Each day, Ms. Norton and I visit classrooms to speak with the students and teachers. It's an opportunity for us to talk to the teacher about the program and observe the children learning. This week, we've talked to the teachers, specifically about their reading programs, looked at September assessments and discussed any student concerns.
We've also been updating our IT inventory. As you may know, we have purchased Smart Boards over the last five years with the assistance of your financial support. We have one more interactive board to buy for our music program. We will be purchasing this from the 2015-2016 Parent Council funds, in addition to the four IPADS for the kindergarten learning centres and a set of notebooks for the primary, junior and intermediate classrooms.
We are also in the process of working with the TDSB purchasing department to purchase licences for Smart Board software. As you may know, the Board didn't renew their contract with Smart last year. This was a big shock to us considering we just completed purchasing Smart Boards for the entire school. The good news is that the Board will continue to support (technically and financially) the current software at no cost to the school. Any upgrades to new versions of the software will be the sole responsibility of the school. We are looking into the cost of the new licence. Without the new upgrades, teachers have problems accessing their programs.
Although we continue to look at new technologies (i.e chrome books), we continue to replace outdated or broken hardware. This week we are placing an order for three laptops to replace old ones. All computers must be purchased through TDSB. We are also looking at purchasing a new cart of laptops for the junior and intermediate students. These students use the computers consistently all day for their studies. Unfortunately, 30 of the laptops (a class set) are being collected by the Board in October as the lease has expired. We will have to replace these sooner than later so our students' learning is not compromised.
The Board will also be updating our wireless throughout the school. The school has to purchase 4 of the 19 routers that will be installed, at one third of the price if we weren't part of this project. The routers will cost around $1800. This is so important as the students and staff can basically connect and learn from anywhere in the building.
As you can see our staff is working hard to keep abreast and on top of our IT concerns. It takes a lot of time and money. Mr. Ross and Mr. Littlejohn are the school's IT representatives and they have been given a couple of periods each week to help the school in this area. We also couldn't do much of what we do without your financial support. Seven thousand dollars has been allocated to IT (hardware/software and repairs) from the school's budget. The rest of the monies comes from Parent Council fund-raising initiatives. I cannot thank you enough for your contributions.
Finally, labour negotiations continue. Up until Phase III, most of the work to rule actions have mainly affected the Ministry, Board and administration. For example, Mrs. Norton and I have been collecting forms and counting money as this is "struck" work, no trips will be planned and no meetings (i.e. staff or planning) will be scheduled or attended by teaching staff. In Phase III, more sanctions have been put in place such as teachers will instruct and supervise only, not volunteer for extra-curricular on Wednesdays. You will also notice that teacher blogs or websites will not updated and rotating strikes will begin in October.
Please know that great teaching, assessment and learning is happening in the classrooms and to please contact your child' s teacher if you wish to book an appointment. You can stay updated on labour negotiations, including the CUPE work to rule, on the TDSB website.
Finally, the school has been allocated an additional teacher. The teacher will be team teaching with our grade 4 teachers to reduce the teacher/student ratio and provide additional support for those in need. We expect this process to begin shortly.
I hope you have a great weekend.
September 2015
28th-Parent Council @ 7:00 p.m.; Primary Sharing Assembly
29-Jr/Intermediate Sharing Assembly
30th-Kindergarten Sharing Assembly
October 2015
1-Picture Day
2-Pizza Lunch; Terry Fox Run (moved from the 30th)
5-Officer Rich visits Grade 2 and 6
12-Thanksgiving
15-Cross Country Semi-Finals
23-Primary Sharing Assembly
27-Jr/Intermediate Sharing Assembly
31-Hallowe'en Parade
November 2015
2-Officer Rich visits grade 4 and 5
3-Picture Retakes
4-"Grow" Presentation (Kindie and Primary)
5-"Grow" Presentation (Primary/Junior)
6-Report Cards go home; "Grow" Presentation (Jr/Intermediate)
9-Remembrance Day Assembly
13-PA Day
16-Bullying Awareness Day
26-Jr/Intermediate Sharing Assembly
27-Kindie Sharing Assembly: Pizza Lunch
30-Parent Council; Primary Sharing Assembly
December 2015
10-Special Education (Grade 8) Annual Reviews
11-Pizza Lunch
14-Primary and Jr/Intermediate Sharing Assembly
15-Kindergarten Sharing Assembly
Dec 21-Jan 1, 2016-School Holidays
January 2016
4-School Begins
11-Officer Rich visits grade 1 and 8
18-Primary Sharing Assembly
21-Junior/Intermediate Sharing Assembly
22-PA Day
29-Kindergarten Sharing Assembly
February 2016
5-Report Cards go home
9 and 10-Kindergarten Registration
12-PA Day
15-Family Day
18-Special Education Annual Reviews
22-Parent Council
23-Primary Sharing Assembly
24-Jr and Intermediate Sharing Assembly
26-Kindergarten Sharing Assembly; Pizza Lunch
March 2016
14-18-March Break
25-28-Good Friday/Easter Monday
May 2016
23-Victoria Day
June 2016
10-PA Day
29-Last Day for Students
