Rutland Senior Secondary School 705 Rutland Road N., Kelowna, B.C. V1X 3B6
Phone 250-870-5110 Fax 250-870-5010
Rutland Senior Secondary (RSS) Executive Summary-2014 School Planning Council Report
We as a SPC are very excited to present an executive summary of the growth and success we are observing and
measuring in this 2013/14 school year at Rutland Senior Secondary School. We as a school community continue to
learn culturally, academically, socially, and creatively. Through our focus on our three pillars of, Academics,
Leadership and Athletics, we see positive growth.
Academics
Throughout North American High Schools a focus has been on improving graduation rates and implementing course
completion programs to help students graduate. In most cases these programs involve a removal of students from
"regular" classes and movement of students into various individual and self-paced models of curriculum delivery and
assessment. From evaluating RSS data over the last years, it becomes clear that our school has done an excellent job
in helping students obtain credits towards graduation. Course completion opportunities existed in the LAT room,
Learning Centre, ROTC program and at Central. This year we have retooled our student support program in order to
aid classroom teachers so more students can successfully remain in the classroom environment. The belief being that
the rich social learning environment of the classroom is the best environment for most students. Consequently,
significant changes to student support services and a refocus on our Tutorial Guidelines focus on moving our supports
directly into classrooms. A new after school Academic Intervention Program has been developed to support students
for 1 hour afterschool 4 days a week. As we move our focus on the classroom, our collaboration time focus has been
on Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment (CIA). At our September Implementation Day, our staff identified 3 areas
of instructional focus: Assessment, Instructional Strategies, and Co-planning, Co-teaching.
At RSS, we offer some of the best programs in British Columbia. Our BCIT programs, Forestry, EMR, ADC/Planning
11, Industrial Education, Hockey & Baseball Academies, ELL/International Education, Languages, Fine Arts, and
Applied skills programs are outstanding. It is impressive to have all these great programs and also have the most
students in the interior of British Columbia write the Advanced Placement Exams. It should be noted that with our
decreased enrolment, some programs have not had the student numbers to remain for this year (Residential
Construction and BCIT Power Equipment/Motorcycle & Inboard Outboard Program).
Leadership
Leadership at RSS expanded significantly at RSS this year. There were three Leadership classes in the timetable this
year as well as Link Leadership to help the Grade 10 transition to RSS. The Wellness Team was created as the
overarching structure that supported the following leadership subgroups: Voodoo Voice, Life Savers, Beyond the Hurt,
Athletic council, Grad Council, Amisha, Rotary Interact Group and Yearbook. As a result of the increase in the number
of leadership groups a team of teachers are working together to better organize the overall structure so even more
students can be actively involved. Our staff and students did many activities and here is an example of some of the
activities: Leadership Grade 10 orientation (LINK), Halloween Fashion Show, Halloween Haunted House, Halloween
for Hunger- students trick or treated for non-perishable food items, Day of Silence, Terry Fox Run, Christmas food
drive, Random Acts of Kindness/ Paying it forward, attended “We Day”, Spirit Days, RMS Mentorship program,
Millennium Development Challenge, Olympic Spirit Week, Pink Day Anti-bullying, Life Savers Presentations, Music
presentations, Dance productions.
Athletics
We continue to have very strong participation in our Athletic programs. This year we had over 500 students
participate in various school teams and programs. Our teams consisted of: Junior Girls Volleyball, Senior Girls
Volleyball, Junior Boys Volleyball, Football, Cross Country Running, Junior Girls Basketball, Senior Girls Basketball,
Junior Boys Basketball, Senior Boys Basketball, Junior/Senior Boys Rugby, Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer, Track & Field,
Cheerleading. We have a class called Athletic Council which works hard to support our athletic teams. We also
implemented a written athletic policy that we believe will guide our athletic department into future years.
Three features always come to the forefront when people think of RSS. First, the students at RSS are truly amazing
and pleasure to work and learn with. Second, the staff love their school and are proud to be part of the Voodoo
environment. Finally, RSS offers an incredible array of educational opportunities for students. Our course offering are
second to none.
“A CARING COMMUNITY CHALLENGING STUDENTS TO PURSUE EXCELLENCE IN LIFELONG ENDEAVOURS"
Last Years Goals
Rutland Senior Secondary School 705 Rutland Road N., Kelowna, B.C. V1X 3B6
Phone 250-870-5110 Fax 250-870-5010
After reviewing our data and discussions with staff and the SPC, it was agreed that our former goals were meet and it
was time to develop a new focus and direction for Rutland Senior Secondary.
2012-2013 Goals
Goal 1
By 2015, 95% of the eligible students able to graduate in grade 12 will do so in their first year of grade 12.
Goal 2
By 2015, 70 % of our student population will be able to achieve a C+ or better in all of their courses
Indicators/ Scorecard Report
Rutland Senior Secondary School 705 Rutland Road N., Kelowna, B.C. V1X 3B6
Phone 250-870-5110 Fax 250-870-5010
Rutland Senior Secondary
School Goals
2013-2014 to 2015-2016
What do we hope to Achieve?
1)
Better prepare our students for opportunities after high school by helping our students develop
the Attributes of a Learner: Learner, Thinker, Innovator, Collaborator, and Contributor.
How do we measure this?
