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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 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 2023-2024 is at 75 students.
At Cherryville Elementary 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. We encourage our students to take ownership of their learning and to set realistic goals for themselves.
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 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 2023-2024 is at 75 students.
At Cherryville Elementary 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. We encourage our students to take ownership of their learning and to set realistic goals for themselves.
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.
This year we will also be using a numeracy screener in K, 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 to help us determine 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 (Mid year summaries are done in December and year end summaries are done in June)
PM Benchmark data
Numeracy Screeners
FSA’s (Foundational Skills Assessment for Grade 4)
Parent/Student/Teacher Growth plan conferences (occur in October and in May)
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
Our school literacy goal is to develop students as well rounded readers. This includes having students read at grade level with both fluency and comprehension.
Parents and reading acquisition
Our students have a home reading program where students take home books each day to read with their parents.
Developing a Hunch
Variety of Strategies
Common Language and Approaches
Developing a Hunch
Variety of Strategies
Our staff is working hard to improve student reading skills in our school, and all of our teachers have all taken on the challenge to try new and innovative ways of teaching literacy skills. Each primary class uses a program called Rime Magic that helps teach students decoding. Our K-2 classes are also using a program called “Heggerty” that provides a curriculum of daily phonemic and phonological awareness lesson plans.
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 uses the Zones of Regulation for common language to talk about self and emotional regulation as well as Play is the Way language and activities. Our K-2 classes also use the Superflex program to help teach social thinking.
Learning
Outdoor Education
Creative and Critical Thinking
Learning
Outdoor Education
One of our school goals is to help students develop a deeper understanding of the land that we work, learn and play on. To work on this goal 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 of our land.
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.
