Princess Margaret Secondary School 120 Green Avenue West Penticton, BC V2A 3T1 Principal: Terry Grady Vice‐Principal: Sandra Richardson Vice‐Principal: Trevor Robinson ______________________________________________________________________________ School Improvement Plan 2014‐15 PLANNING FOR STUDENT SUCCESS Description of Princess Margaret Secondary School Welcome to Princess Margaret Secondary School ‐ “Home of the Mustangs”! Princess Margaret officially opened its doors in September 28th, 1958 with 200 students enrolled in grades 8‐10 along with 19 staff members. Our ‘new’ Princess Margaret Secondary School opened in October 28th, 2002 with our first graduating class in June 2004. Today, our school enrolls approximately 525 students in grades 9‐12 with an excellent staff comprised of 1.6 administrator time, 2.5 office staff, 32 teachers, 12 educational assistants, four custodians, a Library Assistant and a Child Care Worker and 1.37 counselling time . Our school community includes a significant First Nation’s population and is located within the traditional Okanagan Nation territory. Our school is fed from four elementary schools and one middle school. Name: Princess Margaret Secondary School Address: 120 Green Avenue West, Penticton, BC, V2A 3T1 Telephone: (250) 770 7620 Fax: (250) 492 7649 Website: http://sd67.bc.ca/schools/pm INQUIRY QUESTION(S) Question 1: If our school places increased emphasis on improving student engagement and work completion rate, will it result in increased grades, graduation and school completion percentages? Question 2: If our staff help empower our students to recognize and deal with their personal stress and anxiety, will students be able to self‐regulate themselves and prevent their anxiety from becoming a mental health/wellness issue that prevents them from meeting the day to day requirements of school? RATIONALE (Why are we asking these questions?) Nine years ago we began to analyze the factors that were preventing students from having success in school and ultimately graduating. We came up with two primary indicators: 1) the lack of school engagement which often results in, 2) inconsistent attendance patterns, and the resulting missing assignments. We began to structure our school to address these issues. As we focused on helping students improve their own success at school, we became more aware of the students who, despite our efforts, were unable to self‐regulate and cope with the day to day pressure associated with school that often results in anxiety, mental health/mental wellness issues, missed work and skipped classes. As a result, as a staff, we believe we need to assist or empower students with purposeful or mind‐full strategies that will help them with the day to day stress associated with school and the teenage life that often overwhelms students to the point of students feeling they can’t cope or do well so they skip assignment and/or school. STRUCTURES AND STRATEGIES (What are we going to do?) QUESTION 1 We realized that the impact of missing work had a dramatic effect on academic performance. Assignments not submitted result in zeroes in the teacher gradebooks. We began to research grading and assessment practices. This resulted in the following changes: 1. Work assigned is work expected. Don’t include zeroes in grade determination when evidence is missing or as punishment; use alternatives, such as reassessing to determine real achievement or use “I” for Incomplete or Insufficient Evidence. • Resist including homework in the gradebook. • Resist reducing scores for late work. • Resist using a mark of “zero” for work not handed in. • • • • • 2. Consider allowing students to re‐write tests and quizzes. Consider exploring different grading practices and Assessment for Learning strategies. Intervention strategies were developed to support teachers and students in efforts to see required work submitted. The most successful and broad‐based of these interventions has been the development of the lunchtime “Homework Club”. Staffed by a CEA, this club has been extremely successful in helping students complete missing assignments. (See attachment) Expertise continues to be developed at the staff level to support growth in assessment and grading practices. We have had the opportunity to share our experience with colleagues at a number of workshops and conferences. We continue to make excellent progress in the areas of fair and equitable grading practices and assessment for learning strategies. The concept of “no zero” is one the staff supports. During the years we have been practicing this philosophy the guidelines teachers have followed has blurred. There is a feeling on staff that students are not being accountable to assigned due dates and are not prepared for test dates knowing full well they will get a second opportunity to submit work or rewrite a test. As a result, our staff has been meeting this year to review what “no zero” and “rewrites” means and how we can implement this practice without lessening the accountability of students meeting due dates and preparing for a test on test day. We need to develop a culture of support at school that leads/emphasizes mutual respect and trust. In doing so, we hope to improve student engagement and therefore improved attendance. • Review protocols, processes and communication regarding attendance policy to ensure that we develop partnerships with students and parents in emphasizing the importance of being in class and on time. • • • • • • Three times during the year the administration