social Development

Parent-Child Activity Night

Trauma-Informed Practice

CIVIX Canada – Student Vote BC

Nearly 60,000 students cast ballots in the CIVIX Canada Student Vote program for the 2022 local elections.  In total, 736 schools registered to participate and 485 schools submitted results.

According to CIVIX Canada, 456 students in 6 schools cast ballots from our school district.

The full results are available here and results specific to our district are available here.

Careers & Skill Development

We will be promoting a lesson each month for grade 5 teachers on the Digmore site.

Our goal is for each teacher to try at least one ADST lesson before the end of the year.

This month we will feature … String and Nail Art

Operations / HR

Barre Fitness classes are available to all staff, free of charge, every Wednesday (4:30-5:30 p.m.) at Margaret ‘Ma’ Murray Community School.

Truth & Reconciliation

Upcoming Events:

• Nov 15 –  Rock your Mocs
• Nov 17 – Transition Coach & Support Teacher morning mtg. 
• Nov 16 – Louis Riel Day / some provinces celebrate the 3rd Monday in Feb as Louis Riel Day 
• Nov 23 – 26 Indspire Conference 
• Nov 25 – NID – Health & Wellness
• Dec 7 – ISSW/IYCW monthly meeting – full day 
• Dec 15 – IE Advisory Council meeting

“Take 3”

Charlie Lake Elementary

Hula Hoop Girl

Amanda Panda, the Hula Hoop Girl, came to our school to entertain us.  Mr. Merhi and Mr. Clements joined her on stage for a hula hoop lesson as well.

Pumpkin Chuckin’ Event

We also had a catapult and trebuchet parent/child pumpkin chuckin’ event.  The intermediate students all learned how to make a catapult in class and then were allowed to build one with their families to compete in the pumpkin chuckin’ event.

The Beattie family built the trebuchet pictured below.  It is weighted with water on one side and then sling shots the pumpkin back over it.  It won with a distance of about 200 metres!

The Rivers-Bowerman family built the trebuchet pictured below and son, Davey, loads the pumpkin in preparation to chuck it.

Below are all of the family-built catapults and trebuchets.

It was really amazing!

Mrs. Shawna Hartman, Principal, Charlie Lake Elementary

Margaret ‘Ma’ Murray Community School

Our grades 4-6 students are learning the value of community with a leadership program called EarlyAct led by teachers, Mrs. Bracey and Mrs. Comber.

“We had heard that Meals on Wheels needed some help and we thought we’d help out” said teacher, Mrs. Bracey.  “That’s what we like to do at our school.  We do a lot of fundraising, but this is the first time we’ve raised for Meals on Wheels and it’s something we’d like to do annually.”

The group also involves itself with other projects like the hospital foundation’s Be An Angel campaign, writing cards to soldiers at Christmas, as well as fundraising for kids cancer, the Terry Fox Run and the SPCA.

Mrs. Kathy Scheck, Principal, MMMCS

Taylor Elementary

Annually students in Mrs. McDonell’s classes place a stone with a poppy painted on it on veteran’s graves. Approximately 16 graves had stones placed as part of the Remembrance Day ceremonies.

Robert Ogilvie Elementary

During their Remembrance Day assembly there was a presentation on some of the history of Canadian veterans and two classes presented poems to the entire school.

Some parents were in attendance and the ceremony was appreciated by all.

Dr. Stephen Petrucci, Superintendent/CEO

The post Superintendent’s Report – November 2022 appeared first on Together We Learn.

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Education Acronyms

Intellectual Development

Assessment Overview

Human & Social Development

Parent/Child Art Activity Night

Careers & International

Ride for the Disabled International Volunteers

A mix of international and local students are volunteering this year:

Supporting the students and families from Hudson’s Hope

During the evacuation, several schools in our district offered space and activities for the Hudson’s Hope students and their families.

One such activity was the use of the Maker Space Room at Bert Ambrose Elementary.

In addition to providing a space for activities and learning, the Hudson’s Hope students also received cards from Bert Ambrose students.

Examples like this played out across the region.

