Ecole Glenrosa Middle School
School History
Ecole Glenrosa Middle School (GMS) welcomed its first students in 1994 . At that time, GMS was a Junior Middle School, supporting learners in Grades 8, 9 and 10. Community growth resulted in a school expansion. In 1999 a third floor was constructed. Currently, Ecole Glenrosa Middle School is home to approximately 650 students in Grades 6, 7, 8 and 9.
Ecole Glenrosa Middle School has a special relationship with our sister school, Daiichi University Haruhigaoka Junior High School, in Kasugai, Japan. Each February for the last 24 years, we host approximately 100 staff and students from Japan. For four nights, we billet Japanese students in our community, sharing Canadian culture and our way of life wit our honoured guests. In 2017, with support from our sister school, GMS students began traveling to Kasugai, Japan for a week of cultural growth and experience in a Japanese school.
We continue to grow as a school and community and are now a proud dual track school, supporting both French Immersion and Late French Immersion programs.
Leading Learning
We believe in meeting age-appropriate, adolescent student needs by balancing academic goals with developmental needs. Research supported by the Association for Middle Level Education outline the three pillars of thriving middles schools (https://www.amle.org) .
In connection to the three pillars, we strive to provide:
- Flexible Scheduling: Structures and schedules are designed to empower teachers and support staff to be responsive to student needs. Staff have the capacity to refine and plan responsively in support of individualized and differentiated student learning.
- Mentorship Program: Students connect with a supportive teachers in a sister stream model that extends to a grade level community approach. Students have the opportunity to leanr alongside several supportive adults and connect to leadership students.
- Exploratory Program: Adolescent students in grades 6-9 need to explore new course areas which will lead them to making informed choices at the grade 10 level when they transition to Mt. Boucherie Secondary School. At GMS, students choose options to explore Fine Arts and Applied Skills electives such as Art, Drama, Band, Jazz Band, Choir, Technology Education, Woodwork, Home Economics and Digital Design. In addition, we offer unique exploratory options such as Human Performance, Maker, Japanese, and our High Performance Hockey Academy.
Enrolling teachers directly teach to the Attributes of the SD23 Learner and the BC Ministry of Education's Redesigned Curriculum's Core Competencies throughout the school year with the inention of developing student metacognition ("thinking about their thinking") around his/her own learning strengths and areas of growth, and to be reflective on their learning process. Our goal is to make this learning applicable to the lives of our students by designing a variety of engaging instructional strategies and experiences, usually focused on school-wide, collaborative, Project-Based Learning experiences.
At the end of each school year, parents/guardians/family members are invited to join us to take part in our annual Presentations of Learning. All students will present on their personalized progress on the Attributes of the SD23 Learner and provincial Core Competencies supported by evidence from school and personal lives.
At Ecole Glenrosa Middle School, we support Central Okanagan Public Schools' Attributes of a Learner and strive to facilitate student growth in these areas. Going deeper, in the 2020-21 school year we will connect all professional learning to the Equity in Action Agreement for Truth and Reconciliation, connecting the attributes with local, historical, teachings specific to the Four Food Chiefs.
Attributes of a Leaner:
Learners
A person who is engaged, resilient and seeks to understand through: Literacy, Numeracy, and Subject competencies - Information, Media and Technology Literacy - Self-Direction, Work Ethic and Accountability - Healthy Lifestyle - Financial Literacy
Thinkers
A person who analyzes, makes connections, inferences, asks questions, and transfers knowledge through: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving - Open Mindedness and Reflection - Flexibility and Adaptability
Collaborators
A person who excels at working with others to create new understanding through: Appreciating Diversity - Effective Communication - Interdependence - Relationship Building
Innovators
A person who sees possibilities and generates original ideas with value through: Curiosity and Imagination - Creativity, Design, and Performance - Initiative and Entrepreneurship
Contributors
A person who participates in the local and global community through: Finding, Following, and Sharing Passions - Respect, Empathy, and Kindness - Integrity and Ethical Behaviour - Civic and Environmental Responsibility - Embracing Diverse Cultures and Lifestyles
Leading Learning 2021-2022
In keeping with First Peoples Principles of Learning and the OECD Principles of Learning, our learning community came together to place students at the centre with an understanding that emotions are integral to learning (OECD). Amid a world wide pandemic, and through a community inquiry scan, an emphasis was placed on the social-emotional well being of all learners. Motivated by the knowledge that learning ultimately supports the well-being ofthe self, the family, and the community (First Peoples Principals) we set out to meet these needs within our community of learners. To do so we enhanced our efforts around AMLE's three pillars by leaning on supplimental resources, including:
1. Ensouling Our Schools: A Universally Designed Framework for Mental Health and Well-Being (Katz)
2. The Challenge to Care in Schools (Noddings)
3. The OECD Handbook for Innovative Learning Environments (OECD)
Using the Spirals of Inquiry (Halbert, Kaser) process, our school community gathered evidence of to inform school direction by asking three quiestions:
1. What is going on for our learner?
2. How do we know?
3. Why does it matter?
As we inquired together we learned that if we redoubled our efforts to build a cultre of care and a community where all learners connect, feel belonging, and have opportunities to contribute, they, in turn, would be well socially an emotionally and there readiness to learn would increase. We coninuted to gather evidence. In addition to Ministry Learning Surveys and the Middle Development Years Index, we collected evidence by gathering 'street data' (Safir), conducting empathy interviews (staff, students, and families), and carrying out school based surveys. With mounting evidence and renewed clarity around values, we collectively set a direction by naming our theme, "Stronger Together," and accompanying goal:
2021 - Ongoing Social Emotional Learning Goal: Strive to be a learning community where all learners connect, feel belonging and contribute
2021-2022 Core Competency Goal: All leaners will engage in self reflection of core competencies three times each school year and curate personal learning to be shared in a Presentation of Learning each June
With collective efficacy around this goal firmly established and intentional actions being taken to meet it, our learning community engaged in inquiry specific to Literacy. Again, leveraging the Spiral of Inquiry model, we began with questions:
1. What is going on for our learners?
2. How do we know?
3. Why does it matter?
2022 - Ongoing Literacy Goal: All learners will continue to progress in their literacy competencies
Action items specific to this Literacy goal are being developed with implementation beginning September 2022.