‐ Student survey
‐ RSS will increase student readiness (grade to grade readiness) by 5%
‐ Increase of students in post-secondary programs
‐ Number of Dual Credit students and programs MAP evaluation data - develop assessment criteria and
monitor for increase students receiving excellence
‐ District Scholarship data - students required to report on attainment of attributes as part of District
Scholarship presentation
‐ Increase in student facilitated activities (e.g. Lifesavers, Wellness team)
Strategies:
‐ Grade 10 Career Exploration program
‐ Planning 10, WEX 12, Transitions 12 program review
‐ Expand Transitions program to feature Certificate Programs, Trades and Fixing Household problems,
and University Preparation streams
‐ Career focus in academic programs - Integration of academic units and practical/applied career
exploration (eg. Math 11 and Electrical)
‐ Increase job shadows, spotlight sessions, field trips
‐ Provide students exploration of Okanagan College programs and exposure to trades
‐ Each course/department has lessons that focus on subject related careers through practical examples.
Creation of "real world" connection to what is being taught in classes
‐ Expand parent information sessions about dual credit programs
‐ Promotion of Attributes through Planning 11, Career Transitions and in classrooms
‐ Readiness certificates based on Attributes
‐ Promote the vocabulary of the attributes with staff, students and parents
‐ Staff to use terminology in daily delivery of lessons with practical examples
‐ Educate students what the Attribute terms mean
‐ Expand Peer Support programs
Most responsible people:
‐ Administration
‐ Career Programs personnel
‐ All teachers
Rutland Senior Secondary School 705 Rutland Road N., Kelowna, B.C. V1X 3B6
Phone 250-870-5110 Fax 250-870-5010
What do we hope to Achieve?
2)
Better support and engagement of students in classrooms
How do we measure this?
‐ Grade 12 Grad Rate - increase from 95% to 98% by 2016
‐ Improve attendance by 5% per year
‐ Improved dropout rates - all withdraws will be tracked in detail and reviewed and compared each
year
‐ Dropout rate from classes to LC/ROTC/Central - tracking of students
‐ Staff satisfaction survey
‐ Student survey
‐ Decrease failure rate for grade 10 students
Strategies:
‐ Student Support Team will inform staff, students and parent by documentation and face to face
conversations about student strengths, weaknesses, and needs as well as providing, supporting and
modeling differentiated instructional strategies and following up in a timely fashion then more
students will remain and be engaged in classes because of improved learning experiences for all
students
‐ Identify and support five Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment coaches to improve learning and
teaching
‐ Focus on 3 staff identified areas: Assessment, Teaching Strategies, Co-Planning & Co-Teaching
‐ Work with feeder schools to improve Grade 9 to 10 transition
‐ Focus on supporting Grade 10 core subjects (e.g. English 10 Reading assessment)
‐ Utilizing academic interventions supported by student support services
‐ Be proactive with interventions and not reactive
‐ Help classroom teachers focus on differentiated instruction verses removal of struggling students to a
lower course or self-paced program
‐ Student Tutorial Guidelines implemented and monitored
‐ ROTC as a temporary remediation program
‐ Teacher Book Study - Fair Isn't Always Equal (Wormeli)
Most Responsible People:
‐ Administration
‐ Student Support Services staff
‐ CIA Coaches
‐ All teaching staff
Rutland Senior Secondary School 705 Rutland Road N., Kelowna, B.C. V1X 3B6
Phone 250-870-5110 Fax 250-870-5010
What do we hope to Achieve?
3)
Improve Voodoo spirit, culture and wellness
How do we measure this?
‐ Student Wellness
‐ Students satisfaction surveys
‐ Track and develop baseline data for:
 Referrals to mental health clinician
 Number of students participating in anxiety group
 Students leaving RSS due to related Mental Health Issues
 Students leaving RSS due to related Drug & Alcohol Issues
 Students accessing School Nurse program
 Staff lessons on stress reduction
‐ Increase pass rate for grade 10 students
‐ Staff Wellness
‐ Staff satisfaction survey: increased positive attitude about RSS and positive job satisfaction
Strategies:
‐ Student: promote School Spirit activities, focus on activities that raise school pride, start peer
counselling program, Lifesavers program, Grad Council, Students Council (Voodoo Voice), Athletic
Council, Counsellors present on anxiety in Planning 11
‐ Staff: teambuilding activities, social activities, staff fitness program (e.g. hikes, snowshoeing, cross
training), collaboration cross curricular, sitting with different people at meetings, once a month
potluck lunch, focus on good mouthing our school
Most Responsible People:
‐ Administration
‐ Counsellors
‐ Sunshine committee
‐ Staff Social committee
‐ All teaching staff are asked to participate
Student Survey:
 During April 2014, a student survey was created and implemented to over 600 students at RSS. This survey
focused directly on our school goals and specifically student engagement. This information will create a
baseline as we work towards our new goals over the next several years. Other data will be collated at the end
of this year (e.g. Mental health Clinician referrals, course fail rates, attendance rates, student activities) and
some data will begin being collected at the start of September 2014 (withdrawal exit interview data, course
changes data).
RSS SPC 2013-2014
Alan Lalonde, Principal
Thomas Gruenenwald, Vice-Principal
Tricia Stetar, Parent
Chuck Cullen, Parent
Marnie Janzen, Parent
Amarit Brar, Grade 12 Student
Alisha Ahuja, Grade 11 Student
Rachel Ryan, Grade 10 Student