Operations / HR

Enrolment 2022-2023

• Projections were for 6094 fully-funded students in all programs
• September 30 snapshot revealed 6116, therefore we are 22 over projections
• General trend is increased enrolment in brick and mortar schools with a decline in online learning programs

TeacherFit

Proactive – Student & Educator Wellness

All SD60 employees have access to “TeacherFit”, an on-demand health, wellness and fitness program designed specifically for educators and school district employees.

TeacherFit provides weekly fitness, yoga, mindfulness and nutrition options for you.  It also includes weekly brain breaks and mindfulness sessions for students that can be embedded into class.  Further, you can access the full bank of each of these features that has been built up over time.

Professional Development for PWIM & SMART Learning:

PWIM Workshop

SMART Learning

Truth & Reconciliation

Bert Bowes Middle School 

Rik Leaf (Artist in Residence) visited the school during Truth & Reconciliation Week.  Students participated in a number of activities and one such activity, Slam Poetry, is depicted in the following video:

Truth & Reconciliation – Slam Poetry with Bert Bowes Middle School students & Rik Leaf

NPSS October Newsletter from Indigenous Support

“Take 3”

Taylor Elementary

District of Taylor sponsors an annual “Healthy Walk to Breakfast” for the entire school.  This year’s event was held on Friday, October 7th and students walked from the school to the Taylor Community Hall to enjoy breakfast.

Mrs. Nancy Maxfield, Principal, Taylor Elementary

C. M. Finch Elementary

We have had a wonderful start to the school year full of many exciting community events.  We had our Terry Fox Run, an Open House and Orange Shirt Day for Truth & Reconciliation.

The highlight of September was our School Carnival on Thursday, September 22nd that was put on by our school PAC.  This event had all of the usual carnival games and a barbecue.  And it was very well attended.

We look forward to hosting more events for the school community throughout the school year!

Mr. Troy Lang, Principal, C. M. Finch Elementary

Clearview Elementary Jr Secondary

One of our school goals this year is to increase authentic parent engagement in our student’s learning.  For a week we had Angie Pomeroy come to our school to teach students and staff dance.  On Thursday, October 6th, more than 110 students, staff, family and community members joined in an evening dance.  Students were able to demonstrate what they had learned to their parents, siblings, grandparents and extended families.

Mr. Craig Brownlee, Principal, Clearview Elementary Jr Secondary

The post Superintendent’s Report – October 2022 appeared first on Together We Learn.

Framework for Enhancing Student Learning (FESL)

** click here to see the full Framework Plan

Intellectual Development

BC Ministry of Education & Child Care  –  “Walking Side by Side” – August 2022

FESL 2021-2025 (2022 update)

Kindergarten Stories – Week One – Margaret ‘Ma’ Murray Community School

Click on the image above to enjoy a storybook reading activity with students.

Human & Social Development

Transitioning from Summer to School

Student Affordability Fund

Ministry of Education & Child Care News Release

“Many families in B.C. are feeling the effects of global inflation on daily costs, including groceries, school supplies and other school expenses,” said Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Education and Child Care. “We’re taking action by providing more funding that school districts will use to help meet the needs of families and students.”

The one-time funding will be provided directly to school districts to help them expand school meal programs, make sure students have the school supplies they need and cover any additional fees so that students in need can take part in activities, such as field trips.

Districts will work with with parent advisory councils and school communities, as well as local First Nations and other Indigenous organizations, regarding local priorities that will best meet the needs of diverse student populations.

BC GOV NEWS

Early Learning & Child Care

• Annual funding of $175,000 from the Ministry of Education and Child Care to provide the leadership capacity to consolidate early learning and child care programs in School District No. 60
• District Principal of Early Learning & Child Care – Tracey Lariviere
• Staff includes 2 managers that oversee ECE staff and programming in licensed and unlicensed spaces
• Preparing to add additional child care and early learning programs over the next few years in conjunction with provincial/federal commitments
• The District Principal will be carrying out an environmental scan of our current programs and connecting with community providers to determine the gaps and needs in our region
• School Districts are responsible for programs on school grounds; not private or other community providers

Seamless Day Kindergarten Summary Report for 2021-2022

Career/Skill Development & International

• Approximately 55 FTE International Students in our regular international programs
• Approximately 24 Refugee students from the Ukraine

Operations / HR

Pro-D for Teachers – Plotting Your School Year

Truth & Reconciliation

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Province of BC

Reminder that School District No. 60 will be observing Friday, September 30th, 2022 as a statutory holiday in recognition of Truth & Reconciliation Day.

