Message from the Director of Education

In keeping with a commitment to be accountable and transparent all schools within the jurisdiction of the Eastern School District are required to develop and release on an annual basis a report to the community.   An Annual Report reflects an attempt to capture in brief format the multitude of activities, programs and initiatives that comprise the life and work of the entire learning community – its successes, its achievements, its issues and challenges, and its ambitions and plans for the forthcoming year.  Schools are, indeed, busy places as these Annual Reports attest to.

This Annual Report reflects the efforts and energies of students, teachers, parents and other community partners, working in a collaborative and collegial manner to ensure that all students achieve and succeed to the fullest of their potential within a healthy and active, safe and caring, and socially-just learning environment. This goal remains our primary reason for doing all that we do.

I encourage all partners in education to review this annual report and use this report, and the information contained therein, as a basis of further engagement and discussion around items of interest pertaining to the education of our children within our schools.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of Eastern School District I commend each and every school for their dedication to teaching and learning as evidenced by this Annual Report 2007-2008.

Yours in Education

Mr. Darrin Pike, CEO/Director of Education

Eastern School District

Message from Principal         

            The 2007-2008 school year was an exciting one at Topsail Elementary School.  The staff was actively involved in analyzing school data and identifying goals and objectives for our three year School Development Plan.  An external team conducted a review of our plan and provided feedback on our goals.  Their comments on our school culture and our school community were very positive.  They also provided some recommendations.  These recommendations, combined with our internal review, were used to improve our focus on academic achievement while at the same time, promoting a safe and caring school community.  We established organizational structures to improve our physical plant and ensure a healthy learning environment.

            We are privileged to work within a very supportive school community.  We would like to thank the members of our School Development team and the committee groups for their leadership and commitment to our School Development Plan.  We would also like to commend our entire school community – parents, staff and students for their dedication and commitment in creating a positive learning environment at Topsail Elementary.

Florence Norris                                                                                     Roger Deveaux
Principal                                                                                                Vice-Principal

Message from School Council Chair

On behalf of the School Council of Topsail Elementary School, I invite you to read the 2007-2008 School Report. This past year has been challenging for our school community. The School Report is a good way to learn about what is happening at the school.

Each year, the parents of Topsail Elementary School support the school with a fee in lieu of fundraising. This fee supports teachers in classroom-based initiatives. We thank you for your response to our fee in lieu of fundraising.

The School Council is working with the school’s administrative team along with the Eastern School District to improve your child's school experience. We appreciate any suggestions or comments from both parents and the community.

David Steinhauer
Chair

Mission Statement

          The Topsail Elementary community is committed to fostering student learning in all academic areas, with a focus on language arts, mathematics and technology, while nurturing a safe and caring environment.

Our School Community

          Topsail Elementary is part of the Eastern School District which has 122 schools.   Our school community has an enrollment of 515 students and we offer programs from Kindergarten to Grade Four in both English and French Immersion.

            Topsail Elementary has a total of 31.5 teaching units, which includes 23.5 regular teaching units, four special services units and additional specialists in the areas of music, physical education, guidance and learning resources.  We also have twelve hours of student assistant support and a French monitor.  In addition, we have itinerant supports from the Eastern School District in the areas of speech language pathology, hearing impairment, visual impairment, educational psychology and numeracy support.

Programs Provided

            Our school offers the provincially prescribed curriculum in English and French Immersion from Kindergarten to Grade 4.

            Students with identified exceptionalities are provided services by the non-categorical special education teachers and the criteria teacher.

Guidance/Counseling Services

            Guidance programming at Topsail Elementary is preventative and developmental in nature, focusing primarily on the healthy growth of all children in the school community.  Guidance addresses the students’ developmental needs in the areas of self development, social development, career and cognitive development.  The Guidance program is delivered to the student body through a team approach involving all staff members.

Learning Resources

            The main focus of the Resource Centre is to promote reading and literacy among the school community.  The students at Topsail have been engaged in various activities over the year, such as buddy reading, read-alouds, celebrating Family Literacy Day and are being exposed to various genres of literature.  Topsail Elementary also host a Scholastic Book Fair each February.  In addition to promoting literacy, the book fair provides funds for the school to continue to build and replenish its collection of books in order to keep the students motivated and interested in reading.

The teacher-librarian collaborates with the classroom teachers to design units of work in accordance with curriculum outcomes.   These units access both the Resource Centre and the Computer Lab.

At Topsail students are encouraged to visit the Resource Centre to read, select and exchange books.  This book selection process increases reading, independence and pride.

Music

            Topsail Elementary School has a strong music program that involves all students from Kindergarten to Grade 4.  Students demonstrate their skills in group ensembles and through individual performances.  Emphasis is placed on developing confidence, self-esteem and the ability to work as a team.  All students are provided with an opportunity to perform a musical production throughout the year.

            Students in Grades 2, 3 and 4 have the opportunity to participate in choirs that perform at various functions throughout the year

Physical Education

            The Physical Education program at Topsail Elementary provides a wide variety of movement experiences which develop individual physical abilities and promote positive attitudes towards active living, fair play and personal achievement.  Involvement in the skills program is intended to improve fitness levels, enhance self-esteem and provide the basic skills necessary for active recreation and peer socialization.

Technology

            An important focus this year was on technology in the school.  Our fundraising efforts went to support this initiative.  We now have a computer lab equipped with 25 computers.  All classrooms have individual computers as well.  In-services were provided to all staff and our school website was re-designed and updated.

