Margaret Wooding School building leaders and learners

By Justin Seward

Commentator/Courier

Redcliff’s Margaret Wooding School spoke to Prairie Rose Public Schools’ board of trustees about their Building Leaders and Learners Program on May 11.

“When we were thinking about how we wanted to present this and what our goals are and we were looking forward to next year, one of the things we always do is come back to our mission statement in our school,” said Craig Corsie, Margaret Wooding principal.

“The three key points are there about motivating students to lead exemplary lives, expanding their knowledge in scholarship and creating a diverse learning community that supports students, parents and staff in commitment and service to others—which we often think of in terms of leadership in our school.”

The presentation was based off of the assurance survey that PRPS did back in January and February.

Corsie said looking ahead to next year, the school wanted to see what parents, students and staff had to say about how they were doing and areas of growth.

“We took some time as a staff on one of our SI Days to really dig into what that survey told us and what we can learn from that,” said Corsie.

“Overwhelmingly, we had amazing results from our assurance survey and that’s always validating to see—especially in a year like this. We didn’t know what to expect because we have rolled back quite a few things that we thought made Margaret Wooding what we are.”

Survey results showed that 93 per cent of the kids feel safe at school, 95 per cent enjoy their time at school and 97 per cent feel welcomed and 97 per cent are satisfied with the support they receive at school from teachers and support staff.

“When I look at them, that’s mental wellness right there,” said Corsie.

“That’s them feeling like they belong at school and they’re happy to be there, they know people care about them.”

The parent’s survey revealed that 98 per cent feel their children are  safe at school, 93 per cent of parents felt as though their children are genuinely cared for from the staff at the school and 95 percent felt as though they feel that their child has somebody to go talk to about personal issues, 95 per cent were happy with the character education program and 95 per cent of the parents were happy with the assessment and reporting strategies at the school.

As for areas of growth, 89 per cent of students said they felt safe on the bus ride to and from home, 89 per cent were happy with how behaviour was handled, 89 per cent understood what they were expected to learn, 88 per cent of students were interested in what they were expected to learn and 72 per cent felt their voiced opinions mattered.

There were 87 per cent of the parents that said they were satisfied with bus safety, 89 per cent liked how behaviour was handled, 89 per cent were satisfied with the communication and 86 per cent were satisfied with what their children were learning.

Corsie touched on a surprising number on the dissatisfaction side.

“The number that stood out to us most and the one that concerned us is that 20 per cent of students feel that their voice isn’t really heard or their opinions matter,” said Corsie.

“That really shocked us. That was good information for us to have and it certainly will change the way we’re doing things in school around providing student voice.”

There were three recommendations come out of the results that will start in the next school year.

Recommendation one will see increased opportunities for student voice and engagement for decision making and the resuming of several leadership programs.

The second recommendation will see increased parent and community understanding of school programs to build awareness around the relevance of progression and learning outcomes.

The third recommendation will create opportunities for students to engage in learning opportunities that ignite creativity and passion for learning through 12 different option classes.

“Of course I think these gentleman (Corsie and vice principal Eli Merrick) are doing a fantastic job. Thank you so much for your presentation today,” said Pam Cursons,  Redcliff board of trustee.

“It’s great for the other trustees to get to see what’s going on and everything, and I look forward to seeing you at the next parent council meeting.”

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