School Community Council (SCC) Annual Activity Report

School Community Council (SCC) Annual Activity Report:

Brunskill School 2014-15

May 2015

It was an exciting year at Brunskill with an increased enrolment of approximately 450. This has the school at a manageable capacity but further increase will require some strategic planning and changes. The School Community Council (SCC) successfully met six times (including the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in September) and one additional time informally to plan the math night. The financial account was used to subsidize some key events such as: Meet-the-teacher night, Math information night andone student’s registration to an anti-bullying workshop. The membership was maintained throughout and equal participation was exercised. Below are hi-lighted achievements of the Brunskill SCC for 2014-15.

Membership and roles:

Chair: Tanya Napper (second year)

Co-Chair :Lana Elias (second year)

Secretary:Dale Swanston

Members:Anne Hardy

Trent Schulte

Paige Goebel

Tina Gabruch

Erick McNair

RabiaShadid

Appointed Members:Krista Ford (Principal)

Justin Giesbrecht (Vice Principal/Teacher)

Meetings held:

In total, 6 meetings were held, meeting the minimum requirement:

September 17, 2014 – Annual General Meeting
October 20, 2014
November 26, 2014
January 14, 2015
April 22, 2015
May 28, 2015

Communications:

In response to some feedback from the Tell-them-from-me survey held by the district school board, the SCC worked in partnership with Brunskill staff and faculty to implement more effective methods of school-based communication. One major adjustment was in the issuing of all newsletters to be by email (hard copies are still available in the school by request). Another was updating the SCC website hosted within the Brunskillspsd environment to show members, past minutes and events. Further to that, the SCC established an email account () in order to collect parent’s feedback and concerns. All of these changes proved appreciated and will continue going forward.

School Planners were once again supported by the SCC. These continue to be of high-use but each year, the school will evaluate their effectiveness and cost-efficiency.

Key Topics for Discussion survey:

In October, the SCC participated in the School Boards’ “Key Topics for Discussion” survey. This survey was dispatched to all schools within the division. The response rate overall was 59% and a 63% response rate from elementary schools alone. The intent of this survey was to find the pressing issues from each school via the SCC and their constituents. The results indicated the following priorities listed in order of importance:

Budget for Saskatoon Public School Division
Best practices in education
Saskatoon Public School Division priorities of Literacy & Collegiate renewal
Role of School Community Councils
Learning results in SPSD
External factors impacting Saskatoon Public Schools

Some of these priorities have been addressed at SCC Assembly meetings throughout the year. The SCC used these priorities as a reference when considering feedback from parents.The SCC intends to continue encouraging parents’ feedback to better inform the School Board. There is an expectation for a new survey in the fall of 2015 and at that point the SCC will communicate to parents what changes to the priorities selected (if any) resulted.

Shine Nurses:

The Shine nurses (students from the College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan) from term 1 (September to November) attended a fall SCC meeting to present their experience and initiatives. Overall they expressed a positive experiences and interactions with the children and felt it had fostered their program requirements. There will be a new group in the school starting January. The faculty and students enjoy having this presence and education outlet in-house.

Red Cross Youth Symposium and Beyond the Hurt Training:

The SCC sponsored one grade 7student(of 5) to attend the Red Cross Youth Symposium and Beyond the Hurt Training December 9-10, 2014 so that they could in turn, bring their teachings to the school. Brunskill maintains its dedication to having a friendly, inclusive and safe environment for students.

Bike racks:

The Tell-them-from-me survey indicated concern about there being enough bike racks to accommodate students in the warmer months. In response, the SCC and School purchased a new bike rack unit from Walter Murray’s shop class and it will be installed in spring 2015.

Meet the Teacher Night:

The SCC once again provided 50% of the cost for refreshments at this year’s event. These are appreciated by the parents and staff.

Math Night:

Chaired by Jennifer Brokofsky, Acting Coordinator –Mathematics, Saskatoon School Board,the SCC supported and helped to plan this evening. The intent was to inform parents of the mathematics outcomes and methods of learning being applied in the school. Approximately 15 parents attended and the school representatives on the math working group were also in attendance.

External events:

The Chair attended the three SCC Assembly meetings: November 5th, January 28th and April 23rd.
Literacy for Life – attended by five SCC members Monday May 4th TCU

Note from the Chair:

Now completing my second year as the Chair of a School Committee, I continue to be inspired and proud of the engaged parents, staff and faculty body we are at Brunskill and I like to think that the success of the students is in part, evidence of this support. Once again, Principal Ford and Vice-Principal Giesbrechtare supreme examples of dedication and enable the SCC by providing pertinent information and communications. In the front office, Nancy Swystun and Mrs. Diederichs are always welcome faces to our community and are ever efficientin attending to our newsletter and website needs…we thank you!In closing, the SCC would not be anywhere near as effective if it were not for my fellow co-members. It is a pleasure to work with each of you and I have every confidence that Brunskill remains a one of the best in Saskatoon. I hope to remain involved in any capacity required with the Brunskill SCC in years to come.

Sincerely,

Tanya Napper

SCC Chair 2013-14

Brunskill SCC Activity Report 2014-15 - tkn