Eastern School District Vision Statement

To challenge and develop the learning and achievement capabilities of each student in a safe, caring and socially just learning environment.

1. Messages

Director’s Message

In keeping with a commitment to be accountable and transparent all schools within the jurisdiction of the Eastern School District are required to develop and release on an annual basis a report to the community. An Annual Report reflects an attempt to capture in brief format the multitude of activities, programs and initiatives that comprise the life and work of the entire learning community – its successes, its achievements, its issues and challenges, and its ambitions and plans for the forthcoming year. Schools are, indeed, busy places as these Annual Reports attest to.

This Annual Report reflects the efforts and energies of students, teachers, parents and other community partners, working in a collaborative and collegial manner to ensure that all students achieve and succeed to the fullest of their potential within a healthy and active, safe and caring, and socially-just learning environment. This goal remains our primary reason for doing all that we do.

I encourage all partners in education to review this annual report and use this report, and the information contained therein, as a basis of further engagement and discussion around items of interest pertaining to the education of our children within our schools.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees of Eastern School District I commend each and every school for their dedication to teaching and learning as evidenced by this Annual Report 2007-2008.

Yours in Education
Mr. Darrin Pike, CEO/Director of Education
Eastern School District


Principal’s Message

This Annual School Development Report outlines our students’ achievements, programs and services. It reflects the end of the previous four-year School Development Plan and outlines our new direction for the next four years.

In 2007-2008 we exceeded our identified targets for student achievement in English language arts and mathematics as is evidenced by the achievement data contained in this report. Our School Development Plan for 2008-2009 builds on the strategies that were successful last year and concentrates on new objectives. We undertook an extensive analysis of our school this year by undergoing both an internal and external review. As a result, this year’s plan focuses on continuing improvement in student performance in English language arts and mathematics. A second goal of this year’s School Development Plan is to promote a safe, caring and healthy climate. More specifically, we aim to increase healthy living practices and provide systematic support for students through our Positive Behavioral Supports (PBS) initiatives. Thirdly, we intend to increase technology use in our instruction across the curriculum.

We are extremely pleased with the support and direction we have received from our school community. I am particularly grateful to the members of the school development teams, working groups, and School Council for their leadership and commitment to our School Development Plan. We look forward to working with them again this year. For additional information, please contact us.

Vikki Anstey
Principal

School Council Message

On behalf of our School Council, I would like to thank all those who have contributed to improving our children’s learning experience at Newtown Elementary. We have a wonderful school community and the results can be seen in the caring, respectful and bright children throughout the hallways each day.

School Development continues at Newtown where Council in partnership with school administration and staff, strive each year to improve the quality of education at Newtown. We collaboratively work to create and implement the three-year School Development Plan.

We would like to thank the staff, students, and the entire school community for their dedication and interest in 2007-2008 and we know with the support of all, we will continue to enrich the educational experience for the students at Newtown Elementary.

Michelle Davis
School Council Chair

2. Overview of the School

Mission Statement

The mission of Newtown Elementary School is to provide meaningful learning experiences that support students in their attainment of high academic standards. Through the expertise and support of their teachers, parents and caregivers, students develop their abilities in a respectful, nurturing environment.

Our School Community

Newtown Elementary School is a part of Eastern School District, which has 122 schools with a total of 44,000 students. Our school currently has an enrolment of 446 students and offers grades Kindergarten through grade six. The average class size is 22 students and 18 percent of our student population is receiving special services support. Our school serves the communities of Mount Pearl and St. John’s. Of our total student population, 28 percent are bussed to school.

Newtown Elementary School has a total of 26 full time and 3 part-time educational staff which includes 19 classroom teaching units, 3.5 categorical and non-categorical special education teachers, and specialist teachers in the areas of guidance, music, physical education, and learning resources. We also have three student assistants. In addition to staff based at the school, we have itinerant services for speech-language pathology, hearing impairment, visual impairment, educational psychology, and band. Secretarial, maintenance, and custodial support services are provided. We also avail of the services of a public health nurse.

