Good day out there, South Nelson Community.

Our School Planning Day yesterday was highly collaborative, productive, and positive.  The day was organized around our three, current school goals that are based on evidence gathered and specific areas we would like to make progress in.

• Improve literacy proficiency for all learners.  Students will expand their writing by providing evidence and detail.

  • Through a focus on literacy across the grades, including primary literacy groups for many years and the Early Learning Profile for the past two years, South Nelson has strong evidence of success in reading development.  However, we have noticed a trend in students having limited written output and stamina for writing more detailed passages as would be expected at grade level.  

• Improve numeracy proficiency for all learners.  Students will demonstrate confidence and willingness to engage in both foundational skills activities & open-ended inquiries in mathematics.

  • Through our work with a systematic approach across grades and classrooms in literacy development, we are recognizing a need to do something similar with numeracy.  There are infinite resources for teaching and learning math and we have a hunch that developing consistency across our classes, while giving opportunities for skill development and mathematical exploration, will help our students with confidence, engagement, and perseverance.

• Students will develop further awareness of - and take responsibility for - our social, physical, and natural environments by working independently and collaboratively for the benefit of others, our community, and the environment.

  • We recognize the importance of contributing to community both for the betterment of others and for the positive impact this has on the self.  We would like to increase how we all take care of others & our environment and increase all of our resilience in handling difficult situations that are inherent in living in community.

I would also like all of your help.  Now that we are fortunate to be able to move beyond the layers of additional details that have taken up much of our energy over the past couple of years, I would like to get back to working collectively on a South Nelson vision statement.  Over the next month or so I would love to get as many responses to the inquiry question, 'From your perspective, what is South Nelson Elementary School all about?'  Please use the form https://forms.gle/oK4Q21N2SrKc836d6 and I will read all responses and later share out themes that emerge and some possible vision statements to decide upon.

Our work on hiring for our new grades 3/4 classroom teacher and adjusing class lists to make more space in all classes will continue into next week.  Stay tuned for more on this!

To the details...

• SD8 & South Nelson digital calendar - https://southnelson.sd8.bc.ca/events/calendar.  I don't always get all South Nelson events into this calendar, but will continue to also list events in my update.
  • South Nelson Fire Drill 1 - September 26 at 9:00.
  • Gr. 1-5 Cross Country running practice - September 26 at 2:45.  Permission forms must be in to participate.
  • South Nelson Terry Fox Run - September 27 at 11:15.
    • Terry Fox video worth watching at home with families - https://youtu.be/uXAF7nrXTjA.
    • To donate to our South Nelson run, please visit https://schools.terryfox.ca/12510 OR bring in cash/coins on September 27 to give to classroom teachers or Princess Laura in the office.
  • Gr. 1-5 Cross Country running practice - September 29 at 8:00.
  • Orange Shirt day and South Nelson Truth & Reconciliation Assembly - September 29 at 8:45.  Some classes will also participate in an event & walk starting at Trafalgar after our assembly. 
  • National Day for Truth & Reconciliation - September 30.  No school.
  • Lockdown and Hold & Secure Drills - October 3.
  • South Nelson StrongStart begins - October 4.
  • World Teachers' Day - October 5.
  • South Nelson Musician in Residence project begins - October 6.
  • Gr. 1-5 Cross Country running practice - October 6 at 8:00.
  • South Nelson PAC meeting - October 11 at 6:30 in the school library.
• Thank you to parents who got in touch with me about bear season.  We are working on booking presentations from WildSafeBC, which will likely happen in October. See https://wildsafebc.com/wrp/ for more details.
• Community Anncouncements...
  • Art Therapy opportunities in Nelson
    • Valhalla Art Therapy - https://www.valhallaarttherapy.com/
    • Kootenai Art Therapy parenting groups - see attachments to email
  • NMHA Girls in Hockey - see attachment to email

Take care, everyone.

Dan Rude - Principal