2011-2012 Initatives

The 2011-2012 school year at Barriere has many reasons to be excited. In spite of the challenges that lie ahead of us, we have strong plans to move forward with our three year growth plan.

Goal #1

To improve students' academic achievement in all courses in all grade levels.

We are continuing to move ahead with staff collaborative time. We have adjusted the model slightly to allow teachers more flexiblity in whom they meet with and the topics they discuss. Because we are a small school, we have most teachers instructing multiple subject. Therefore, we have tried to create a model that will allow like subject teachers to collaborate with their peers for a flexible period of time. In addition, we continue to provide a block of time for student support. This year we have:

• Grade 12: Complteting their Graduation Transitions course.
• Grade 11: Involved with the Big Brother / Sister program and homework completion.
• Grade 10: Completing their planning 10 course.
• Grade 8/9: Indvidual/collaborative study, assignment completion, directed detention.

Goal #2

To improve communication with parents and increase community involvement within the school.

This is a new goal for our school. We are excited with some of the strategies we have in place to help us achieve this goal. These strategies include:

• The introduction of Jupiter Grades. This program allows us to assess more accurately learning outcomes and more efficiently communicate with parents. What is most excititng is that teachers are driving this initative forward.
• Continuing to update our school blog. We will once again have parents and staff use the google docs. survey tool to gather input.
• Synervoice will act as a power tool for call outs to parents and keeping our school community informed of school functions and important dates. In addtion, it will be used to invite the community to participate in our school functions.

Although we have many challenges to deal with in the 2011-2012 school year, we have strong plans to move forward with our three year growth plan.