Programs Provided

Our school offers the entire provincially prescribed curriculum in Kindergarten through grade six. As well, we offer Intensive Core French to one of our three grade six classes. Our school does not currently offer any French Immersion programming. Special education programming provides additional support for students who experience difficulty meeting the outcomes of the prescribed curriculum within the framework of regular classroom instruction. Within the instructional day students may choose to be part of the choir or band programs.

Key Highlights/Special Projects

Newtown Elementary recognizes the importance of visual arts. We have our own art collection at the school made up of different pieces purchased to recognize retiring teachers. As well, each year a selection committee chooses a piece of work from the art portfolios of grade six students to frame and display at the school. Our school has a rich collection of visual arts as a result. Additionally, student work is often submitted to various art contests. One of our grade four students was named a regional winner in the YMCA-YWCA sponsored Create A Logo Contest.

A lunchtime writing club is offered to grades five and six students. While the goal of this program is to allow students to freely express their ideas in writing and to further develop their creative writing skills, their work is often submitted in contests such as the Commonwealth Essay Contest. One of our grade six students received a commendation in the age under 12 category. This is a significant recognition since there were 6700 essays submitted from 1400 schools throughout the Commonwealth. As well, two of our grade five students were awarded first and second place for their entries celebrating immigrant women in the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s writing competition for “Women’s History Month.” Our first place winner read her work on CBC radio and her classmates listened proudly.

Each year our school promotes literacy and good nutrition by holding a “Once Upon a Time Breakfast”. Once again, this special event took place in February and was a great success as well as the launch of our annual book fair. On our “Once Upon a Time Breakfast” day, students brought a nutritious breakfast to school, choosing items from the food groups in Canada’s Food Guide which was provided to each family. While students ate their breakfasts together in class at the start of the school day, a number of literacy activities were occurring simultaneously. Everyone brought along a book to read, and throughout the school there were guest readers, special fun-filled activities based on children’s literature, shared reading, and buddy reading. Many parents and grandparents participated in the sessions and assisted our younger students. One special feature of the day was that students and staff were encouraged to wear pajamas or cozy clothes. Through this event, heightened attention was given to the importance of literacy and having breakfast before coming to school.

We continued to have a very active prefect program at our school this year. The majority of our grade six students have devoted a great deal of their free time at the beginning of the school day, at recess and at lunch times, to helping our younger students in a variety of ways. They have proven themselves to be wonderful role models as they promote safe and friendly interactions on the playground and in the classrooms. They have had a positive impact on student behaviour and school spirit.

Our grade five students have been instrumental in caring for our school environment as they work in teams collecting recyclable materials throughout the building for weekly pick-up. They have been guided in their efforts by parent volunteers and their homeroom teachers. As a result, our students are learning at a young age the importance of caring for the environment while reaping monetary benefits for our school by recycling beverage containers.

Newtown Elementary held its annual “Spirit Day” on Friday, May 2, 2008. The day was filled with a variety of informative and interactive sessions. The children learned about such topics as “seizures” and “alcoholism”. They participated in many fun activities such as playing the game, “Uh-Oh”, watching a magician at work and making a craft with the people from the Anna Templeton Center. The highlight of the day was the trip to the gym to experience the games and foods at the carnival. A day of this magnitude would not be possible without our invaluable volunteers. To recognize and honour their contributions to our school for this event and for all they do throughout the year, a “Café” was set up with many treats and beverages for the school’s many volunteers. The staff at Newtown Elementary had the chance throughout the day to drop in and personally thank all of these wonderful people.

The students of our ICF grade six class participated in a cultural field trip to St. Pierre May 25-28, 2008. Under the direction of programming provided by the Francoforum, students took part in lessons on language and culture in an authentic French mileu.

Our school community participated in a variety of projects that once again demonstrated our caring and sharing of resources. For example, we took part in Operation Christmas Child, Coats for Kids, and the Community Food Sharing Network, just to name a few. Our school community is to be commended for the spirit of social consciousness exhibited.

