Eastern School District

At Goulds Elementary we are committed to providing a positive, nurturing and enriching environment so that every child can reach his/her maximum potential. Our motto, "Through Education We Grow" demonstrates the value we place on teaching and learning. We want our students to acquire the skills and knowledge that will enable them to be life-long learners. This report celebrates our many accomplishments and successes, as well as identifies areas of concern that need improvement.

Highlighting this year’s Annual School Development Report is the work the School Development Team in collaboration with the staff has been doing with regard to our new school goals in Language, Mathematics & the creation of a safe, caring, healthy & collaborative learning environment. This report also provides data on the performance of our students on the June 2008 Provincial Assessments in Language Arts and Mathematics.

This year as we transition to the new School Development model we have identified specific goals derived from our critical issues. We have also set objectives for each goal and strategies for each objective. Throughout the next three to five years we will continue to implement and monitor our goals.

Goulds Elementary School Council consists of volunteers representing parents, teachers, and community. Our membership this year consisted of:

Jeannie Reddy – Chair, Parent Representative

David Ryan – Parent/Community Representative

Tammy-Lee Joyce – Parent Representative

Tina Tracey – Community Representative

Christopher Blundon – Community Representative

Marina Foley – Teacher Representative

Lori Jackman – Teacher Representative

Sharon Collett – Assistant Principal

Agnes Brennan – Principal

It is my pleasure to report another exciting year for our School Council. Our greatest accomplishment for the year was the completion of our playground. Our School Council put a lot of time and effort into lobbying for this on many levels and we are very proud to see it completed. The children are enjoying it immensely! We recently held an official opening with representatives from many businesses and organizations that helped us in our quest to provide a playground for our students in attendance. Goulds Elementary children showed their appreciation through short speeches, banners and a song. It was quite an impressive presentation!

Other school improvements that School Council successfully lobbied for was the reconfiguration of our parking lot and repainting of the lines to permit traffic to run more smoothly.

School Council supported the implementation of a program called Roots of Empathy for one of our Grade 3 classes. This program is designed to teach children about empathy and how to understand the feelings of others. It was well received by the children.

School Council was given the opportunity to review the school’s CRT results and participated in plans for educational priorities for the upcoming school year.

Our School Council held three fundraising initiatives this year to purchase educational materials and promote learning at our School. These included a Sweat-a thon held in the fall, our Spring Fair, and our new, but very popular event, a 50/50 draw.

School Council continues to support and promote healthy eating at Goulds Elementary and daily menus and special events are held with this in mind.

The Breakfast Program continues to thrive at Goulds Elementary through fund-raising efforts, grants from the Kids Eat Smart Foundation and of course, our many hard working and dedicated volunteers.

School Council held a "Food From the Heart" food drive on Valentine’s Day, with all food donated to the Goulds Area Food Bank.

School Council once again organized our annual Waffle Breakfast with Santa, where children were treated to waffles and juice and a visit from Santa.

School Council discussed the need for an additional Grade 5 teaching unit to support the learning of students at this grade level. Letters from School Council and Principal Agnes Brennan to the Eastern School District provided rationale for increasing our teacher allocations at this level. We are happy to say that these additional resources have been approved for the upcoming school year.

Efforts to make our building more secure were a focus in this school year. Students participated in a practice lockdown in the spring. We applaud the efforts of the Eastern School District in taking steps to ensure safe buildings for our children.

The NLFSC sent letters requesting feedback on various issues throughout the year. Council discussed these and provided feedback as requested.

Goulds Elementary School Council would like to sincerely thank Agnes Brennan, Principal and Sharon Collett, Assistant Principal for their continued support. We also would like to acknowledge the dedication of the teachers of Goulds Elementary who support our Council and our school children in all that they do. As well, we extend great thanks to our numerous volunteers who make each of our initiatives possible and without we could not function. Last, but certainly not least, we thank our students and parents for their support in all of our endeavors.

It has been my pleasure to act as School Council chair again this year and to work with a group that is dedicated to the academic achievement and well being of our children. Our belief that nothing is impossible, as long as you work together is very much evident at Goulds Elementary School.

Jeannie Reddy

Chair (Goulds Elementary School Council)

Goulds Elementary School has a total of 35.75 educational staff that includes 24 classroom teachers and 5 special services personnel. We have 1.0 units of guidance, a .75 unit in Learning Resources and a 1.25 unit in the areas of Physical Education, Music. Our students also avail of the services of a band teacher and 1.5 units in administration.

Pupil-teacher ratio refers to the total number of students in our school compared to the total number of educational staff. For 2007-2008 the pupil-teacher ratio at Goulds Elementary was 17, which is on par with the pupil-teacher ratio of 17 for the District.

Goulds Elementary continues to offer the SECOND STEP Program - a program designed to reduce impulsive and aggressive behavior in all children as well as increasing their level of social competence.

Since speaking is an integral part of the Language Arts Program, public speaking is highly encouraged. Each student in grades 2-6 is involved in a public speaking event program, which culminates with a Public Speaking Night for grades 4-6. Our grades 2 and 3 classes presented poems to their parents in a non-competitive format during an afternoon poetry recital. All students are encouraged to speak not only in front of their class but also on the P.A. where they can share their writings and favorite poetry.