conducted an “administration sweep” of the hall way, collecting all students who were late to class. Students were reminded of the importance of punctuality and are sent back to class. Letters/phone calls are then sent home to parents outlining the number of lates the student has accumulated. As well, parents are asked to speak to their child about the importance of punctuality. Reduce the use of “approved study” and encourage all students to assume a full course load. Leadership/Grade 9 Transition – During the first three terms of the 2014‐15 school year, grade 9 Leadership students meet as a group. In term 4 we brought together our grade 9, 10, 11 and 12 Leadership students. This focus of transition is providing our “new Leadership 9 students” with transition support. Fostering relationships between seniors and incoming students eases the transition from middle school to high school and helps make the grade 9 students feel welcome to the school as well as makes them feel like they have influence on events and the climate of the school. Teachers/coaches and Princess Margaret teams visited the students at Skaha Lake Middle school, explaining what teams the high school has. Peer Mentoring, Peer Tutoring, Peer Counselling is a course widely subscribed to by our grade 11 and 12 students. This helps to enhance the culture of support that is so critical to student success. A.I.R. (Accountability, Integrity, Respect) are our core values. We teach our expectations in the area of social responsibility by delivering AIR lessons on a regular basis. These are short lessons with themes that reflect our core values. Many of these lessons are developed and delivered by our students. Leadership course credit is available to all students at Princess Margaret. The focus is on providing services to others. This can include anything from running a student activity to raising funds to travel to Tanzania to help the needy in that country. We have a strong history of being service providers. • • • • • Our instructional practices are evolving to create more student engagement in lessons. More student‐directed learning would increase value of attendance for students. We are experienced in SMARTLearning concepts and the uses of differentiated instruction. A number of our teachers are working together and are providing cross‐curricular opportunities for students. Adventure Tourism and Social Studies created a unique opportunity for students to simulate trading during the fur trade era. We have identified a number of “at‐risk” grade 9 and 10 female students. A CEA, Youth Care Worker and a Vice‐Principal meet with the girls weekly. The girls participated in a variety of activities designed to help better connect them to school staff and ultimately to school. As well they have participated in activities that will help them prepare for the work force, skills that they are often lacking. We have identified a number of “at‐risk” grade 9, 10 and 11 Aboriginal male students. Two CEA’s, the Aboriginal Education teacher and the Principal attended a training workshop by West Coast Empowerment Training. The group that has been formed is called the CREW. This boys group met approximately two times per month during the second semester. The boys participated in a variety of activities and events, including activities with cultural significance. All events/activities were designed to help better connect them to school, school staff, their behavior and heritage. An Aboriginal Leadership group consisting of students from the Penticton Indian Band (PIB) was assembled to build connections between the Outma school (the PIB Cultural school) and students at Princess Margaret. These Aboriginal Leadership students participated in a number of cultural activities such as traditional mat weaving. Our staff is continuing to refine their understanding and practice of Response to Intervention (RTI). They are developing and refining preventative strategies to assist struggling learners in classrooms before the student becomes disconnected from their learning. This occurs at level one of intervention (early interventions). The Princess Margaret Math department has been working with their Math colleagues at Skaha Lake Middle school, discussing strategies that were used by the middle school teachers to help students succeed in Math. As well, the math teachers from each of the schools are creating a grade wide Math assessment that will help the high school Math teachers understand the mathematical abilities of the new incoming grade 9 students. They continue to explore strategies at level two of the intervention pyramid that will help struggling students in Mathematics. This will typically consist of more intense service delivered in the classroom to a smaller group of students. They continue to provide more personalized and intensive service for students who are at the top of the RTI pyramid of service such as learning assistance support. • We continue to seek ways to increase the engagement and school connectedness of our First Nations students at Princess Margaret. During the past year, the following initiatives have been undertaken: • • • • • To recognize our Aboriginal learners, the school has purchased flags representing the Penticton Indian Band, the Okanagan Nation, Metis, and Inuit. These flags are suspended in the rafters of the common area, along with the Princess Margaret flag. In 2014‐15 English First Peoples was once again offered at Princess Margaret – two classes at grade 10 and one class at grade 12. We