From: Mark Pearmain, Superintendent, North Vancouver School District
Dear Students, Staff and Parents/Guardians,
This school year has been truly inspirational for me as a
new Superintendent. I am honoured to have been able to visit all 32 of our
schools in the North Vancouver School District over the year. Thank you to all
of our students, staff and parents for welcoming me into your schools and
classrooms. The innovative teaching and learning I have observed has genuinely
left me impressed and inspired for the coming year.
Implementation of the new BC Curriculum for Kindergarten to
Grade 9 is occurring in meaningful ways that are positively impacting student
engagement and success. I have observed first-hand, dozens and dozens of
examples of this throughout the year. In one classroom, grade five students
were engaged in a lesson that combined environmental science, social studies,
current affairs, computer coding with Makey Makey, and self-reflection on the
communication competency. Another classroom had Kindergarten students engaged
in a theatrical play that the teacher was recording on an iPad to enable the
students to self-reflect on their learning and also to share the learning with
parents. The creativity that our staff are using to enhance learning for our
students is exciting and inspiring.
We have tried to capture a glimpse of the world-class
instruction and inspired learning taking place every day in all of our schools
through the ‘NVSD Yearbook 2016/2017’. Please check out this fun video that
includes photos from every school. We have a lot to celebrate in our school
district!
https://vimeo.com/221915299
While BC’s New Curriculum is exciting, it is a change that
we are still getting accustomed to. Change is not always easy and I want to
thank you all for your patience and perseverance. As well, other changes have
taken place this past year in the way our school district operates. These
include new reporting and assessment practices (including the online report
card through MyEd BC), a new online maintenance management system used
internally by staff, and the restored teacher contract language, which will
result in different ways of organizing classrooms.
I ask for your continued support as we work through
implementation of the newly restored teacher contract language. It is exciting
and very positive to have additional teaching resources in our schools to
support students. The smaller class sizes and new composition requirements
have, however, resulted in some change in practice for our school district in
terms of space. Over the past few months we have been working closely with our
facilities department and the Ministry of Education to approve a capital plan
to support our additional classroom requirements. The needs for
classroom space vary from school to school and different
solutions are being implemented at each site. Decisions have been made by
balancing the needs of the school district as a whole and the individual needs
of each school. While some schools require only minor work, others require more
extensive construction to reconfigure classroom space, and some schools will be
receiving portables.
Overall, it has been a very thorough and challenging process
to ensure each school across the school district maintains educational
programming while also creating additional classroom space. I want to
acknowledge the hard work of our facilities staff to help us develop the
physical site plans and for the upcoming work they will undertake over the
summer to ensure each school is ready for school start-up in September. I also
would like to, once again, thank all of you for your patience and
understanding. In September, these changes will be noticeable and I ask that we
continue to treat each other with kindness as we implement new routines.
As we close this school year, I want to express my sincere
gratitude to all of our students, staff and parents for the work you do every
day to ensure world-class teaching and learning. We value the efforts of our
entire school district community and are making a concerted effort to recognize
and celebrate what makes us successful - you! This past October we delivered
apples to school staff as a thank you on World Teachers’ Day. We also undertook
an Employee Engagement Survey to provide all staff the opportunity to provide feedback
about our school district and how we can continue to improve. Through our
school district blog, ‘Learn, Share & Grow’, and social media channels we
are celebrating the successes of our students and staff that occur daily in
schools and classrooms. This past year, we also had 11 student presentations
(primary grades through to senior grades) at our Board of Education meetings
describing the various opportunities, initiatives and issues affecting students
across the district. We will certainly continue to share and celebrate in this
manner. I want to wish all of you a
wonderful, safe summer filled with family, friends and relaxation. I look
forward to the 2017/2018 school year, where we will continue to move forward as
a learning community to provide the best educational environments for students,
staff and parents.
Sincerely,
Mark Pearmain
Superintendent
North Vancouver School
District