This year we continued to have our GREAT (Goulds Reading Everyday All Together) Time Reading. Every day from 10:30 to 10:45 all students and teachers are involved in reading aloud, silent reading or buddy reading. This is followed by GETAM (Goulds Elementary Talking About Mathematics), a 15-minute period where students gather in groups to solve problems and communicate their mathematical reasoning.

We also continued to offer our Kindergarten Intervention Program for Kindergarten children. This program ran for six weeks and offered support to children who were experiencing difficulty with outcomes at the Kindergarten level. Two retired teachers facilitated this program whereby a small number of Kindergarten children attended both morning and afternoon sessions for the six-week period. We were also involved in the Department of Education’s "Kinderstart" program for 08-09 kindergarten students. The Kinderstart Program affords children the opportunity to experience school life as well as eases the transition from home to school. Another Program at Goulds Elementary of which we are very proud is our Goulds Elementary Kindergarten Readiness Program. Selected Kinderstart children who will begin school in September 2008 are given the opportunity to attend 17 sessions (three mornings a week) with their parents. Two retired teachers who focus on Mathematics and early Literacy skills with these young children also run this program. Guest speakers are invited to speak to parents throughout the six-week program about topics such as Active Living and Nutrition/Healthy Eating. Our own fundraising efforts allow us to be able to support the learning needs of these young children. These two early literacy programs indicate the commitment Goulds Elementary places on our youngest students and their learning.

The MUSIC PROGRAM at Goulds Elementary is a comprehensive literacy program where children learn to read and write music as early as Grade 1. The Kindergarten program provides children with the basic concepts necessary for beginning music literacy. This is done through listening activities, games, movement, creating and composing. All students of Goulds Elementary were exposed to a broad range of musical experiences throughout this school year. A variety of choral performances highlighted their musical talent. Grade 2 students performed for parents and students during our Thanksgiving Assembly in October and our Grade 5 students and choir did a beautiful job in November of honoring the men and women of the great wars of the twentieth century. Our Grade 4 Choir also performed at the Annual NLTA Christmas Suite and was also featured on CBC radio in December. Our Grade 5 Choir sang live on CBC radio from our school gymnasium in December to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas Season. The Grades 5 & 6 Choirs performed at the NLTA Christmas Suite in December. Our Grade 3 children celebrated the festive season of Christmas with an evening concert for parents. In April our Grade 1 students presented a Spring Assembly for parents and students and our Grade 4 students heralded the arrival of spring with an Earth Day Concert with its theme linked to their 07-08 Arts Smarts Project. To conclude the year, our Kindergartens held their Farewell Concert for parents in June and we said goodbye to our Grade 6 students with a School-Leaving Concert. Other opportunities for our Grades 4, 5 and 6 choirs to perform consisted of: our Spring & Year-end Concerts, the Eastern School District’s Choral Connections Concert and school assemblies.

The INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PROGRAM at Goulds Elementary School consisted of a Beginner Band and a Junior Band with a total of 75 students in grades 5 and 6 participating. Students rehearsed in one instrumental sectional class and two full-band rehearsals every 7-day cycle.

The Beginner Band had a very successful performance at Rotary Music Fest in April where they received many wonderful comments from the clinicians. The Junior Band had a very active performance schedule performing at this year’s Christmas Concert and the Rotary Music Fest where they were awarded a silver medal. They ended the year with a performance at their Grade 6 Farewell concert.

We are very proud of the music program at our school. The musical experiences offered our students this year help foster a love and understanding of music and help develop the musical ability of our students.

The PHYSICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM at Goulds Elementary tries to make a difference in the life of each student by providing the knowledge, skill and opportunities for children to be physically active. Students were given a variety of opportunities to be active throughout the school year. A seven-week skating program for K-6 students was very successful. An intramural soccer, basketball, floor hockey, volleyball and team handball program took place at lunchtimes for students in grades 4, 5 & 6. The gym was used after school and in the evenings by our school basketball teams. In September and October, a number of our students participated in a cross-country running competition held in Torbay. Four of our co-ed volleyball teams participated in the Mini-Volleyball Jamboree held at Memorial University in December. In addition, we had six basketball teams participate in numerous invitational and provincial basketball tournaments throughout the basketball season. Goulds Elementary had two teams participate in the 1^st Annual Geoff Walsh Memorial Baseball Tournament. Also, approximately 30 athletes participated in the 2008 Hersey's Track & Field Meet in Mount Pearl. Several of these athletes finished in the top three. We are very proud of the performances of all our students.

Of particular importance this year is our involvement in the Eastern Active Schools Project. In February ‘08 our staff participated in training for this program, which encourages teachers to engage students in physical activity in their classrooms. Bins of active living supplies were given to each teacher to support this in-class program. Teachers have committed to providing an Active Schools physical activity session for their students each day. We are committed to providing myriad opportunities for our students to be active because we know active and healthy children live better, learn better and grow up to be more active and healthy adults.