In addition to the various concerts held within the school, Newtown Elementary students performed at several locations in the greater school community. Our kindergarten students entertained the residents of the Agnes Pratt Nursing Home and our show choir dazzled the patrons of the Fairmont Hotel during a Christmas luncheon.

We continued to foster active and healthy living initiatives this past year. Through special activities such as the Terry Fox Annual Run, the District’s Living Healthy Commotion Promotion and our own annual Fun Day we engaged students in movement exercises and heightened awareness of the importance of proper nutrition.

Partnerships

Our school program includes a number of opportunities for arts activities through and beyond the music and art curricula. The Barbara Ashley School of Dance offers a lunchtime class at our school. We partner with the RNC in providing the DARE (Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education) program for our grade six students. Junior Achievement provides instruction to our grade six students in Business Basics. The YMCA-YWCA provides an after school program in our school, giving students an opportunity to participate in a wide variety of further learning opportunities. Our school cooperates with Memorial University of Newfoundland in providing internship and observation opportunities for students studying in the education field. These sessions include physical education, instrumental and choral music, and classroom instruction. Our school supports our students’ participation in activities offered by Mount Pearl Minor Soccer Association and Mount Pearl Minor Basketball Association by sharing facilities, events, and coaches. The Girl Guides use our facility but in return provided us last year with a grounds clean-up which was greatly appreciated. Other community groups that partner with our school for educational purposes include the St. John’s Regional Fire Department, the Canadian Coast Guard, Newfoundland Power, Knights of Columbus and the Visiting Artists’ Program.


3. School Development Plan

This is the first year of our new four-year School Development Plan for Newtown Elementary. We used the provincial School Development Model to complete an Internal Review to identify new goals and objectives. As well, we underwent an External Peer Validation of our plan in May 2008. The following are the goals and their accompanying objectives identified from this process:

                                                Four-Year School Development Plan 2008-2012

Goal 1: To promote a safe, caring and healthy environment by 2012.

Goal 2: To increase understanding and integration of technology across the curriculum by 2012.

Goal 3: To increase student achievement in language arts and mathematics by 2012.

Operational Issues

4. Report on Most Current Data and Last Year’s School Development Plan (2007-2008)

Summary Analysis of Most Current School Data

Our school’s most current data is a summary of school, district, and provincial results. It reflects progress we have made in some of our goal areas and identifies some areas we need to address in individual grades. We used this data to determine success in some of our strategies and to adjust the objectives for the coming year.

                                                            Grades 1 and 2 Observation Survey on Reading
                                                                              2007-2008

A large percentage of students in grades one and two at Newtown Elementary are able to read at or above grade level with adequate comprehension. We performed significantly better than students in the district and province by the end of grade two. Moreover, we continued to maintain the improvements achieved since 2006.

                                                                    Criterion Referenced Test – Language Arts
                                                                           Grade 3 (2008)

Students at Newtown Elementary at the grade three level out-performed grade three students in both the district and province in all categories. Furthermore, the percentage of Newtown students who scored level 4 or greater was significant in that our students’ scores were approximately double that of students throughout the district and the province.

                                                                Criterion Referenced Test – Language Arts
                                                            Grade 3 Three-Year Comparison

While students at our school have done better in all strands than their counterparts in the district and province, the three-year comparison of our scores indicates a need to focus on areas such as demand writing. Scores at level 3 and above, for example, have dropped by about 10 percent over the past three years. Additionally, scores at level 4 or greater have decreased by about 15 percent.

                                                                Criterion Referenced Test – Language Arts
                                                                          Grade 6 (2008)

Students at Newtown Elementary performed better than grade six students in the district and province in all areas tested. For example, 100 percent of students at Newtown achieved a level 3 or greater on visual reading as compared to 84 percent in the district and 82.1 percent in the province. Similarly, 40 percent of students at Newtown performed at level 4 or better on the poetic reading section of the test. This compares to only 11.7 percent of the students in the district and 11.1 percent of students in the province who performed at that same level. As with our grade three students, in language arts, the percentage of our grade six students at level 4 and greater was more than double the percentage of students at the same grade level throughout both the district and the province.