“Take 3”

Bert Ambrose Elementary

Under the direction of our talented, creative and energetic Fine Arts teacher, Ms. Cassandra Mervyn, Bert Ambrose hosted its first annual school-wide Art Show on Friday, June 10th, 2022.

Every student completed a poster with 5 art pieces related to work done in the Art room (self portrait, Van Gogh, Ted Harrison, Andy Warhol & Barbra Reid).

When classrooms came to view the art, they were asked to write a fan letter for another artist in the school.  Intermediate students helped their primary buddies so every student was able to complete the task; allowing each artist to receive a letter of appreciation for some aspect of their art.

The Art Show was opened up to families in the evening with an opportunity to participate in a scavenger hunt that allowed them to view all of the artwork.  It was great watching families look through all of the art to finish their clues.  Our amazing PAC sponsored prizes which made it extra fun!

Ms. Laurie Wright, Principal, Bert Ambrose Elementary

Alwin Holland Elementary

On June 7, 2022, Alwin Holland Elementary held its first Bike Night!

Ms. Jerelyn Orcutt, (past) Principal, Alwin Holland Elementary

Learning Services

Deaf & Hard of Hearing (DHH) students held their year end event at Camp Cameron …

Keith MacGillivray, District Principal, Learning Services

For more information on our Cameron Lake Outdoor Education Centre, click here.

The post Superintendent’s Report – September 2022 appeared first on Together We Learn.

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Intellectual Development

Leveraging Learning with Technology

Ms. Andrews’ class at NPSS has been working on creating models using 3D printing. 

Here is an in-progress photo of a student working on a face mask.  The model is designed to be printed in pieces.  The students are learning how to best orient the pieces on the print bed, so that there are fewer supports (as when a piece is printed face-down, there are about two hours of cleaning required to remove the support material).  Angelica is having a blast learning how to print and the class is coming up with ideas for the next steps on gluing, hiding seams (with the 3D pen), and painting. 

Ms. Andrews, Teacher, North Peace Secondary School

National Robotics Competition

Two NPSS robotics teams qualified and competed in the national competition this year!   

Lucas Gill and Matthew Esau took first place in the regional competition, while Beneison Haw and Kordell Ollenberger took second place.   Click here for a video of Lucas and Matthew competing in the national competition, which was carried out virtually under very strict conditions.  They were guided by Mr. Brandt, who also serves on the national committee.

Human & Social Development

2022 Elementary Public Speaking Contest

This year’s District contest was held at Anne Roberts Young Elementary School and was organized by vice-principal, Melissa DeGroot. 

A link to the Alaska Highway News article on the event can be found here. 

Elementary Track & Field Meet 2022

After a two-year hiatus, the sports organizing committee – led by Robert Ogilvie Elementary and Clearview Elementary Jr Secondary schools this year – put together a wonderful track meet.  The weather was perfect and the new track was an exciting addition to this year’s event. 

We are very grateful to Curtis Whitford, the Bert Bowes administration and PAC, and to all the community sponsors who made this track possible.

Career & Skill Development

View Fullscreen

Hudson’s Hope School

Our grade 7-12’s enjoyed an awesome tour of Northwestern Polytechnic (previously known as Grande Prairie Regional College) on June 3, 2022.  They were able to visit the Indigenous Support Center, millwright classrooms, electrical trades classrooms, welding classrooms, and, of course, the student commons and academic spaces.  As a result, we have some students interested in welding and electrical.

Operations / HR

Professional Development in August

Planning and registration has begun for a number of training and professional development opportunities for staff.   One of these workshops is “Plotting Your School Year”:

Truth & Reconciliation

Bert Bowes Middle School

Laura Doyle, an Indigenous Youth Care Worker, presented an urban moosehide camp highlighting traditions and sustainability.

Below are the winners of a hand games tournament facilitated by elder David Rattray.

