October 23rd, 2023
6:30pm – 7:30pm
Attendees
Krista Amos – Principal
Adam Harris – Vice Principal
Heather Estey – PSSC Chair
Jennifer Wiper – PSSC Secretary
Jennifer Gowan – PSSC Member
Tom Taylor – PSSC Member (Alternate for Sharron Taylor)
Mary Dow – PSSC Member
1) Staffing
In the previous calendar year there were 475 students. Currently for the 2023-2024 academic year there are 546 students enrolled with 2 additional students to join soon. Classrooms are full; the school is not staffed appropriately to begin with for the number of students. A new hire (15-year veteran) will join the staff this coming weekend. The current student to teacher ratio is 37.5:1, which has triggered an additional VP (now 2.1) to assist with admin duties.
English as a 2nd/3rd language is a challenge. 0.9 guidance allotment has been bumped to 1.0 (1/500 is the threshold to add staff). Have guidance staff for academic however the real challenge is with a guidance counselor.
2) ELPA
Reviewed the results of the ELPA testing for the previous academic year. SSHS had 114 students write the assessment and achieved a 71.9% success rate (16.7% strong; 55.3% appropriate; 28.1% below appropriate) with 4 exemptions (3.4%). The average success rate for ASD South was 82.1% with the provincial average coming in at 80.3%. SSHS had the 2nd lowest success rate; Fundy Middle High School was the lowest.
3) Youth Check-in Survey
Survey is conducted 3x/year with 348 students participating in the most recent survey. Mental health has a higher demand at SSHS than average. School relevance similar compared to province, as was school relatedness.
4) School Improvement Plan
The Plan is on a 3-year cycle; 2019 start to most recent plan which was just completed (extended due to COVID). New cycle just initiated with the most recent Professional Learning Day dedicated to new plan (full document to be shared with PSSC), which has 3 major goals:
1. Higher academic and behavioural expectations. Strategies to be developed – ex. Do students know what high honours or honours are? Do parents?
2. Positive recognition, both students and staff. Strategies to be developed…intrinsic motivation.
3. The sharing of school improvement goals.
5) Upcoming
Grade 9 “Take You Child to Work” back in place. Students do not seem overly motivated to participate in initiative. Though there are a variety of clubs, students do not appear motivated. PSSC discussed possible methods to increase student participation through utilization of passport-style system to encourage communication with groups to determine what type of clubs/activities are available. Similarly, regarding classes, to educate students on the types of classes that are available, PSSC question if it would be appropriate for students in grade 9 or 10 to view ongoing classes or perhaps some type of “class fair” to understand what the different classes air prior to course selection. Post secondary EXPO at Sir James Dunn Academy for grades 11 and 12.
Report cards to be completed November 20th.
6) Extra-Curricular Activities
Fall sports are cluing up. The Varsity Girls soccer team is headed to regionals and football team will be wrapping up on Saturday. The Varsity Girls softball team is headed to the provincial finals this week. Winter sports are starting up with 4 basketball teams, the female hockey team is back after 4 years without a team and the boys’ hockey will be playing at AA. Wrestling to start a little later and swimming will also be starting up soon. Planning to give back to the community (breast cancer) through various fundraising activities, such as “pink in the rink”.
Clubs have exploded, the full list of clubs was included in the most recent newsletter.
Intermural activities are back in action with soccer cluing up and 3-on-3 basketball beginning.
7) Other
My Blueprint – there is still no parent portal; the system was supposed to connect to Power School however that has not been completed.
Graduation planning is slow at this time and will pickup after Christmas with likely a check-in in February. Graduation class fundraiser for November has completed sales and will begin draws on November 1st; winners will be announced via Facebook group – SSHS Grad Class of 2024 Fundraiser.