Foundational Items
| Motto | Students Come First |
| Mission | “Building Strong Foundations to Create Bright Futures” |
| Vision | “Learning Without Limits ... Achievement for All" |
| Values | Belonging, Diversity, Learning, Perseverance, Responsibility |
| Aspiration Statements | High Quality Teaching and Learning, Engagement of All Students, Families, and Communities, Effective Policy Healthy, Sustainable Physical and Social Environments |
| Mission | Excellence! Every Child…Every Day! |
| Division Priorities | School Level Work Plan(s) | Tell Your Story | Most Responsible Person/People | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Upholding clear, high-quality Board of Education Policies |
Board Policies and Administrative Procedures will be shared via our Student Handbook.
|
Our Student Handbook has been updated and posted for our families on Edsby, along with our school website. Active links to Policies and Procedures are included. |
Administration |
|
|
Upholding clear, high-quality Board of Education Policies |
The PJG School Community Council (SCC) will complete GSSD's SCC Professional Development Plan over the course of the 2023-24 school year. Each meeting will focus on one of the 6 modules to help support our SCC to further understand their contributions to our school community. |
The PJG School Community Council (SCC) completed Module 1 (Roles and Responsibilities of SCC Members), Module 2 (SCC Operations), and Module 3 (SCC Actions). The remaining 3 modules will be completed during the 2024-25 school year. |
Administration |
GSSD's School Community Council Professional Development modules |
|
Focusing on educational approaches that prioritize student success |
Teachers will be focusing on implementing Blended Learning in our classrooms. |
We completed a staff book study using Catlin Tucker's book, "The Complete Guide to Blended Learning." During our monthly staff meetings we focused on a chapter. The month following is then used to implement some of the strategies discussed. August - Chapter 1 October - Chapter 2 November - Chapter 3 December/January - Chapter 4 Febraury - Chapter 5 March - Chapter 6 April - Chapter 7 May - Chapter 8  |
Administration Classroom Teachers |
"The Complete Guide to Blended Learnng" - Catlin Tucker |
|
Allocating resources to improve experiences for students, staff, and the community. |
Create and organize a Resource Room to house all of the school's subject level resources to be shared throughout classrooms. Items will be tagged and organized via the library system to allow access for all teachers and staff members within our building. |
Administration Library Tech |
Destiny Library Saskatchewan Curriculum |
| Division Priorities | School Level Work Plan(s) | Tell Your Story | Most Responsible Person/People | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Enhancing mental health and well-being for students and staff |
PJG provides breakfast, snack, and lunch programming for students with support of a community grant from the North Valley Credit Union ($3,000 per year). Students are supported in a confidential manner that ensures digntiy and privacy. |
The breakfast/snack counter, along with the refrigerator, is stocked weekly with fresh fruits, vegetables, muffins, and dairy products to provide snacks or meals at any point throughout the day. Teachers may bring children into this canteen area to provide nutritional snacks & meals, or they may collect a variety of items which they can then take back to their classroom to share with children as needed. All items are available at all times to all children with an adult's supervision.
|
Administration |
North Valley Credit Union (Esterhazy) community grant - $3,000 Family Foods (Esterhazy) - 10% discount on all groceries and supplies |
|
Offering safe and inviting facilities |
PJ Gillen will host a variety of opportunities to welcome our families and the community into our newly renovated school. Opportunities will include face-to-face assemblies, engagement days, evening activities such as Family Fun Night, Christmas concert, sporting events, and drama/art productions. |
Opportunities provided to our families during the 2023-24 school year include: -Family Fun Night -Scholastic Book Fair -Christmas Concert -Kindergarten Engagement Days (x2) -Impact -Monthly Assemblies -Various sporting events -Fun in the Sun -Parents animal experts (chicks, peacocks, chinchillas, garter snakes, etc) -Therapy Dog (opportunity provided by the Twin Valley Veterinary Clinic) -Saskatchewan Willow Awards |
Administration Classroom teachers |
|
|
Promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion |
PJ Gillen staff will continue to deepen relationships with families and communities by increasing our personal understanding of Indigenous identities, histories, and worldviews. |
This is an ongoing goal for PJ Gillen staff as we continue to deepen our understanding and connection with Indigenous identities, histories, and worldviews. |
Robert Severight, Indigenous Cultural Coach Melissa Mitchell, School Counsellor |
Robert Severight, Indigenous Cultural Coach Leading to Learn Signposts |
|
Enhancing mental health and well-being for students and staff |
PJ Gillen will provide Social Emotional Learning (SEL) resources, along with a school plan, incorporating The Little Spot of Feelings and Emotions resource. The plan will focus on Kindergarten to Grade 3 students, as well as any individual program planning. |
PJ Gillen has purchased the Little Spot plushies, puppets, emotions cards, sticker books, and the collection of the Little Spot books. We have also developed a school wide plan where teachers have identified the areas of focus for each grade. Classroom teachers have from September-June to cover their areas of focused described in our plan. Curriculum connections have been provided as well. All K-3 classroom teachers will complete the Little Spot Academy professional development by June, 2024.