Jason Gill, Principal, Bert Bowes Middle School

Indigenous Education Centre

The 2nd Annual Grad Barbecue was held on June 8, 2022 at the Indigenous Education Centre. There were over 200 people in attendance and a great time was had by all!

Pat Jansen, District Principal, Indigenous Education Centre

Baldonnel Elementary

On June 6th, Baldonnel Elementary held an Indigenous Day for our school community.   Students played Indigenous hand games and other Indigenous games during the day.  Diane Barclay came and did a wrap up lesson about the Grandfather teachings for students.  We had a lunch of Bannock Tacos.  The school district dancers and drummers came.   We had a school-wide lesson about the Tipi with Dale Boissonneault. He also showed the students how to play a hand game. Thank you to Tanis Bourgeois and the staff at the Indigenous Centre for helping to make this an amazing day.

Christine Todd, Principal, Baldonnel Elementary

“Take 3”

École Central Elementary School of the Arts

Lynne Côté-Aubin, Principal, École Central Elementary School of the Arts

Taylor Elementary

Residents, parents, and teachers enjoyed an afternoon of youth creativity at Taylor Elementary on June 15th to celebrate their 10th annual Meet the Authors event.   All of the classes published a class book and all of the students contributed a story.  It was started by the late Donna-Lee Cooper (teacher) and is a tradition with red carpet and all!

This link will take you to the article published in the Alaska Highway News with more information regarding this event.

Nancy Maxfield, Principal, Taylor Elementary

Upper Halfway & Wonowon Schools

The BC Wildfire Services Fort St John Smokejumpers completed a practice jump for our Upper Halfway and Wonowon school students.  While the plane was overhead at 10:00 a.m., students, staff, parents and neighbours were able to observe twelve (12) smokejumpers parachuting down and cargo drops as well.

Following their landing and cleanup, the smokejumpers enthusiastically responded to questions and allowed the students the opportunity to see their equipment up close.

Jaclyn Gieni, Vice-Principal, Upper Halfway & Wonowon Schools

The post Superintendent’s Report – June 2022 appeared first on Together We Learn.

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Intellectual Development

Indigenous Learning Day:    May 6, 2022

Organizing Committee

Indigenous Education Department:     Pat Jansen

District Principal – Curriculum & Assessment:     Charmaine Chrétien 

PRNTA:     Michele Wiebe, Josie Gauthier, Mary Tremain, Jessica Dmytruk

Teacher / Logistics:     Chris Neufeldt

Doig River First Nations:     Teresa Thielen, Verena Hofmann

FSJ Metis Society:     Jacqueline Alderking

Blueberry River First Nations:     Keri Taylor

Halfway River First Nation:     Joyce Audit, Kim Field

CUPE:     Haley Irwin

Human & Social Development

Social & Emotional (SEL) teamwork around the District

• Several teams came together last week to share their learnings, successes and challenges from the current year.  All schools have an SEL lead as well as a team (including the administration) who work on educational and social activities to promote positive school environments.  They are supported by District staff and meet regularly through the year.

Career & Skill Development

Final Report Indigenous 2022

View Fullscreen

Operations / HR

• Still several unfilled positions for next year – including some regular classroom positions as well as French Immersion and non-enrolling support positions
• Follow-up is taking place with Make-A-Future services to enhance marketing of positions
• Major success in hiring a school psychologist for next year
• The current Vice-Principal vacancy at CM Finch Elementary will be filled this week.  This vacancy came as a result of retirements and the following administration changes:

Jerelyn Orcutt – moving to principalship at Robert Ogilvie Elementary School

Melody Braun – moving to principalship at Alwin Holland Elementary School

Palma Vasarhelyi – moving to principalship of Upper Pine Elem-Jr Secondary School

Truth & Reconciliation

New Grad Requirement:  4 credits Indigenous-Focused Course:

NPSS:  At North Peace Secondary, School District No. 60, we offer two ministry courses and three BAA courses. At this time they are not mandatory in our school, but the ministry courses meet the requirements for core courses. 