Our school was involved in a number of special projects again this year. With the support of the Aliant Pioneers, we were able to offer our kindergarten students the "I Like Me" literacy/social skills program. This program encourages appropriate behaviour, helps increase self-esteem and reinforces fundamental reading skills. Each child was presented with a personalized copy of the book entitled "I Like Me".

Our school participated in Tutors for Tuition again this year. Selected Grade 4, 5 and 6 students received tutoring from high school students in the areas of reading and math. Tutors were rewarded with certificates toward tuition in a post secondary institution.

The mission of our Pastoral Care Team is to help establish a sense of belonging and caring among the students and staff of Goulds Elementary. This committee offers assistance to families of students and staff when support is needed and we continue to celebrate birthdays by presenting each student with a Birthday Button, which was designed by one of our students. As well, Provincial Studios provides a birthday photo for each student and his/her birthday is announced on his/her special day.

The Parent Volunteer Program continued this year. Parents offered assistance in the office, in classrooms and in the Resource Center. They also accompanied classes on field trips and assisted with rolling supermarket tapes for funding from Sobey’s, Dominion and Bidgood’s. Parent volunteers have helped make our Breakfast Club and Kiss & Ride Program a great success again this year. Students who wish to have breakfast at school can do so three mornings a week in our cafeteria. We offer students the choices of cereal, yogurt, toast and fruit. This is a much-loved program at our school.

This year we have seen the continuation of our Goulds Elementary Awards Recognition Program. Each month teachers selected students for an award, which was presented at an Awards Assembly attended by parents. Students were recognized not only for academic excellence but also for such things as being attentive listeners, coming prepared for class, being cooperative with their classmates, and showing empathy to others. Students’ pictures were taken at the assemblies and then posted on our WALL OF STARS. Every student in our school was recognized for his or her unique talents & abilities.

Goulds Elementary continues to have a very successful Recycling & Environmental Program. A monthly incentive program helped create awareness in our students about the importance of keeping our earth clean and beautiful as well as educating them about the impact that they can have on their environment.

Students take an active part in the Recycling Program at Goulds Elementary. Teams of students are responsible for collecting the daily recyclables and depositing them in the designated areas. The recycling/environmental committee is also happy to help promote any contests outside of school, which helps bring awareness to environmental issues. Our school participated in the St. John’s Clean & Beautiful Campaign, which encouraged students to clean up their school grounds. Organizers provided several incentive-type prizes for the students.

Each day children bring in recyclables and deposit them in our recycling shed. On average there are approximately 10,000 recyclables brought in each month. Each month we had a Recycling Blitz whereby classes could earn Recycling Bucks. These Recycling Bucks could then be used to purchase prizes for classrooms. Monies raised from this program was used to purchase quality children’s literature, computers, and other items to enhance the learning environment at Goulds Elementary.

Goulds Elementary received its second Arts Smarts grant this year from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council. This grant allowed our grades one and four students the opportunity to delve deeper into their historic past and work closely with local artists to create artwork that was representative of their rural culture. Our grade 4 students worked with three artists April Harvey, Fergus O’Byrne and Chris Dreziac, while our grade 1 students worked with artist Jerry Evans to create artistic representations of the Micqma culture.

Our school’s most current CRT data is a summary of school, district and provincial results. It reflects progress we have made in Language Arts and Mathematics and identifies some areas we need to address in individual grades. We used this data to determine success in some of our strategies and to adjust the objectives for the coming year.

In the 2007-2008 academic year Grades 3 & 6 students across the province participated in Provincial Assessments. These assessments provide a common standard to assess student performance in Language Arts & Mathematics based on outcomes, which represent provincial curriculum at the end of Grades Three & Six. Provincial Assessments indicate how well students independently achieve the provincial outcomes. The information obtained will be used by: the Department of Education to evaluate the effectiveness of provincial programs; the District to determine professional development initiatives; the School to determine strengths and needs; and the individual teachers to plan activities to meet the needs of their students.

The assessments take place over a two-week period in early June of each year. Students participate in multiple-choice items, which are machine scored as correct or incorrect, and open response questions, which are marked by primary/elementary teachers, administrators, and program specialists. The open-response questions are marked using a 5-point rubric (i.e. a performance scale). Level 5 represents outstanding performance and Level 3 represents adequate performance.

** Level 3 is considered an adequate rating for a Grade 3 student.

** Students showed strength in Demand Writing and in the Listening component of the Assessment. In scoring above the District & Province in the Demand Writing portion, our students demonstrated strength in their ability to write independently on a given topic.

The school year 2007-08 was the first full year for our 2006-11 School Development Plan. Over the past year we have addressed the objectives in the first year of our plan through identified strategies and actions. Our data above indicates that we have had some success in meeting our intended outcomes and are now ready to continue with those objectives outlined in the second year of the plan. We will carry forward some of the same strategies from the first year. Due to the lengthy process of establishing our objectives and strategies to match our three goals, we made a decision as a staff to continue the objectives & strategies from Year 1(06-07) into the 2007-2008 school year. Below is a list of the goals and objectives of the plan for the past school year, along with an evaluation of each objective.