                                                                    Criterion Referenced Test – Language Arts
                                                               Grade 6 Three-Year Comparison

The achievement level of our grade six students in language arts was very pleasing. At least 90 percent or greater performed at a satisfactory level in all areas. While the number of students achieving at level 4 or greater had decreased between 2006 and 2007, in 2008 the data indicates a noticeable improvement in four of these five categories.


                                                 Criterion Referenced Test – Mathematics (Number Operations)
                                                                          Grade 3 (2008)

Grade three students at Newtown Elementary out-performed the district and province in all strands at level 3 and above. The most noticeable difference may be seen in the area of reasoning. Newtown students scored 81.7 percent as compared to 63.2 percent for the district and 65.7 percent for the province. It is interesting, however, that the percentage of students in the district and the province at levels 4 or greater was greater than the percentage of Newtown students who achieved that level. In any event, the percentage of students achieving levels 4 or 5 is very small overall and warrants development of strategies for improvement.

                                                                Criterion Referenced Test – Mathematics
                                                                       Number Operations

If we compare results from 2008 to 2006, the percentage of our students achieving level 3 and above had increased significantly. However, in most areas our grade three students did not perform in 2008 to the same level they had in the previous year. In particular, the percentage of students achieving at level 4 and 5 shows significant decline over the past three years. While these percentages give cause for concern, it must be considered that achievement at levels 4 and above for the district and province were also low. See previous table for 2008 grade three mathematics results.

                                                    Criterion Referenced Test – Mathematics
                                                                    Number Operations
                                                                        Grade 6 (2008)

While we would like to see increased scores in mathematics overall in all categories and are working toward this goal through school-wide school development initiatives, Newtown students at the grade six level scored higher than the district and province. For example, only 57.6 percent of students achieved level 3 or greater on the communication strand of mathematics. However, this percentage, while not where we hoped we would perform, is still better than that of the district (39.4 %) and the province (42.0 %).

                                                           Criterion Referenced Test – Mathematics
                                                                           Number Operations
                                                                Grade 6 (Three-Year Comparison)

Overall, over the past three years our grade six students have shown significant growth in achievement at all levels in all strands. This increased competency in mathematics may be attributed to the increased focus it has been given in our school development goals over the past few years.

Report on School Development Plan for 2007-2008

Our previous plan (2004-2008) was initiated prior to the implementation of the newer provincial School Development Model. In 2007-2008 we completed both an internal and an external review. Through this process and the data collected, we identified new goals which you will find in this report. During the review process we continued to work on our previous two goals and the following is a summary of our achievements in those areas.

Goal 1 – Students will increase their level of mathematical understanding through a problem solving approach to teaching and learning from kindergarten to grade six.
As evidenced by our data which includes the CRT results, we can see that our students have demonstrated increased skill in problem solving since the inception of this goal three years ago. However, we will continue to develop strategies to maintain this success.

Goal 2- Our school environment will be enhanced in terms of safety and caring following department plans and the Eastern School District Safe and Caring School Plan Handbook.
Work on this goal has been ongoing and is further identified as a goal for the next four years. There was one professional development day devoted to this topic and it was decided to move from the “code of conduct” approach to a more comprehensive system of supporting and rewarding student behavior. Consequently, we adopted the Positive Behavioral Supports (PBS) model of school-wide expectations. We also established a Safe and Caring Schools Team to oversee the implementation of our ongoing and new strategies.


5. School Development Plan for 2008-2009

The school year 2007-2008 was the beginning of a new planning process. Given that we were at the end of our previous plan, we underwent an internal review to identify our strengths and challenges. We further took part in an external review by our peers. As a result and informed by both processes, we have identified three goals that will encompass our focus for the next four years. The following indicates the objectives we hope to accomplish in the coming year (2008-2009):
 

                                                                            Operational Issues for 2008-2009