Good afternoon,
I hope you are all doing well. I want to start by putting in another plug for our annual Coat Drive and our Toys for Tots drive. Both are currently accepting donations through next Thursday (12/16). If you have a used, warm coat that you’re looking to get rid of, we’ll take it! And the same applies for unused, unwrapped toys. Feel free to drop off any items, or send them with your children over the next week. We have drop-off locations in the main lobby.
Just before Thanksgiving, we gave our students a survey to create a baseline measurement of a few of the items on our School Improvement Plan. And while the survey revealed some areas where we have some work to do (and that we had anticipated), I was pleased with some of the results.
When asked, “If I have a problem or concern, I have a teacher or other adult whom I feel comfortable going to for help.” 85% of students agreed with this statement - which, in the first trimester I view as very strong. We hope this number will increase in the 2nd and 3rd trimester versions of this survey. When asked, “If I have a problem or concern, I have a family member or other adult outside of school whom I feel comfortable going to for help.” Huge shout out to our families, because 93% of our students answered Yes to this question. We also focused a few questions on students and their peer relationships. We asked, “Have you made new friendships at school this year?” 96% of our students answered yes! I think this is really great news and highlights the importance of us being back in school everyday! Finally, in this category of question, 95% of our students said they have “at least one friend from school whom I can ask for help/support.”
I highlight these few questions to point out that at RJ Grey, we really rely on relationships. Students need strong relationships with their teachers in order to learn. And we also view relationships with adults outside of school, and with peers, as extremely important to the overall wellbeing and development of our 12, 13, and 14 year olds. I hope to share more data throughout the year as we unpack it and figure out what it means.
In the meantime, here are some upcoming dates that we should all be aware of:
-Monday, December 13: early release at 1 pm for professional learning
-Tuesday, December 14: Trimester 1 Report Cards emailed home
-Thursday, December 16: early release at 11:10 am for parent conferences
-Friday, December 17: Formal Dress Day!
-Tuesday, December 21: early release at 11:10 am for parent conferences
-Thursday, December 23: early release at 11:10 am for the beginning of winter break (district-wide)
-Friday, December 24 - Sunday, January 2: School closed for vacation
-Monday, January 3: early release at 1 pm for professional learning
-Friday, January 7: early release at 11:10 am for time given back to staff for evening conferences the night before
Take care,
Jim Marcotte