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Cherryville Elementary School is a small rural school approximately 55 km from Vernon and 27 km from Lumby. The relative geographic isolation contributes to a perception among the community, parents and staff that the school is distinct and unique within the School District. A strong connection has developed between the school and the community and is appreciated by both. This connection manifests itself in the attendance and participation of both the school and community in each other’s events. Parent and community involvement occurs daily and special events are a strong characteristic of this school.
Most of the students are bused to school. Monday to Thursday the school is on an extended day schedule. This allows for early dismissal every Friday. The local economy has suffered due to difficulties in the forest industry in recent years. This has significantly impacted the families and the enrolment of our school. The school was reconfigured eleven years ago to include kindergarten to grade 6. Grade 7 students now attend Charles Bloom Secondary School in Lumby. The student population for 2020-2021 is at 78 students.
At Cherryville we pride ourselves on being a school with a family atmosphere. Our school is an important part of our community and we work hard to make everyone feel welcome – parents, students, teachers and staff. Relationships with everyone in our community are important and we believe that for students to be successful, they first need to know that they are cared about and feel a connection to the community they are in. As Dr. Jodi Carrington says, “A relationship with the one you are trying to teach, lead or love is where all the power lies.”
At Cherryville Elementary we define student success as students being engaged in their learning and showing growth and confidence as they build their capacity in learning and mastering new competencies and knowledge.
Our team works with our students in all aspects of personal growth and share with them in the joy and satisfaction of “getting it”. We work to shine a light on each students unique and special qualities. We share in the fun and excitement of leaning and growing – our passion for life is passed on to our students and it becomes their passion. Our relationship with our learning community is vital as we join in making our community the best it can be.
Our curriculum focuses on core competencies: Thinking (Creative and Critical Thinking), Communication and Social/Personal Responsibility. We work to build the competencies of our students that are embedded within each subject and teach students the knowledge that they will need to be successful in life.
At our school we use a positive lens, high standards, curiosity, and a strong relationship/understanding with/of our students to help them achieve their very best.
We work to build connection with our students and families and at Cherryville Elementary we define success as:
Student success in our building is achieved when our students are safe, happy, healthy, engaged in meaningful learning activities and continuously improving in numeracy and literacy.
The relatively small student and staff population that we have in our school truly lends itself to a collaborative culture. Our outstanding team of teachers and support staff have developed the habit of approaching the nature of learning in our building such that all adults collectively own the responsibility for all students’ success. As adults, we teach together, laugh together, collaborate together and embrace our school as a community for which we are all responsible for. Our students also play a major role in contributing to the success of our school through a variety of multi-grade cross curricular activities during which all students are given the opportunity to share as knowledge keepers and teachers.
Having a clear vision of what success looks like for our community and a mindset that anything is possible has contributed to the success in our school. A continued strong relationship with our greater community where all perspectives and feedback about student success is taken into account will allow us to continue to build success.
Our school goals are:
As a staff we continue to discuss and find ways to meet our school goals. We determine where we need support and discuss what we can do to move our students forward to continue to build and create a culture that is inviting, nurturing and safe.
Cherryville Elementary School is a small rural school approximately 55 km from Vernon and 27 km from Lumby. The relative geographic isolation contributes to a perception among the community, parents and staff that the school is distinct and unique within the School District. A strong connection has developed between the school and the community and is appreciated by both. This connection manifests itself in the attendance and participation of both the school and community in each other’s events. Parent and community involvement occurs daily and special events are a strong characteristic of this school.
Most of the students are bused to school. Monday to Thursday the school is on an extended day schedule. This allows for early dismissal every Friday. The local economy has suffered due to difficulties in the forest industry in recent years. This has significantly impacted the families and the enrolment of our school. The school was reconfigured eleven years ago to include kindergarten to grade 6. Grade 7 students now attend Charles Bloom Secondary School in Lumby. The student population for 2020-2021 is at 78 students.
At Cherryville we pride ourselves on being a school with a family atmosphere. Our school is an important part of our community and we work hard to make everyone feel welcome – parents, students, teachers and staff. Relationships with everyone in our community are important and we believe that for students to be successful, they first need to know that they are cared about and feel a connection to the community they are in. As Dr. Jodi Carrington says, “A relationship with the one you are trying to teach, lead or love is where all the power lies.”
At Cherryville Elementary we define student success as students being engaged in their learning and showing growth and confidence as they build their capacity in learning and mastering new competencies and knowledge.
Our team works with our students in all aspects of personal growth and share with them in the joy and satisfaction of “getting it”. We work to shine a light on each students unique and special qualities. We share in the fun and excitement of leaning and growing – our passion for life is passed on to our students and it becomes their passion. Our relationship with our learning community is vital as we join in making our community the best it can be.
