Page 8 November 1981 Cassiar Courier

AoE SCHOOLIN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL INA:

TERRY FOX RUN

Recently 140 people from the school, students, teachers, aides and some parents took part in a “run walk, jog’’ around town in honor and memory of Terry Fox. This was belated participation in a cross-Canada

- event, the intent of which was to raise funds for Canad-

ian Cancer Research. The event.was run in co-operation with the Town Council, who volunteered to donate

one dollar to the fund for each person who part icipat- ed.

Congratulations to all those who gave their time and effort and turned out to particiapte, outside of school time, in this worthwhile cause. Many. thanks to | Miss Claire Redmond and Mr. Glenn Whittington from

the school for co-ordinating the event.

EAGER PARTICIPANTS

TOMMY TOMPKINS VISIT

lf your son or daughter ‘came home a couple of weeks ago, excited with tales of grizzlies and Nahanni,

the wolf, you can thank Tommy Tompkins. |

Tommy, a well-known wildlife photographer, nat- uralist, conservationist and raconteur, who has had his own series of television shows, was a very welcome vis- itor to the school. He gave the students from kinder- garten to Grade 12 examples of wildlife conservation in his tales and films, and encouraged them to look after

- b) on completion of (a) —

L

SECONDARY ACCREDITATION

Last year our elementary school went through a Ministry. of Education process called the Elementary Self-Assessment, which was an internal assessment of the elementary school and its programmes. This was followed by a visit from an external team, which either confirmed the findings of the internal assessment or disagreed with them. The overall findings of the exter- nal team were most favorable towards the school, and generally most complimentary towards the staff and the programmes offered. During the coming years the elementary section of the school will be working on the recommendation of the internal and external assess~

‘ment to ensure continued growth and development.

Having successfully completed last year’s process, it now becomes the turn of the secondary department to complete the Secondary Accreditation process. This

-is a process of internal and external evaluation which

every secondary school in B.C- is required to complete

at regular intervals. Briefly, the process has three dis-

tinct phases:

a) the staff of the school systematically review the school’s resources, practices and programmes, assess- ing the school’s strengths and weaknesses.

March 1982 — a team of ed-

ucators from other schools in the province will

spend a week in the school

ing on the internal assessments. c) the school follows up on the findings and recom-

mendations of the internal and external assessments -

The process has already started in the school and will involve much time, thought and energy on the part of the staff and administration. The process is seen as a

valuable professional development experience, leading

to the continued growth and development of second-

ary education in B.C.. Secondary teachers will be in- —

volved in this process throughout the year — as well as

thes _ their regular day-to-day teaching duties — and occasion ~ ally, school time will be required to complete sections

of the assessment, as well as time out of school. When school time is required, parents will be informed well

In and A round the Schoo

DISTRICT SCHOLARSHIP AWARD

— confirming and expand

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Congratulations go to Kathy Johnston, a graduate

of 1981, for winning the Ministry of Education District

_ Award and Scholarship. Last June Kathy was the suc- cessful candidate in applying for this award from | School District 87 (Stikine).

To achieve this award, Kathy successfully passed a provincially prepared English composition exam and received a very high commendation from the District Scholarship Committee for her work in the school. Kathy will receive a $500.00 award soon from the Min- ' | istry of Education and a $500.00 scholarship when she enrolls in a post-secondary institution (Kathy has al- ready been accepted for enroll ment next year at-Van- couver General Nursing. School. and will, therefore, qualify for this scholarship). }

Well done, Kathy — we all wish you luck in Bvout future career.

“It sure looks like Halloween at the school. The Grade 8's have some of their papier mache on display. Wonder who they used for models?

SOME SCOTTISH INFLUENCE, PERHAPS? WELCOME! -

A\ warm welcome to Susan Omura, the 1 new. Public. Sie

Health Nurse. Already Sue is going at it, taking refer- | - rals, setting up visual and auditory screenings, and gett- | \

and help preserve the beauty of Canadian country:and animals. His film “Valley of the Grizzlies’ gave the stu- dents close examples of the awesome beauty and strength of the grizzly, and he followed this up with the necessary caution that the bears were wild animals, to be treated with respect, and not cuddly little play- things. He had much to say about-Canada’s wildlife and was assailed with many questions by the interested and inspired audience. This was his first visit to Cassiar but it appears that he was so impressed by the town and students that he would be delighted to return.

His visit was sponsored by B.C. Hydro, who are en- couraging him in his conservation campaign throughout B.C.

