Our district will be applying to the Industry Training Authority (ITA) to fund our Secondary School Apprenticeship (SSA) program. This year our district has 18 active SSA’s with two more being signed up this week. In the past all SSA projects that met the criteria were funded, but in the future we will be receiving a re-formatted SSA Project Call for Proposals that is reflective of a competitive application process.
Our assistant superintendent organized an elementary and a secondary meeting of teachers and administrators to talk about the district direction and focus in literacy for next year. These discussions will inform our district achievement contract and our literacy initiatives for 2012-2013.
We are very excited to expand our Read/Rhyme and Rec to SESS this year. This program is a very effective intervention/intersession reading program for Kindergaten/primary students at all schools. This year we will pilot a grade five to seven program at SESS.
The BC Liquor stores Dry Grad Campaign raised $3,116 in the Okanagan Similkameen for our school district’s Dry Grad events.
All of our grade 10 PE students will be participating in a Defibrillator Enhancement Program thanks to a donation of $7,980 from Interior Savings Credit Union. The schools received 70 CPR mannequins, teacher and student resources and eight teachers were trained to teach CPR. This year the teachers will also be teaching their students how to use a defibrillator .
Please check your local schools newsletter if you have a child entering Kindergarten in the fall as we have “Welcome to Kindergarten” programs at all of our elementary schools during the next two weeks. Every student entering Kindergarten in the fall will receive a ‘book bag” full of books and other materials, parents can use at home to help their child develop Kindergarten skills. Parents and children will learn all about the Kindergaten program and the school and meet the teacher at this event.
Our annual District Elementary Track Meet will be taking place on Friday June 1 at SESS.
The board approved a Field trip for 37 students from OSS to the CSI@LSI(UBC Life Sciences Institute). They will be spending a day at UBC and will be introduced to the field of research and the diverse career options for a trained researcher. This trip is fully paid for by this UBC program and the students will be led through various experiments by LSI graduate students to eliminate suspects and to solve a crime. What a wonderful opportunity for our students!
On May 9, a meeting with representatives of Adopt-a-Seat, South Okanagan Concert Society, Venables Auditorium Committee, SO Amateur Players, the Town of Oliver, SOSS and the school district was held to review the plans for the building of the auditorium (RDOS and Oliver Parks & Recreation unable to attend). Robert Hamilton, Theatre Consultant, was also in attendance to discuss options for the theatre and equipment requirements. It was confirmed that the theatre will seat 400 people and will have a separate drama room for school use. A meeting will be scheduled for the fall prior to the distribution of the equipment tender. It is anticipated that the theatre will be complete in December 2013.
Lastly, our Roots of Empathy program celebrated six years of success in our district on May 30 at 4 p.m. in the atrium at South Okanagan Secondary School.
–Submitted by Marieze Tarr, Board Chair, SD 53
