Early childhood support
A new program is hoping to give better support to children before they reach kindergarten.
The school district’s move to implement SPARK — which stands for Supporting Parents Along the Road to Kindergarten — comes after a UBC survey found many local children entering school were facing challenges.
The survey, entitled the Early Development Instrument, found many local children entering kindergarten were lacking the social and emotional development needed to start school.
About 31 per cent, or 246 children, tested in the Sea to Sky School District in 2016 had a weakness in at least one area.
The areas tested included physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language cognitive development and communication skills.
With this in mind, Phillip Clarke, a director at the school district, said a different approach was needed for getting kids ready for school.
“What can we do differently?” said Clarke.
Clarke said funding was taken away from a program called Ready, Set, Learn, which wasn’t reaching as many people as desired, and poured into SPARK.
SPARK teaches parents research-based ways to interact with their children, and it offers incentives for parents to keep coming back, he said.
The latest numbers suggest participation is much higher with this new program, which also meets the requirements outlined in Ready, Set, Learn.
Ready, Set, Learn reached 47 people in 2015 and 74 the following year throughout the Sea to Sky area.
On the other hand, the SPARK program reached 223 people this past fall, 300 in the winter and 339 in May.
“Money well spent,” said Clarke. “Time well spent.”
New secretary-treasurer
Mohammed Azim is the Sea to Sky School District’s new secretary
-treasurer.
Azim took the reins this month after former treasurer Shehzad Somji left earlier this spring to pursue a post at the Vancouver School Board.
“I’ve only been here a short time, but the passion and energy of my colleagues and the greater community, is truly inspiring,” said Azim in a news release.
“I’m personally invested in our education system and will strive to ensure our students are learning in an environment where each child has the opportunity to achieve their personal best.”
He has nine years of experience working in education.
Previously, he was the secretary-treasurer at Wild Rose School District in Alberta. He’s also worked at Alberta Energy Regulator and for a private accounting firm.
Assistant secretary-treasurer Ralph Hughes was running the show in the gap between Somji’s departure and Azim’s arrival.
Grade-free learning update
Students appear to be less concerned with grades and more concerned with learning, according to one of the people in charge of the no-grades pilot program.
“They seem to be less anxious; they’re spending more time about how they can go deeper with their learning,” said assistant superintendent Paul Lorette.
However, trustee Chris Vernon-Jarvis said it would be good to have an independent party come in to assess the project, as it is the people who administer the program who are assessing it.
This could create confirmation bias, he said.
The Sea to Sky School District is about to complete the second year of pilot project Communicating Student Learning.
The emphasis is on providing personalized feedback to students instead of grades — though parents who wish to see a student’s actual grade may do so upon request.
Lorette said he’d be back in August to provide details on the program next school year.
The Ministry of Education is also toying with the idea of doing a similar pilot project in six to eight school districts throughout the province, he said. The Sea to Sky School District has expressed interest in participating, Lorette said.