ELECTION OF NEW SCHOOL BOARD i

On Thursday, November 12, at 7:30 p.m. Cassiar

takes another historic step in the evolution of the Stik- ine School District. You can be part of this historic and

very important event. You will have the opportunity to

elect two representatives from Cassiar to this first School Board. Hopefully, you will find out who the

candidates are, what they represent for the future of

education in Cassiar and the Stikine and take the op-

portunity to talk to them. Those people who have put

their names forward as candidates are willing to be-

come involved in your children’s education. Your will-

ingness to be involved in the future decisions concern- ing your children’s education can be shown by your in-

volvement in the election. For the sake of your child’s

educational future, PLEASE VOTE!

ND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN eee AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN‘AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND!

= DATE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1981 = TIME 7:30 P.M.

& PLACE _ CASSIAR SCHOOL

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in advance. For example, the first day being used by the secondary staff for this purpose will be Friday, December 11th, when school will not be in session for secondary. or elementary students. On this day Elem-

ementary teachers will also be involved in professional

development, in two workshops being conducted at the * school on the elementary Language Arts programme. ‘Your co-operation is greatly appreciated in these areas. of professional development, as the end result of these programmes is improved education for the seieanshks in the community.

Writers Conner HAIR

by-Fred Hudson Hair comes in alf shapes, colors, length and styles. My hair is autumn and cut just below the ears. It is naturally curly and | am proud of it. | am very proud of my hair, as well as my skill and knowledge of starting fires. The other day | was in a stupor and instead of using my normal and safe way of starting the wood stove in my house.-! used gasoline. | poured some of the gasoline in a plastic bow! and poured it over the wood in the stove. | searched for a match in my breast pockets. When | finally found the match | struck it, opened the stove and threw it in. No- thing happened. | struck another match and opened the door of the stove; flames poured out of the door and with out thinking | jumped back, closed my eyes and grabbed’ for my hair. It was on fire. | slapped at it until all that |” heard was myself panting and all 1 could smell was the

acrid smell of protein that had just burnt.

j

ing a much-needed programme going. It’s great to see

you around the school, Sue, and we're very glad that _

. you're here. Now, all we need is a room...........

UPDATE ON NEWSCHOOL -

‘It looks as if the weather has closed down oper- ations for the winter .......... however, an early start in the spring, they tell us, can still guarantee occupancy for the beginning of September 1982. Keep ARES: fin-° gers crossed! -

1980-81 SCHOOL YEARBOOKS

Did you miss the chance to buy ane of last year’s _

yearbooks? Have you lost the one you did buy? If so, there are still a few left at the school for the reduced

cost of $5.00 (originals cost $8.00 and $10.00) Check at the school if you wish to buy one ..... already they are collector's items! .

DATES TO REMEMBER .

Wed. Nov. 11 Remembrance Day

Fri. Nov. 20 First Report Card

Fri. Dec. 11 Professional Development Day (Secondary — Accreditation

__ Elementary — Language Arts Pro-

gram) — No school for students.

Dec. 21 — Jan. 3 Christmas Vacation

Fri. Feb, 12 Second Report Card

Apr. 5 — 12 Spring Break

Fri. April 23 Third Report Card

June 30

Final Day of School

NOTES & QUOTES Overheard in the Computer Lab ....’’Our computer

is a great machine. There are just as many mistakes as before, but now theyre nobody’s fault!""???

The new school year provides a good opportunity to ask ourselves some important questions about school ef-

_ fectiveness. Despite persistent grumblings in some quart- i

ers about.’’quality’’ and “standards”, we do know a great deal today about effective schools. Furthermore, this knowledge is grounded in 1981 upon a solid re- search base rather than upon good intentions.

One of the most promising developments in edie ation has been the identification of factors essential to school effectiveness.

The sum of these investigations can be simply stated.

Schools do make a difference; in fact they can make a profound difference in student achievement. The dif- ference, however, is not automatic or assured. The parti- cular -priorities and operating modes set by individual schools make the difference — exciting student progress or disappointment all around.

This variance between excellent or mediocre schools depends’ upon certain components relatively easy to identify. They include:

(1) HIGH EXPECTATIONS. Students must be challeng-

ed and stretched. The soft road evidently leads to meandering ruts. Students respond to the confid- . ence shown by principals and teachers and parents

@ THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN AND AROUND THE SCHOOL IN

’ Louise Larocque, Carla Litke and Rose Loverin.