|
Administration K-3 Classroom Teachers |
A Little Spot of Feelings & Emotions Educator Guide Emotion Plushies/Puppets www.dianeabler.com |
| Division Priorities | School Level Work Plan(s) | Tell Your Story | Most Responsible Person/People | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Improving student outcomes |
PJ Gillen will continue to build our Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports System (PBIS) consistently within our school. A focus on reinforcing behaviors with a positive outlook, as well as the focus on social emotional learning (SEL) throughout our Kindergarten to Grade 5 classrooms. |
One of our main focuses this year has been with the PBIS SEL Check-in's with our Grades 4 and 5 students. We will continue to hone this aspect of SEL into the next school year as we develop common expectations of students and teachers. Fidelity and new resources will continue to be a focus of our school for the 2024-25 school year as we have felt that some of our school videos and other resources are now outdated and should represent our current staff and social situations. Continue to focus, as well, on consistency and training of school staff. |
All School Staff |
https://www.pbisrewards.com/ |
|
Implementing the "Inspiring Success" Policy |
PJ Gillen staff is committed to strengthening the Enduring Strategy of ensuring our students are experiencing First Nations and Metis content, perspectives and ways of knowing in an authentic way. |
While administrators attended the GSSD signpost professional development opportunities and received a deeper understanding and deeper connection of First Nations and Metis ways of knowing, this is an area of constant growth and sharing of opportunities with all staff. We welcomed Terrance Littletent into our school to share his passion for hoop dancing with our students. He taught our students about the symbolism of hoop dancing and ignited an interest in our students. |
PJ Gillen Staff
|
Robert Severight, Indigenous Cultural Coach Inspiring Success - First Nations and Metic PreK-12 Education Policy Framework |
|
Developing GSSD leaders |
At PJ Gillen, we will share opportunities with our teaching staff to be Lead Learners in our Blended Learning approach. Teachers will be given the opportunity to lead our monthly staff meeting focuses on Blended Learning. |
Teaching staff were provided with opportunities to share amongst themselves in small groups, as well as the large staff group, about their experiences with various monthly topics of Blended Learning. As confidence grows within the Blended Learning teaching practice, we are confident teachers will share their knowledge and expertise with one another. |
Classroom Teachers Administration |
"The Complete Guide to Blended Learning" - Catlin Tucker |
|
Ensuring consistent practices across GSSD schools |
PJ Gillen classroom teachers will continue to focus on developing and revising their Universal Backwards Design (UBD) plans. |
Teachers continue to develop their UBD planning templates. Continued support from school administration and GSSD curriculum consultants will work to help build and strengthen teacher UBD planning. |
Classroom Teachers |
GSSD UBD resources Any pertaining school resources |
|
Delivering high-quality teaching and learning resources |
Administration will ensure that PJ Gillen houses effective and curriculum connected resources. These resources will be identified by teachers, administrators, central office, library tech, etc. Administration, along with our school's library tech, will work to ensure our teachers are aware of what resources are in our building and where to access them. |
Developing the resource bank in our school is an ongoing and continual process. Curriculum research-based resources are evolving and improving as we try to maintain a level of access to professional resources within our own building. We have focused this year on educating our staff on the resources currently available in our school with the use of Edsby. For example, we have purchased phonics-based resources to help build that aspect of our resource bank. Our goal is to have resources at the fingertips of our teachers, not having to wait for resources to arrive from GSEC or other schools. |
Administration Library Tech Classroom Teachers |
Curriculum Scholastic Various outside curriculum resources |
| Division Priorities | School Level Work Plan(s) | Tell Your Story | Most Responsible Person/People | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Fostering connections and supporting transitions |
PJ Gillen is hosting Kindergarten and Grade 1 Parent Engagement days. |
Kindergarten Family Engagement - October 13, 2023 Grade 1 Family Engagement - September 18, 2023   Kindergarten Family Engagement Day - February 9, 2025 Kindergarten Orientation/Impact - April 25, 2025 |
Kindergarten and Grade 1 Teachers |
|
|
Valuing input from students, families, staff, and the community |
PJ Gillen will continue to gather and value feedback from our School Community Council (SCC). The SCC is a valued part of our school community where voices are encouraged and shared. |
We value the feedback of our SCC members as we tap into their perspectives and suggestions during our SCC meetings, informal discussions at the school, and email and Edsby feedback. The importance of sharing school data and discussing our next steps is an important part of the PJ Gillen story. |
Administration School Community Council Members |
Regular Scheduled Meetings Edsby promoting open communication |
|
Communicating openly and clearly |
PJ Gillen classroom teachers will be utilizing Edsby to create classroom groups, gradebook, and encouraging families to communicate through this common platform. The office will also be utilizing Edsby as a common platform for communication via the news river, the calendar, and attendance reporting. |
During the 2023-24 school year, every homeroom classroom utilized an Edsby communication group to connect with families. The office used Edsby as the primary source of communication with families including the news river, the calendar, attendance reporting, direct messaging, and report cards. PJ Gillen went live in March, 2024 for up-to-date reporting to families. PJ Gillen will continue to maximize the ease of Edsby with our families. |
Classroom Teachers Office Staff |
Michelle Morley Edsby Professional Development opportunities |
|
Forming partnerships to support GSSD’s priority areas |
PJ Gillen will continue to strengthen the relationships of outside agencies, such as North Valley Credit Union, Twin Valley Veterinary Services, Mosaic, Big Brother and Big Sisters, and Crystal Raffie (Hot Lunch Provider). |
During the 2023-24 school year, PJ Gillen continued to enjoy the strong relationships developed with Twin Valley Veterinary Services with the support of our therapy dog Bo. We also continued with the grateful relationship with North Valley Credit Union as they continued to support and value our Breakfast/Lunch program with a monetary donation. Mosaic continues to support our school by providing volunteers to prepare baked goods to support our students. Crete-Tek also supported our school initiatives (Art Club and Cheerleading) with a monetary donation to ensure we could provide creative and athletic opportunities for our students. Big Brothers and Big Sisters continued to be a successful support system in our school as we welcomed several EHS students to be partners with our students. Crystal Raffie did a wonderful job providing nutritious and delicious meals for our students. The Esterhazy Lions Club also partnered with PJ Gillen in monetary support of our Breakfast and Lunch programming. |
Administration |
Principal Signature: Kelsey Shields
SCC Signature: