Bonanza School 2011/2012 School Year
Teaching Staff
Kindergarten – Mrs. Stephanie Evans and Mrs. Brenda Kutschinski
Grade 1/2 - Mrs. Stephanie Evans
Grade 3/4 - Mrs. Theresa Simmonds
Grade 5/6 - Mrs. Gothard/Miss Janelle Murphy
Grade 7/8 - Mr. Randy Carlstad - Principal
Educational & Speech Assistant – Mrs. Carrie Broadway
Special Needs Aides – Mrs. Patricia Kettner
Support Staff Nurse
Custodian – Mrs. Christine Meier Mrs. Shona Burton
Administrative Assistant - Mrs. Penny Lepage
8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
12:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
PWSD #76 Administration - (780) 532-8133
Mr. Sheldon Rowe – Superintendent
Mr. Rodney Lee – Deputy Superintendent
Mr. Brian Shields – Assistant Superintendent
Mr. Bob Stewart – Assistant Superintendent Student Services
Mr. Bob Zahara, Mr. Randy Horneland, Jim Vanhola – Universal Outreach Coordinator(s)
Mr. Dave Michalko – Director of Facilities
Mr. Danny Patterson – Director of Transportation
Mr. Ralph Paquin – Secretary Treasurer
Ms. Heather Putio – Director of Inclusion
Mrs. Stacey Pelland – School Board Chairperson
Mrs. Kim Moodie – Vice School Board Chairperson
Mrs. Sharilyn Anderson – School Trustee - Bonanza, Savanna, and Spirit River
Hours of Operation
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. daily Monday through Friday
School Bell Schedule:
8:25 – Warning Bell
8:30 – 1st period begins
9:20 – 2nd period begins
10:05 – Recess begins
10:25 – Warning Bell
10:30 – Recess ends
– 3rd period begins
11:15 – 4th period begins
12:00 – Lunch break begins
12:15 – Noon Recess begins
12:35 – Warning bell
12:40 – Recess ends
– 5th period begins
1:25 – 6th period begins
2:10 – Recess begins
2:30 – Warning Bell
2:35 – Recess ends
–7th period begins
3:05 –8th period begins
3:35 – Classes dismissed
3:45 – Busses depart
Early Dismissal Dates
Due to staff meetings, students will be dismissed one half hour early (3:05 pm) on the first teaching Monday of each month.
"Learning Together –Succeeding Together"
Values
Respect We believe that mutual respect is essential in fostering a safe and caring environment.
Responsibility We believe that everyone is responsible for taking an active part in his or her learning.
Collaboration We believe in everyone working together as a community of learners.
Learning We believe that when you have high learning expectations, you achieve excellence.
Growth We believe in continuous improvement, life-long learning, and maximizing the potential of all learners.
Success We believe that success builds self-esteem and creates positive futures.
Duties of Students: School Act Section 12 states that:
A student shall conduct himself so as to reasonably comply with the following code of conduct:
a. be diligent in pursuing his studies,
b. attend school regularly and punctually,
c. cooperate fully with everyone authorized by the board to provide education programs and other services,
d. comply with the rules of the school,
e. account to his teachers for his conduct,
f. respect the rights of others.
Bonanza School Code of Conduct
Everyone in Bonanza School has the right to be safe and feel welcome in our school. This will help to create the best environment in which to develop lifelong learning skills as well as to prepare all learners to live successfully in our society.
This policy is consistent with Peace Wapiti School Division and the School Act. It is based on the following basic beliefs:
Acceptable behaviour fosters a positive learning environment. A positive learning environment fosters acceptable behaviour.
· Every student has the right to feel safe from physical or verbal abuse at school.
· Students are responsible for their own actions.
· Students are responsible for knowing the rules of the school.
· Ideal discipline is self-directed and self-controlled.
· The school and the home share the responsibility of helping students achieve self-discipline.
Healthy Interactions: Resolving Interpersonal Conflict
Restorative Practice
Bonanza School has adopted the philosophy and use of Restorative Practice as one of its approaches to responding to challenging behavior. Restorative Practice incorporates the idea that behavior can be changed when the people involved become accountable for their actions when they realize how their behavior has affected others. Then efforts are made on the part of the offender to reconcile differences and heal the damages brought upon their victim by taking effective action, ie. Offering apologies, doing community or school service to fix damages done, write a letter explaining what happened, etc. Circle talks are one way of arriving at solutions for concerns and are also a way of discussing celebrations and successes within the school culture. Every participant has their say and may help come up with solutions within a safe and caring environment.
Students, who continue to offer challenging behavior, are sent to the office to fill out a form with Restorative
Questions:
1. What happened?
2. What were you thinking about at the time?
3. What have you thought about since?
4. Who has been affected by what you have done? In what way?
5. What do you think you need to do to make things right?
Their forms will be kept in their own behavior file, and they may be asked to write in a behavior journal upon subsequent visits to the office.
Students who have been offended may be asked to fill out the following questions:
1. What did you think when you realized what had happened?
2. What impact has this incident had on you and others?
3. What has been the hardest thing for you?
4. What do you think needs to happen to make things right?
Bonanza School has experienced considerable success in utilizing this restorative practice within our setting. It is simply one of the tools we use to assist us in monitoring school behavior and fostering a positive school climate.
To find out more about Restorative Practice, please check out the following website online: http://www.safersanerschools.org/library/au05_ocallaghan.html
Peace Wapiti Principles. As part of the planning process for Healthy Interactions the following principles are outlined:
- PWSD places a high priority on building relationships with all its stakeholders.
- PWSD expects all concerns to be addressed in a positive manner, where possible.
- PWSD believes addressing these concerns in a consistent manner provides opportunities to improve situations.
- PWSD promotes the best learning opportunities and safety for all individuals in their school.
- PWSD believes quality education will result from a partnership among students, teachers, support staff, parents and community.
Conflict
· Resolved, can broaden thinking, channel resources and improve productivity.
· Unresolved, can raise stress, sap resources and reduce productivity.
Healthy personal interactions with others increase the frequency of positive outcomes after misunderstandings, false assumptions and disagreements occur as a matter of course in human relations. Healthy Interactions is a joint teacher-board initiative that seeks a three pronged outcome in improved communications.
Instructional Fees and Materials
Instruction fees are implemented again this year. They are as follows:
ECS - $50.00
Elementary (1-6) - $50.00
Junior High (7 & 8) - $60.00
We appreciate prompt payment of fees. Should you find it difficult to remit payment of the fees, please notify the principal and arrangements can be made. Any unpaid accounts, as of March 31/12 will be turned over to a collection agency.
2011/2012 Student Registration Process
Registration forms are required annually to be signed by parents/guardians to ensure compliance with legislations including the FOIPP Act (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act), Student Records Regulation, Francophone Eligibility, Internet Acceptable-Use Policy, Family Law Act, and current Demographic information.
PLEASE ENSURE ALL CONTACT PHONE NUMBERS ARE CORRECT. These numbers include home, work, cell phone, and emergency contacts. Communication is KEY if an emergency situation arises at our school.
Please sign and return form(s) to school as soon as possible. These forms are legal and confidential documents.
Report Cards
There are 3 reporting periods during the year. Report cards go home in November, March, and June. For exact dates, please refer to the school calendar.
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Communication is encouraged whenever there are concerns regarding the welfare and progress of your child. If there is good news to be shared, or problems occur, the teachers will contact you.
Parent contact with the teacher is greatly encouraged. Please call the school at (780) 353-3788 and arrange a mutually convenient time for a conference, whenever the need arises. Scheduled conference times will be held 1 evening at the end of the first and second term report card periods.
Student Recognition
Academics and effort are recognized at an Awards Assembly following the first and second term reporting periods. In addition, students from each classroom are recognized for demonstrating positive citizenship skills at our monthly assembly. Each week our school implements a ‘Virtue of the Week’ and students are also recognized at month end assembly.
Attendance Policy
Regular and punctual school attendance is expected and necessary for your child’s success in school. Under the School Act, every child is required to attend school each day it is in session unless he or she is unable to attend school because of illness or some other unavoidable cause. Any other absence should be arranged in advance with the homeroom teacher or principal. Please call the school or send a note when students are away. When students are absent, they miss new instruction, get behind in their work and may become frustrated. In order to avoid this, good attendance is essential. If the number of inexcusable absences reaches more than 15% for a month, a letter will be sent to the parents and the matter will be reported to Peace Wapiti’s attendance officer. This may be followed by a conference with the parents and students. Early departure from school will affect student performance. Students will be responsible for missed assignment & tests.
Textbooks & Agendas
Textbooks and agendas are supplied by the school. When textbooks or agendas are lost, destroyed or defaced, they must be paid for by students or parents. A bill from the office will be sent home.
Busses
As we live in a rural community, all our students come to school on the bus. It is very important that they be quiet and orderly when riding the bus, so that the bus driver’s attention is not taken away from the road. Please ensure that your child is adequately dressed for weather conditions especially during the winter months, with mitts, toques and proper winter jackets and boots. It should be noted that under Board policy, bus drivers are instructed not to transport students inappropriately dressed for weather conditions.
When Peace Wapiti busses are not running it is announced on both Grande Prairie and Dawson Creek radio stations. When local busses do not run, the bus drivers notify the families on their routes.
Non-curricular items, such as rollerblades and hockey sticks, cannot be transported on the busses. Please refer to the Peace Wapiti Transportation handbook provided by your driver for further information.
Student behavior on busses is the responsibility of the driver. If the behavior is not satisfactory, misconduct forms may be submitted to the School Principal and Transportation Department.
Cold Weather Policy
1. Pupils should be adequately dressed for outdoors. This includes hats, scarves, mitts, boots, etc.
2. Pupils should not arrive at school before 8:00 am.
3. At the discretion of the supervising teacher, in the event of inclement weather, recess will be changed from outdoors to indoors. Many times these cold weather decisions will have to be based on “common sense” rather than on absolute temperature, eg. involvement of wind chill.
Schools in the Peace Wapiti School Division No. 76 are never closed due to cold weather. The only time a school is closed is due to a major mechanical breakdown such as a heating system failure in the winter, which cannot be quickly remedied, or a problem of similar severity, which would put students at risk. When busses do not run, attendance is usually poor. Therefore, no new material will be taught on those days. According to Board Plicy EEAF “appropriate alternative education experiences” will be provided rather than the regular curriculum. These may include enrichment and remediation.
Picking Up Students
If you are picking up your children, please come to the office and sign them out and we will contact their teacher to excuse them.
Change of Routine
If your child’s after school plans change, for example, riding a different bus or being picked up by someone else, please notify the school and the driver involved by note or by phone.
Late Arrival to School
Students arriving to school after the day commences will report to the office for a late slip and will be marked late in the attendance records. If a student is consistently late, the principal may contact parents to discuss the matter.
Transporting Students
We try to take part in as many extra-curricular activities as we can. As per Peace Wapiti Policy, Staff are no longer allowed to transport students. If a bus is not being used, students will be required to find their own transportation. Parents may choose to car-pool on their own.
Lockers
Students in Grade 5 – 8 are issued a locker and a lock from the school at the beginning of each year. Students are not allowed to supply their own lock. The lockers are issued as a convenience to the students, but they are considered as property of the school. School administration reserves the right to open, search, and remove the contents at any time.
Recesses
All students will spend some time outside each day except in extreme weather conditions.
There will be occasions when a teacher may wish to have students remain in the classroom during recess periods. On such occasions, the teacher concerned is responsible for the supervision of such students.
Students who should not go outside because of medical reasons should have a note from a parent or guardian.
Dress Code
A public school reserves the right to establish a dress standard that is reasonable for all concerned. Students are asked to cooperate with school staff regarding dress standards. Staff and students will dress appropriately for a work place setting. Dress that is revealing, suggestive, provocative, insulting and/or unsuitable for public school wear, advertises alcohol or tobacco products, or is a distraction, disturbance or interruption of school proceedings is inappropriate. Questionable apparel will be discussed with the student, parent/guardian and school principal. Students will be requested to change their questionable apparel during regular school hours and at any function where they are representing the school (clubs, travel, sports teams, etc.)
In fairness to all, please do not send your child to school if there are definite signs of illness in the morning. We have neither the facilities nor the personnel to care for sick children.
Students who become ill or seriously injured during the day should come directly to their teacher. The following steps will be followed:
1. A member of the staff will attempt to make contact with the parent/guardian or with the emergency contact person for the child to go home. The student must be picked up at the school by the parents or guardians. For this reason, it is important that parents keep work and emergency phone numbers current.
2. If the parent or guardian cannot be reached, the student will be made as comfortable as possible within the school. If the illness/injury appears serious, a doctor will be contacted and their advice followed.
3. If a doctor cannot be reached or if they advise immediate action, the student will be taken to the hospital by school personnel or an ambulance will be called. We will continue to attempt to contact the parent/guardian.
4. If a student has a communicable condition, please notify the school and the Health Unit.
Medication for Students
On occasion we have been asked by a parent to administer their child prescribed or non-prescribed medication. Please be aware that in order to do so, we require the completion of the “REQUEST FOR ADMINISTRATION OF MEDICATION AT SCHOOL” FORM. Students, with parents approval, who are capable and responsible may administer their own medication.
Personal Property
School personnel cannot accept responsibility for the personal property of students. Please identify all outerwear, footwear and school supplies with your child’s full name. Students who choose to bring items of value to school do so at their own risk. We discourage students from bringing electronic devices to school. Student cell phones are not to be used at school any time.
Lost and Found
Frequently, items such as clothing, footwear or school supplies are mislaid. If the items are labeled with names, it greatly assists in their speedy return. A lost and found box is kept in the hall for mislaid items, and we encourage students and parents to check this box if something has been misplaced. Smaller items, such as keys, are normally kept in the office. Bicycles brought to school should always be left locked on the fence.
Inside Shoes
Students are expected to keep the school clean. A pair of clean non-marking sole running shoes must be kept at the school for indoor use for the duration of the school year.
Emergency Response, Lockdown & Fire Drills
Regular fire drills and emergency response drills will be held throughout the year to practice student safety procedures. All staff and students must familiarize themselves with safety procedures and follow them at all times.
Use of Telephone
The school telephone is used for business and is in constant demand. With permission from the classroom teacher, students may use the telephone. After school visiting, baby sitting, and social arrangements should be made prior to your child coming to school.
In general, students will not be called out of class to receive telephone calls, except in the case of an emergency. Messages can be left with the school administrative assistant.
Swimming
Every year students participate in a co-curricular swim program at the Kenn Borek Aquatic Centre. Students from Kindergarten through grade 8 go for one hour lessons for a week. Students are transported daily to the pool in Dawson Creek accompanied by teachers and supervisors. Once it is confirmed by the aquatic centre staff, the swimming dates will be finalized.
Community Liaison Worker
Our liaison worker works with students, staff and parents addressing preventative, developmental and crisis issues. Our counselor works with students as individuals, in small groups and in whole classes and is available to parents and staff members. For the first student visit, signed permission will not be required. After that, parents will be contacted in writing for permission.
Newsletter
In an effort to keep you aware of the many events, and achievements at Bonanza School we publish a newsletter each Tuesday. Please look for it in your child’s backpack.
Guidelines for Parents
Parents can support a child's interest in lifelong learning by encouraging good study habits and providing a learning environment in the home.
- Provide a quiet, well-lighted place for the student to do homework.
- Help your child budget time so that a regular schedule is set.
- Take an active interest in what your child is doing in school.
- Ask for an explanation of particular assignments and what is being learned. Compliment good work and when improvement is shown. Make constructive suggestions, but avoid severe criticism and undue pressure. A positive attitude by parents will encourage the student to do the best work possible.
- Encourage your child to seek additional help from the teacher at school if there seems to be any difficulty with the work.
- Guide your child with assigned homework while encouraging independence.
- Regular school attendance is important for your child's continued learning.
-Consult your child's teacher as soon as a significant problem arises.
School Council
The purpose of the School Council is to promote and support education in an advisory role and to contribute to a sense of school community at Bonanza School. The objective is to enhance communication between parents, community members, and students with the School Board, school staff, and administration. We encourage you to become involved.
School Visits
When visiting the school or a classroom we request that you check in at the office as you arrive. If you wish to visit the classroom, please make prior arrangements with the teacher.
Vehicles
Staff and visitors' cars are off limits to students unless for a specific purpose and with the knowledge of the owner.
Parking
Visitor parking is located south of the tennis courts.
Nutrition
Students learn better when they are receiving the proper quality and quantity of food. We ask parents to please ensure you pack their lunches with plenty of nutritious food. There will either be a hot dog or hamburger sale every Wednesday and a pizza sale every Thursday. There is a schedule for parents to provide home made snacks to sell on Thursday afternoon for $0.25. Milk is provided for sale every day of the week.
Volunteerism
Bonanza School Staff encourages parents and caregivers, who would like to volunteer at the school, to get involved. There is always room for an extra pair of hands in the classroom, library, office, on field trips or during special events. We would like to draw your attention to the Volunteer Code of Ethics that we request all parents to abide by while in a volunteer capacity:
A Volunteer Code of Ethics
Parent and community volunteers are always welcome at Bonanza School. We need your support if we are to offer the best educational programs possible. We need also to ensure that work done by volunteers be as positive as possible for the volunteer, the teacher, and above all, the student. Thus we would request that you read and agree to the following:
A) Few parents enjoy hearing discussions regarding their child’s negative behavior or school difficulties. For this reason, we would appreciate it if you would respect the confidentiality of the classroom. If you do note something that you feel the staff needs to be aware of, please discuss the matter with the classroom teacher involved.
B) While all volunteers are greatly appreciated, we may not be able to make use of your contribution in the way you wish. Thus, the teacher will assign tasks to volunteers that are in the best educational interests of children.
C) Practice tolerance and respect toward the students and teachers with whom you are in contact. Be sensitive to the teaching role.
D) Notify the teacher in advance if you would like to volunteer in the classroom.
E) Please understand the classroom is designed as a place of learning. Pre-school children are very distracting to a class and arrangements for their care outside the school should be made.
You may be required to sign a Volunteer Form before volunteering at the school. Please check with the School Administration prior to your first session.
PLEASE STOP AT THE OFFICE TO SIGN IN AS A VOLUNTEER.