FEISS ITO II IIIS IIIS ISIS IIIS KIKI HII AIIM

I Pala et Selah Shel aa lala

‘On Friday, October 16, a girls and boys volleyball team ‘from Watson Lake played the Cassiar Polar girls and boys -

- Cassiar Courier November 1981 Page 9

POLARS VICTORIOUS -

teams. The Cassiar girl’s team won the best of five com- = petition 4-15, 15-10, 15-10, 7-15 and 15-9. The boy’ S$ team won 3-15, 15-6, 0-15, 15-3, and 15-8.

Both the boys and the girls teams played very well. Wat- son Lake has played volleyball longer than Cassiar, but their experience Was not enough to defeat the enthusiasm that the boys and girls from-Cassiar showed. The many hours of practice seemed all worthwhile at the end of the day. :

The girls team, coached by Miss Christine Guldner, was made up of Lenore Moth, Captain, Clare McKiernan, Barb Billingsley, Connie Quash, Tracey King, Sacha Millar,

The boys team, coached by Mr. Glenn Whittington, was made up of Richard Knowles, Captain, Frank Nuyens, Darrel Newberg, Pat Moth, Szilard Fricska, Gordie Rowe, : John Tooke, Joey Anderson and Paul Auric.

> — o > =] o = 2 i=] + = m ” x) — =) =) La = > 2 oc S =] o (= 4 i=) + Gx m ” (=r) Se =) =) i red ’ We are grateful to Mr. Merv Prier for refereeing. We would also like to thank Tanya Radulovic, an injured girls team - member, and Lee Callow for keeping the official score,

Uschi Froehlich, Wendy Cartwright and Shawn Penno for

umpiring, the numerous linespersons, and the group of en- thusiastic students whose vocal support helped us to vic-

tory. :

There will be a rematch in November at Watson Lake.

|

Christmas BLE Competition

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The Cassiar Courier is again sponsoring an Annual Christmas Story or Poem Contest. for stu-

_ dents from Grade I to Grade 7. All entries must be 300 words or less and the deadline for all

entries is November 8th, 1981. Prizes will be awarded for each grade and the winning stories

will be published in the December issue of the Cassiar Courier. The story or poem can be on -any one of the following subjects:

I. Christmas means many things to different people — what does it mean to you?

view.

when adults say, “I know you can do better.’’

(2) SUPPORTIVE CLIMATE. Students should seldom be expected to go it alone. They need solid, con- stant support from everyone in school day by day. They also need more recognition for exceptional achievements than ordinarily is granted.

(3) STRONG LEADERSHIP. Everyone agrees that the Principal is the key to a good school. Lacking pro- per leadership, a school becomes becalmed. It goes

nowhere.

(4) TIME ON TASK. Students must be actively engaged in learning for substantial periods of time or else achievement suffers. One Clear lesson of recent re-

search is the strong correlation between the amount |

of time actually spent in learning a subject and stu- dent achievement scores. When class time is wasted or when homework is ignored, learning suffers.

(5) FEEDBACK. Another component of an effective school is the feedback loop to students and parents.

They need to know the facts about progress being made. Such reports serve to motivate and stimulate rather than discourage. They also serve to explain the place of the student in the course being studied and the reason for the lesson at hand.

2. ’Twas The Night Before Christmas ...........

3. Imagine you are a-Christmas Tree. Describe the Christmas season from your point of

Entries may be mailed to Cassiar Courier, Box 100. Cassiar. B.C. VOC 1E0. or

they may be dropped off at the Town Administration Office. FOI IRR IS III IIIA III IIIS ISI SSIS IAI IIS AA ISSS ISIS III IA.

Tn and around School District 87

Some thoughts on school effectiveness

Pink's vis Guu eU Eure een cake ears

(6) EMPHASIS ON LEARNING. The entire school needs to manifest pre-eminence of learning. Many activities and events can occur in school settings but the clear priority must be upon growth in student skills and knowledge.

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These, then are the central components of an effec- tive school. They are possible to achieve, given a little determination and grit. And they will make a difference in student achievement.

| would add a seventh factor to this imposing list. (7) PARENTAL COMMITMENT AND SUPPORT. Par-

ent involvement and support are essential elements

in the education of today’s students. The school may need to assume the responsibility for helping parents become aware of the need for, and the re- wards of, education. Parents need to respond pos- itively to the school’s overtures in this regard and become that’ essential supportive partner in the teacher-student-parent interaction. Schools share with parents the responsibility for fostering the op- timum growth and development of each student.

School effectiveness is maximized when parents sup-

port the school effectively.

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