Cambie Guiding Principles:

• As part of our inquiry process, our staff has collaborated and has formulated our Cambie Guiding Principles.  These principles are all in line with our school focus and set vision and direction for what we are striving to acheive.  We have already made great process on many of these principles:
  • A group of 10 teachers piloting a new system of communiciating student learning and reporting on student learning through e-portfolios
  • A diffferent group of 10 teachers working on changing their assessment practice to using standards-based proficiency scales and learning maps.
  • More focus on formative assessment and practice work not counting for marks
  • Embedding core competencies into our daily practice as the foundation of what we teach and learn
  • Striving to foster a growth mindset for staff and students
  • Providing students with greater flexibility and choice in how they demonstrate their learning

Personal Learning Time - We implemented PLT after feedback from students, staff and parents and committed to a 6-week pilot project in April, May and June 2018.  Based on the success of this pilot project:

• Staff were surveyed and asked if we should continue PLT on a weekly basis for the 2018-2019 school year - 100% of staff were in support
• Parents were surveyed and asked if they believe incorporating PLT into our schedule is beneficial for our learners.  We received extremely positive support from parents:
  • "It helped my child study for his tests and complete his school work.  He also received extra support in Math.  Hopefully this continues next year!"
  • "Thanks for the opportunity you are giving to the students.  In my opinion, it is a good idea for students to look for help and a good opportunity for our kids to catch up on their homework.  It also teaches them to be responsible for their own time."
  • "I find that my child will not go to the Cambie Commons during class time, so providing her with time during the school day is a great way to get students that extra support they need."
  • "It gives my daughter extra time to do any school work needed given that she is both busy in school and training competitively ourside of school
• Students were surveyed and overwhelmingly supported the continuation of PLT.  We received clear feedback from our students that they would like greater flexibility and choice and would like to be able to select the classroom/teacher for PLT.  Based on this feedback, we now provide students the option of selecting any of their teachers/classrooms to work in during PLT.

Cross Curricular Connections:

• We have had professional development for all teachers to support our shared responsibility on teaching skills for literacy and numeracy.  These skills are no longer the responsibility of the Math teachers or English teachers, but rather all departments can help teach the core skills such as analysis, ethics, proportion, understanding and interpreting graphs, justification and reasoning, fair-share analysis, etc.
• Students in Pathways 8 working on a cross-curricular project called "Night of the Notables" where each individual selects and researches a "notable" person and the class works collaboratively to create interconnections between the selected notables to create a script and drama presentation.  This presentation is then shared to an audience of over 100 parents and students.
• Socials & English 9 students worked on a cross-curricular project on the HIstorical Injustices of the 20th Century.

Student Focus Groups:

• We continue to conduct student focus groups with over 100 students each year to seek feedback, input and student perspectives on their learning and school experience.  We analyse this data as a staff and use it to set goals.  It has been very postitive and has demonstrated evidence of our growth in many areas.