Mt Slesse News

May 1,2012

Dear Parents/Guardians:

Re: Formal Report Cards

The purpose of this letter is to provide parents with updated information about formal report cards. 

We believe that student literacy, academic achievement and social development are fundamental to everything we do.  Our teachers recognize the importance of communication between teachers and parents, and have been providing informal reporting of student progress to parents during job action.

On April 20, the BC Labour Relations Board ruled that teachers are to prepare formal report cards for all students, with assessments dating back to the start of the school year.

Report cards allow teachers the opportunity to provide formal feedback on student progress.

This information is critical to parents, school and district staff to help identify the unique learning needs of each student and to provide learning success.

Students in Grades 7 through 12 have already received formal report cards for Term 3.  For students in Grades 7 to 9 report cards included progress for Term 3.  For students in Grades 10 to 12 report cards included progress for Term 3 with final report information for Semester 1. 

Many teachers of Kindergarten to Grade 6 students have already provided report cards in April. Those students and parents will not now have a new report card.  All other students in Kindergarten through Grade 6 will receive report cards by May 10.   Students in Kindergarten through Grade 3 will have reports that include performance scale assessments in the form of a checklist for each subject, and comments.  For students in grades 4 to 6, report cards will include letter grades, essential learning outcomes and comments if there is a significant change in achievement.   

As always, parents are encouraged to contact their child’s teacher if they would like more information on student progress for the period September to March or more currently.  Yearend reports will be prepared and issued in the usual manner on June 28th.

We appreciate how challenging this year has been for everyone. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Michael Audet

Superintendent of Schools

Please encourage your son/daughter to complete the DPA Student Log sheet that was provided in Advisory classes. The importance of the completion of this form as per the instructions cannot be overstated. Assessment will be based on the degree to which the DPA Student Log indicates your son/daughter is meeting the DPA requirements. Students will be required to complete the forms for all 4 reporting terms. Reporting will occur on each report card with a comment from you child’s Advisory teacher that indicates your child is, or is not, meeting requirements for DPA.

Students who do not meet the DPA requirement by not handing in their Student Log form or completing the minimum requirement of 30 mins of activity 5 days per week will receive an ‘N’ for Advisory/DPA. A reminder that an N for effort on any course will exclude a student from work habits recognition for the term.

Mt. Slesse placed first in the 2012 Pascal Math Contest in the Fraser Valley zone, beating out other schools in Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Mission and Hope.

For more information, please see articles below from the Chilliwack Progress and Chilliwack Times:

http://www.theprogress.com/community/145969095.html

http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/technology/adds+Slesse+stars/6401706/story.html

Please click on the link below to view our 2012-13 Course Calendar:

For Thursday March 8 and Friday March 9 we fully expect teachers to be back at work in all schools.  

All schools will be open to students and Staff.

Our buses will be running on regular schedules Thursday and Friday.

We anticipate that teachers will continue with Phase One of Job Action, as has been the case since September. .
Please check here for any further updates over the coming days.

Again, our thanks for your understanding and cooperation during this time.

Mt. Slesse Middle School is very excited about the opportunity of expanding its Soccer Skills Academy for the 2012-2013 school year. Beginning in September 2012, the Academy will be operating 2 classes.  Please click on the link below for more information and an application package:

http://msms.sd33.org/programs-courses/soccer

Please click on the link below:

Mt.Slesse Middle School is very excited about the opportunity of expanding its Soccer Skills Academy for the 2012-2013 school year. Beginning in September 2012, the Academy will be operating 2 classes.  All middle school aged students from within the Chilliwack School District are welcome to apply.

Additonal Information

The Foundation Skills Assessment is an annual province-wide assessment of British Columbia students’ academic skills, and provides a snapshot of how well BC students are learning foundation skills in Reading Comprehension, Writing, and Numeracy.

The FSA will be administered to all grade 7 students from Jan. 16th to Feb. 24th , 2012. The total testing time to administer the FSA is 4.5 hours over a number of classes. If you have any questions regarding the FSA Assessment, please contact Ms. Chapman or Mr. Heisler at (604) 824-7481

A reminder to continue to keep the lines of communication open by using the student agenda, emails or phone calls.  A reminder that January 27th is the end of Term Two! If you have a concern about your child’s progress, please contact the teacher(s) right away. The more communication that occurs, the more support for your child – especially, if your child is experiencing difficulty. With the school and the home working together the rate of success for our students increases greatly. All teachers email addresses are available on our website at www.slesse.ca