Over the past few weeks, we have been busy digging into our survey data and summative results from the 2023-24 school year. The School Development Plan is created and built with this information as the foundation.

Last year, our school focused on a holistic goal of “Student Connectedness and Belonging”. We approached our work with the knowledge that students perform stronger academically when the aspects of connectedness and belonging are developed and present. Staff will continue to foster learning environments that promote connectedness and belonging so that students can continue to achieve academic success.

What we noticed in the data from the 2023-24 school year:

SWS learning community reflects positive trends in learning excellence, well-being, and Truth and Reconciliation, Diversity and Inclusion. Welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environments at our school created a positive school culture for students that fostered a greater sense of connectedness and belonging in 2023-24. This positively impacted student achievement in literacy and math.

Celebrations from 2023-24:

·       Students’ sense of belonging increased

·       More students reported that they feel cared for by their teachers

·       Parent data shows improved parental involvement in the school

·       Data reflects positive trends in cultural inclusivity

·       Overall, few students received 1s on their report card for the writing stem

·       Overall, more students in grades 7-9 demonstrated mastery in math for the number stem

Areas for Growth to focus on for 2024-25:

·       Student sense of feeling included at school and in school activities (fostering a sense of inclusivity)

·       Involvement in student voice

·       Student sense of safety at school

·       Meaningful inclusion of Indigenous ways of being, belonging, doing, and knowing through effective collaboration with Elders and Knowledge Keepers and culturally responsive practices

·       Fair and equitable assessment

The goal of our School Development Plan (SDP) for 2024-25 is “Fair and equitable assessment will improve student achievement in holistic well-being and disciplinary literacy”. Disciplinary literacy refers to the specifics of reading, writing and communicating in all core subjects, Physical Education, and CTF (Career and Technology Foundations at SWS includes Construction, Foods, Drama, Art, Music and Design Thinking).

This goal has two outcomes:

1.    Student achievement will improve in reading through disciplinary literacy.

2.    Student well-being will improve.

To learn more about how we will measure progress with our SDP, please review the Samuel W. Shaw School Development Plan 2024-25 document on our website.