• MEFLS11-001 – EFP LITERARY STUDIES AND WRITING 11
• MENFP12-001 – ENGLISH FIRST PEOPLES 12  
• YAES-0A-001S2 – ABORIGINAL CULTURAL: LEARNING FROM THE ELDERS 10
• YAES-1A-001S2 – ABORIGINAL CULTURE: LEARNING FROM THE ELDERS 11  
• YAES-2A-001S2 – ABORIGINAL CULTURE: LEARNING FROM THE ELDERS 12

For our 2022-23 school year, we will be enrolling all grade 11 students in English First People’s 11. (EFP-11) This will help ensure that all current grade 10 students and future students meet the NEW grad requirements starting 2023-24 year.   We will be scheduling this way until we are confident that we can have offerings for students in all grades and can meet the challenges with tracking and scheduling.

Key Learning Center:   We currently have on offer English First Peoples 12 and BC First Peoples (SS) 12 as courses available to students.   We are monitoring students who intend to graduate with us at KLC to ensure that appropriate communication has taken place with them to explain the new requirements and to ensure appropriate course selection to ensure graduation requirements are met.   As the vast majority of our students only cross-enroll with us for a few specific courses we will ensure that the new Indigenous graduation requirements are posted on our website, Moodle/D2L sites and are a part of our enrollment conversation but graduation requirement verification will remain primarily with their home-school.

Hudson’s Hope:  We will be providing one of BC First Peoples 12, or Contemporary Indigenous Studies 12 as a required Social Studies course.   Grade 12’s will be required to take one of these courses, if they don’t already meet the requirements.  It will be open to grade 11/12’s (possibly grade 10’s).

We will be providing the “most popular” elective between EFP: Literary Studies + New Media 11, EFP: Literary Studies + Spoken Language 11, or EFP: Literary Studies + Writing 11.   The course will be offered to all of our grade 10-12’s to help students meet requirements “earlier”.

We are exploring offering English First Peoples 12, but are still working on our timetable.  This course would likely be offered to our grade 10-12’s as well.

“Take 3”

Duncan Cran Elementary

Our new Reading Program has been a great success!  We have more confident readers and are building new friendships around the school.  This daily program takes place in our newly furnished library!  Our students enjoy the flexible seating and comfortable feel of this space.

On May 4, the grade 5-6 students completed the Spaghetti Bridge Building Competition.  In groups of 2-3 students, they designed a bridge in class and planned out the build.  The students worked in the gym to assemble their plan, modify the physical bridge in efforts to support the 1lb weight for 1 minute.

Griff Peet, Principal, Duncan Cran Elementary

Margaret ‘Ma’ Murray Community School

Grade 1/2 students have been working together on a science unit on living things (Mrs. Fehr, Mrs. Powers & Miss Jesperson’s classes) where the focus has been on gardens and polinators.  One of the projects was for the students to take their knowledge and plant mini-greenhouses out of recycled materials.  Students had to drill holes for drainage, fill with soil, plant seeds and bulbs and monitor their greenhouse for temperature and moisture.  These greenhouses will go home when all the plants are mature enough to plant outside.  They have used onion bulbs, flower and vegetable seeds.  Once the plants are up, students will be creating a trellis from Popsicle sticks to allow their plants to weave around (particularly important for beans and peas).  Students will continue their learning by having a beekeeper come in to present, by learning about mason bees (we have two hourses and the mason bees will be planted there) as well as watering and watching the life cycle of their strawberry bins and tower gardens.

MMMCS_Mini Garden

Kathy Scheck, Principal, MMMCS

District Band

Celebrating our District Band’s Spring Performance on the evening of Thursday, May 5th …

We had bands compete at both the Peace River North Performing Arts Festival in Fort St John from April 21-24, 2022 and at the Grande Prairie Music Festival as well.  

• Beginning Band – four bands and all won Gold & one of the bands also won 1st Place Overall
• Grade 7 Band – Gold
• Grade 8/9 Concert Band – Gold plus 1st Place Overall
• Senior Band – Gold plus 1st Place Overall
• Junior Jazz Band – Silver
• Senior Jazz Band – Gold plus 1st Place Overall

Our district bands all did well this year! 

Sandra Gunn, District Band Coordinator

The post Superintendent’s Report – May 2022 appeared first on Together We Learn.