Our curriculum focuses on core competencies: Thinking (Creative and Critical Thinking), Communication and Social/Personal Responsibility. We work to build the competencies of our students that are embedded within each subject and teach students the knowledge that they will need to be successful in life.
At our school we use a positive lens, high standards, curiosity, and a strong relationship/understanding with/of our students to help them achieve their very best.
We work to build connection with our students and families and at Cherryville Elementary we define success as:
Student success in our building is achieved when our students are safe, happy, healthy, engaged in meaningful learning activities and continuously improving in numeracy and literacy.
The relatively small student and staff population that we have in our school truly lends itself to a collaborative culture. Our outstanding team of teachers and support staff have developed the habit of approaching the nature of learning in our building such that all adults collectively own the responsibility for all students’ success. As adults, we teach together, laugh together, collaborate together and embrace our school as a community for which we are all responsible for. Our students also play a major role in contributing to the success of our school through a variety of multi-grade cross curricular activities during which all students are given the opportunity to share as knowledge keepers and teachers.
Having a clear vision of what success looks like for our community and a mindset that anything is possible has contributed to the success in our school. A continued strong relationship with our greater community where all perspectives and feedback about student success is taken into account will allow us to continue to build success.
Our school goals are:
As a staff we continue to discuss and find ways to meet our school goals. We determine where we need support and discuss what we can do to move our students forward to continue to build and create a culture that is inviting, nurturing and safe.
Checking
Improved Scores/Data
Safe, Happy and Healthy
Checking
Improved Scores/Data
We use PM Benchmarks as one way of assessing where our students are. We collect this assessment in December, March and in June. We then use the data to determine where we need to work on adding more support to help make every student in our school successful in reading and literacy.
Our grade 4 students write the FSA (Foundational Skills Assessment) each year and we look at the snapshot of our grade 4 cohort to help determine the needs of our students.
For next school year we will be using a numeracy screener in K, 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 to help us figure out what areas in math students need extra support.
Safe, Happy and Healthy
We maintain an open, inquisitive environment in which students are safe, happy, healthy and continuously improving in their academic growth…BUT, we still make time to have a little fun!
Provincially grade 4 students also fill out a satisfaction survey each year. We look at this data to help determine how safe and welcoming our students feel when they are at school.
Scanning
School Based Data
Scanning
School Based Data
Points of Progress (which include a strength based comment and a proficiency scale).
Mid and End of Year Summary Reports
PM Benchmark data
Numeracy Screeners
FSA’s (Foundational Skills Assessment for Grade 4)
Parent/Student/Teacher Growth plan conferences
After looking through all of these sources of data, our staff believes that we need to continue to work towards strong literacy skills for all students. This forms the basis of our first school goal for the current school year.
Focusing
Literacy
Parents and reading acquisition
Focusing
Literacy
What would it take to have 100% of all students, who are reasonably able, reading at or above grade level by the time they leave Cherryville Elementary, and how do we increase parent support with Reading?
Parents and reading acquisition
In many of our newsletters this year we have added tips for home reading. Moving forward we will continue to work with our parents on how to help their children at home with reading.
Developing a Hunch
Variety of Strategies
Common Language and Approaches
Developing a Hunch
Variety of Strategies
In addition to the Leveled Literacy Intervention program, our staff are each trying to improve student reading skills in their class, and have all taken on a challenge to try new and innovative ways of teaching literacy skills. Each primary class has a program called Rime Magic that we are using and for the 2021/2022 school year we have a 0.2 Discretionary Teacher who will be at our school to assist in helping move literacy forward in our school.
Common Language and Approaches
When common language is used to describe processes and content, students tend to transition from class to class and grade to grade with greater comfort and fluency. Our school also uses the Zones of Regulation for common language to talk about self and emotional regulation.
Learning
Outdoor Education
Creative and Critical Thinking
Learning
Outdoor Education
Our team spends time with their classes each week engaging in outdoor education which consists of organized lessons that take place outside. Outdoor education combines learning about nature while incorporating academic outcomes into student learning. The goal is to increase student engagement and help students achieve deeper levels of learning.
Creative and Critical Thinking
Within our classroom our staff works to help our students think creatively and critically about what they are learning. This is done by delving deeper into a topic, creating multi-subject lessons and finding different ways to help student demonstrate their knowledge.
Taking Action
Improving Literacy Achievement
Taking Action
Improving Literacy Achievement
Students who are below grade level for Reading are being provided small group instruction within their classroom and some students are being provided with extra support from our SBRT and our educational assistants.