have staff members on both the District Aboriginal Education Advisory Council and on the District Aboriginal Education Council. Our Aboriginal Education service model continues to be an inclusive model with a primary focus of keeping the students in their designated class rooms rather than removing them to work in a designated Aboriginal Resource room. In September 2014 our school partnered with both West Bench Elementary and Skaha Lake Middle school and hosted a parent‐teacher evening at the PIB in the Outma Cultural school. The evening featured a pot lach dinner with food provided by PIB parents and school staff. As well, students from our English First Peoples class provided entertainment during the evening. Our hope is to establish a trusting relationship with parents from the PIB. • The newly signed Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement has been discussed at both our department head meetings and our staff meetings. This document will serve as an excellent guiding document for teachers to honor our Aboriginal students and their respective cultures. Staff will be reporting out regularly at staff meetings on the lesson or activities they deliver in the class that honor the goals of the Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement. • • 3. At the 2014‐15 Graduation ceremonies, the Principal of the school delivered the welcome and introduction to the Graduation ceremonies in Syilx. We continue to monitor the grade 10, 11 and 12 Provincial exam results. The student achievement on these exams tells us they are doing very well. They continue to outperform the district average and the provincial student exam mark average. This tells us what we are doing is helping students. (see attached charts). We have predictable opportunities for our staff to engage in professional, reflective dialogue designed to improve the performance and connectedness to school for of all of our students, but especially for our “at‐risk” students. • In 2013‐14 we have created 13 structured 60 minute Collaborative Planning Meetings for staff. They are pursuing forms of action research or School Inquiry that are self‐selected. These meetings take place during the bell schedule. Minor adjustments to the regular bell schedule have provided us with this opportunity. • There were a number of collaborative study groups: 1. Mental Health awareness – AIR lesson group 2. The Environment Group 3. Foot Loose school drama Production 4. Book study John Haddie – Instructional Strategies 5. Final Projects rather than final exams 6. Moodle Curriculum 7. Modifying/Adapting Curriculum 8. Ted Talks Maggie • Be the Change Team ‐ This group was formed in 2010‐11. Can connectedness to school be positively impacted by exposing students to a workshop designed to build bonds between individuals and across the greater school community? Due to job action, our staff felt they needed to preserve instructional time and that postponing this activity this year would be wise. Next year we plan on holding three workshops simultaneously for all our grade 10 students. STRUCTURES AND STRATEGIES (What are we going to do?) QUESTION 2 As we asked students why they didn’t complete work that was assigned, why they skipped classes or why they dropped classes, it became alarming clear to us that many students were not able to cope with stress associated with what we believe is simply student’s being accountable while attending school. Behaviors like doing homework, completing assignments, being punctual, and attending class are all behaviors we assumed students were capable of doing. Those that didn’t were simply lazy. We thought working harder was the answer. We want to teach students how to take care of their personal mental health and wellness so the day to day tasks students are accountable for while attending school do not overwhelm them. As well, we want to break down the stigma that is associated with people who struggle with anxiety, mental health and mental wellness. This desire resulting in the following: 1. Our staff participated in a school‐wide book study, using the book, “Fighting Invisible Tigers” by Earl Hipp. •
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Each staff member read the book. Staff were divided in to groups and at every staff meeting throughout the year, staff reported out and discussed what they read. AIR lessons were created and delivered to students in class, using coping strategies that were presented in the book. The book was also introduced at Skaha Lake Middle School to help create a common language used by the high school and middle school when talking to students about stress, mental health/mental wellness. To help students be aware of “mindfulness” and the importance of exercise, one of our counsellors and a former student hosted yoga classes in our library during the winter months. Not only was this a great opportunity for yoga instruction and mindfulness, it was an excellent opportunity for the counsellor to connect with students who may be struggling emotionally. Dr. Kyle Stevens and Tracey Sorensen, a counselor at Princess Margaret, are members of the Practice Support Program (PSP) presented to the staff of Princess Margaret. It is a collaborative program that allows counselors the ability to take students in crisis with anxiety/depression to a doctor right away. The presentation not only made the staff aware of the group and the goals of the group, it also provided the staff strategies on how to deal with students who are struggling with mental wellness. 4.