Key Highlights/Special Projects

Healthy Living

            Our Physical Education teacher has promoted Healthy and Active Living through a variety of activities.  Grade 3 and 4 students take part in regular lunchtime intramurals.  Students are encouraged to join cross-country running teams and take part in the provincial runs.  The Grade Three girls participated in an after school basketball program coached by one of the staff members.  The entire school participates in a weekly walk or “Fit Go” bingo depending on the weather.

Myth busters

            Our Grade 4 students participated in a project where they recorded the temperature five times a day from both Topsail Elementary “weather station” and the temperature at St. John’s Airport.  The groups collected and organized data using the Microsoft Excel computer program.  They then interpreted the data and determined that, on average; the temperature is higher in Topsail than it is in St. John’s.

Earth Day

            Topsail Elementary recognized Earth Day as an important day in trying to find local solutions within our schools and homes to help improve the state of the environment.  Students were involved in many activities throughout the course of the week to raise awareness about our environment.  The students were very proud of their efforts in making the environment a clean, greener place.

Shave for the Brave

          Topsail Elementary held its first “Shave for the Brave” this year.   Six students, two parents and two teachers participated in the event which raised money for Real Time Cancer.  This event was well supported by the entire school community.

Summary Analysis of Most Current School Data

            Our school’s current data is a summary of school, district and provincial results on the provincial assessment.  This data has indicated that our primary results for June 2008 were above the district and provincial averages in all areas of language arts.  We are particularly pleased with the improvements in the areas of visual literacy and listening as these areas were identified as areas of need in the previous year’s data.

            Our math scores indicate we are above the district in number operations, number concepts and shape and space.  Within these subtests, reasoning and communication were identified as areas requiring further focus.  Our action teams will complete in-depth analysis of the data received and provide a plan to focus on these areas.

            The following chart indicates the percentage of students who scored adequate or better in our school compared to our district and the province in Primary Language Arts and Math.

Assessment Results

For example, 81.1% of grade three students met or exceeded the standard in Number Concept as compared to 76.0 % of the District and 75.6% of the Province.

For example, 60.2 % of the students in grade three met or exceeded the standard in Connections and Representations as compared to 60.8 % of the District and 61.3 % of the Province.

School Development Plan

The school has developed three goals to be achieved over the next 3 years period. These goals were arrived at by prioritizing information gathered from provincial assessment results (reported in the previous section) and feedback from parents, teachers, students and district office staff.   Below you will find three goals and an overview of the 3 year plan to achieve each of the goals listed.

 Goal 1:         To promote and maintain a safe, caring and collaborative environment by                              2011.

 Goal 2:         To Increase Understanding and Integration of Technology Across the Curriculum by 2011

 Goal 3:         To improve student learning and achievement in Language Arts and Mathematics by 2011

 Goal 1: To promote and maintain a safe, caring and collaborative environment by 2011.  (Three Year plan)

School Development Plan  for Goal 1 in 2008-2009 (Year one of the three year plan.)

Goal 2: To Increase Understanding and Integration of Technology Across the Curriculum by 2011  (Three Year Plan)

School Development Plan 2008-2009 (Year one of the three year plan.)

Goal 3: To improve student learning and achievement in Language Arts and Mathematics by 2011 (3 year plan)

Goal 3:  School Development Plan 2008-2009 (Year one of the three year plan.)

The goals for our School Development Plan were finalized in March 2008 school year.  As a staff, we recognized the need to begin our action plans immediately while realizing we would continue these same goals and objectives during the 2008-2009 school years.  Action teams were developed to provide direction and planning to help us attain our goals.

            The Technology Committee recognized the need to have preliminary work completed in order to work on our objectives for technology.  The first step was to outfit our computer lab with up-to-date computers.   We purchased new and refurbished computers so that we could have all high end computers in our lab.  The committee also prepared a Professional Development Day,  as well as many after school workshops,  to provide staff with the knowledge and training they need to effectively use computers on a daily basis for educational and communication purposes.   Our website was updated to provide current and relevant information to parents.

The Math Action Team focused on our objective to increase awareness of Mathematical Language.   School wide activities were planned with weekly bulletin boards and announcements over the PA.

The School Development team recognized the need to develop a Language Arts Action Team to lead the school in a Visual Literacy and Listening focus.  This action team will be formed in September 2008.

            The Safe and Caring Schools Action Team focused on practices to increase their awareness of respect for self, others, environment and learning.  As a school we embraced the Positive Behavior Support Model and teachers received Professional Development on the model.  We developed a matrix to identify expected behaviors in all areas of the school.  These expectations will be taught to all staff and students to ensure a clear understanding and consistency throughout the school.

            A recycling committee was formed within the school with our Grade 4 students taking a leadership role under the guidance of specific staff members.  We plan to move beyond the school and involve the entire school community in this project in the next school year.

            The Healthy Living Committee was committed to involving the students in a variety of activities to encourage physical activities.  As a school, we recognize the need for further communication and education on healthy lifestyle choices in our school community.  Our school plan is to focus more on these areas in the next school year.

            The Staff of Topsail Elementary are very pleased with our achievements during the 2007-2008 school years.  The external review indicated that the students felt happy and protected while demonstrating high academic achievements.  The parents felt comfortable and involved in the school and the teachers were dedicated and hard working with the students needs at heart.  We will continue to work together and focus on our goals to ensure that Topsail Elementary School is a great place to learn and grow.