** click here to see the full Framework Plan

Intellectual Development

Indigenous-Focused Grad Requirement

As per the recent Ministry of Education and Child Care announcement, our secondary school staffs are working on course offerings in School District 60 to satisfy these new requirements. 

Provincial Dashboard on Student Success for SD60

Click on the image below to open the site in a new window.

Inclusion

School leaders recently participated in a workshop offered by the group Changemakers.  This is a group of adults with FASD who share the results of research they have carried out to better understand the obstacles people with FASD face. 

Human & Social Development

Musical Shrek!

During uncertain times, École Central Elementary School of the Arts produced the musical Shrek at the North Peace Cultural Centre at the end of February.  They had to navigate changing guidelines, public venues, altered practice regimes and many other obstacles in order to bring this show to fruition.  Congratulations!!

Career & Skill Development

Inclusive Supports for specific students have been added to Gr. 4-6 Elementary Careers Toolkit – such as the ADST lesson/unit using string art.   The Occupational Therapist and Physical therapist modified the tools in the kit to make the lesson accessible and achieve the same goals for students with disabilities.  An example of this is pre-drilling the holes for the nails, providing a hollow pen through which to thread the string, etc.  This has been a creative and impactful initiative.

Operations / HR

Professional Development Opportunities April 22nd for the Non-Instructional Day

Several workshops were offered to educational staff on April 22nd, including the one below on the Picture Word Induction Model to support literacy:

Proposed BC School Food Guidelines

The Ministries of Education and Health will be updating the current guidelines to reflect the 2019 Canada Health guidelines.  This process is still in the consultation stage and is framed as follows:

“The Guidelines provide a voluntary set of best practices aimed at supporting schools as they work towards the gold standards while providing room for flexibility to support each school’s unique needs and operational circumstances.”

Education staff, Parent Advisory Councils and Trustees have been provided with information and the opportunity to provide feedback by the end of April.

Truth & Reconciliation

Students from the Learning from the Elders Class from North Peace Secondary School went on a field trip to the Beatton Park on Tuesday, March 15th …. click on this link to see the Beatton Field Trip Report... or … see the full-sized on-screen version below:

Click on the following link to see the May 6, 2022 Indigenous Learning Day informational poster … or …. see the full sized on-screen version below:

“Take 3”

Baldonnel Elementary

Our intermediate students made arcade games using cardboard boxes.  This is our third annual arcade.  They set the games up in the gym and the primary students had fun learning about and playing the games.  The intermediate students demonstrated leadership skills as game leaders for our younger students.  Developing leadership skills is one of our Framework goals.  Our second Framework goal is developing literacy skills.  Students practice communication skills by explaining the games and helping the younger students understand what to do.  A creative project meeting a variety of educational learning goals:  ADST, Science, Fine Arts, Literacy, creativity, building and designing and core competencies of communication and thinking.  Afterwards, students reflected on their projects discussing how they came up with their design, what they learned during building their game, what did they have to overcome in building their game, rules of their game, how the arcade went and what would they do differently next time.  The intermediate students had a chance to play the games as well.  Each primary student left the arcade with a small prize donated by Baldonnel parents.  A great success!

Mrs. Merrill’s class has a window display showing support for the Ukraine people.  Students learning about the National flag and what the colours represent.  They each made a sunflower, which is Ukraine’s national flower.  This beautiful sunflower heart can be seen from the Baldonnel Road as you drive by.  Students learned about what is going on in the Ukraine.

Christine Todd, Principal, Baldonnel Elementary

Charlie Lake Elementary

Over the years many staff have participated in Bluey Day to support the FSJ Hospital Foundation. We’d like to share that Mr Merhi at Charlie Lake Elementary will join the ranks who have helped to raise funds to support the FSJ Hospital Foundation. You can support the fundraiser through the QR code below or this link.

Mr. Merhi, Teacher, Charlie Lake Elementary

Taylor Elementary

An article was published in the Alaska Highway News (written by Dave Lueneberg) – April 7, 2022

Posthumous award sought for beloved Taylor Elementary teacher, Donna-Lee Cooper.

The post Superintendent’s Report – April 2022 appeared first on Together We Learn.