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In October 2014 our grade 9 students participated in a “wellness” survey, which provided us with base‐line data. (see appendix 1). Is what we are doing making a difference? The Principal and Vice‐Principal attended a Rotary meeting in October 2014. They presented the issues we are facing with kids dealing with anxiety. The Rotary club donated money to help support our goal of helping students self‐regulate. The money donated helped support the following: •
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In February 2015, Princess Margaret hosted “Kevin Breel” a young standup comic who calls himself “a depressed comic”. He shared his personal story of how he struggled with depression in high school. This presentation designated with many students. Princess Margaret hosted a community presentation featuring Kevin Breel, again in February 2015, at the Cleland Theatre. Wellness partner groups also attended this presentation. Our hope was to help empower parents whose children may be struggling with Mental Health issues as well as to help parents connect with Mental Health service providers in our community. •
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In March, Princess Margaret hosted a parent evening at the IMC. The focus of the evening was to introduce parents to the Mental Health service providers in our community. As well, Dr. Kyle Stevens presented a medical perspective on mental health and wellness. In March 2015 we took a group of 14 students in grade 9, 10 and 11 to Vancouver to participate in the “Balancing Our Minds” conference. Participants listened to mental wellness experts, people who struggled with mental health wellness and their messages of hope. This is our first step at establishing a group of peer counsellors. These will be students who other students in the school believe are approachable and good listeners. They are students who other students can confide in regarding mental health issues. The trained students listen to the concerns other students share and ultimately direct the concerns and student to a counsellor. In March 2015 we partnered with the Penticton Rotary Club and RBC and hosted a lunch time wellness Bar‐B‐Q. Four medical doctors, mental health clinicians and mental health and wellness service providers also attended the Bar‐B‐Q. The social event was an opportunity for students to meet and talk to the mental health and mental wellness professionals in our community. 8. Two leadership 11 students have created a female wellness running group with students in grade 5 at Wiltse elementary and grade 6, 7 and 8 students at Skaha Lake Middle school. The purpose of the running group is to emphasize to young people the importance of physical activity and how it is part of taking care of one’s own mental well‐being. It also serves as an excellent transition activity. In 2015‐16 we will continue to focus on ways that we can support our students who struggle with mental health and mental wellness issues. We hope to have in place our trained peer counsellors who can be the “ears” for the students who may initially be uncomfortable meeting with adults and talking to them about mental health and mental wellness. Our trained student listeners will be the first line of support for struggling students. RESOURCES: • This year the staff had 13 collaborative planning days – predictable 60 minute meeting times to meet in a collaborative group with colleagues. Collaborative planning time provides opportunities for staff to engage in reflective dialogue regarding best practice. We believe that privacy of practice produces isolation and isolation is the enemy of improvement. We subscribe to the theory that all the knowledge and skills we require to improve student achievement rests in the hearts and minds of our staff. This year we had two collaborative Planning groups. • This year our staff participated in a book study. The focus of the book will be helping teenage students recognize for themselves symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression, as well as how to proactively deal with these symptoms. The selected book was “Fighting Invisible Tigers” Stress Management for Teens by Earl Hipp. • We have established a partnership with the Penticton Rotary Club designed to help students who struggle with anxiety, mental health and mental wellness issues. The Rotary Club is not only providing personal support with this endeavor, it is also providing financial support. • We continue to have a number of staff members sitting on the Aboriginal Enhancement work group, looking at strategies that will better engage our vulnerable First Nations students. NEXT YEAR: Our staff will be looking at modifying our current time table to offer flexibility and a variety of courses we currently do not offer. As well, we will look at offering cross curricular opportunities for both staff and students. We will work with our Math department specifically at implementing support models and curriculum delivery for students who struggle in Math. We will identify the struggling Math student in grade 8 by way of feedback from a common assessment created by the middle school and high school Math teachers. We will continue to find ways we can offer support and guidance for students with anxiety, mental health/mental wellness issues and help students to become more resilient to stress and pressures they face. Our Key Findings: GRAD RATES First Time Grade 12 Grad Rates Total Grade 12’s Graduates
Percentage 2005‐06 157 145
92% 2006‐07 140 111
79% 2007‐08 136 126
93% 2008‐09 147 143
97% 2009‐10 117 109
93% 2010‐11 167 159
95% 2011‐12 136 127
93% 2012‐13 134 133
99% 2013‐14 152 150
98.6% Home Work Club Stats 2014‐15 Completed assignments means the student is not receiving a zero for the incomplete assignment. As well, because the student worked on the assignment rather than take a zero for not doing the assignment, some learning has taken place. Date Assigned Attended School Absent Oct 23 Oct 28 Oct 29 Nov 4 Nov 5 Nov 6 Nov 7 Nov 18 Nov 24 Nov 26 Nov 27 Dec 2 Dec 3 Dec 4 Dec 11 Jan 12 Jan 14 Jan 20 Jan 21 Jan 23 Jan 28 Jan 29 Jan 30 Feb 25 Feb 26 Mar 3 Mar 4 April 9 April 14 April 17 April 16 April 17 April 29 5 9 10 11 10 14 18 20 5 14 11 16 5 8 17 8 10 4 14 8 12 10 14 8 11 9 11 15 3 8 10 12 7 5 7 8 10 8 11 16 16 5 10 10 10 4 4 12 5 7 0 3 4 8 7 11 4 5 7 8 9 2 6 7 9 6 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 1 2 2 3 2 2 1 1 1 Work Done Elsewhere or Before HW Club 2 1 1 1 2 3 2 2 2 2 222 1 1 4 3 1 1 3 1 5 1 1 3 NS Reassigned Assigned in School Suspensions
1 2 1 1 1 2 2 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 School Planning Council: Name (Principal): ________________________________ Name (Parent): ________________________________ Name (Parent): ________________________________ Name (Parent): ________________________________