Maitland District School is nestled in the

Heritage Conservation District of Mait-

land, NS. Although once a bustling ship

building town, it is today a quiet rural

village. The school was opened in 1962

at which time it housed over 150 stu-

dents. During the 2013-2014 school year

there were only 24 students. The stu-

dents are divided into two multi-grade

classrooms. Primary to Grade 3 students

are in one class, with Grade 4-6 students

in another. The school has 1.8 classroom

teachers, a teaching principal, an AA and

circuit teachers for gym, music and

French.

Declining enrolment and the underuti-

lized space in the school has resulted in

the school going through the School Re-

view Process. In March 2013, CCRSB

voted to keep the school open until June

2015 so that the community could have a

two year period during which we would

establish a Community Hub model at the

site. During the 13/14 school year we

waited for the guidelines from the DOE

and CCRSB as requested, resulting in

little work being done on the project. A

request came from Minister of Educa-

tion, Karen Casey, that the board extend

our possible closure date by one year. In

May the board voted to postpone this

vote until March 2015, once the guide-

lines were ready for us this fall.

Our school community is very suppor-

tive of our school. The public wants to

keep the school in our community. The

building is used for many after hours

activities by community groups like

Scouts, MDDA, CHART Society, Ju-

jitsu, etc. Our motto is we are small, but

we are mighty.

SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY CONTEXT-WHO WE ARE

SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL

2013-2014 was another challenging year for the Maitland Advisory Committee. The

focus of our work this year was once again mainly focused on the School Review

Process follow up. A great deal of time and energy was spent by the members of the

SAC. We all needed to take a break and attend to our well being as a group. The mem-

bers of the committee worked hard on our behalf and so it was decided to hold meet-

ings this year at two month intervals while we were waiting for the DOE guidelines for

our “Community Hub” proposal at MDS. We were disappointed that the board decided

to postpone the vote on granting us another year free of closure threat as per the Minis-

ter of Educations request.

In July two members of our group were invited to attend an information sharing ses-

sion on the new guidelines for possible realization of our “Community Hub” proposal.

Our new group will be called the Maitland Community Hub School Association. In the

coming year the SAC will be focused on helping develop a business plan for consid-

eration.

We were pleased that our school was accredited in January 2014. The growth shown

on the two goals that were worked on (narrative writing and communication) attest to

the hard work of the staff and students at our wonderful school. New goals have been

established and a new round of Continuous School Improvement will begin in Septem-

ber 2014 with the full support of the SAC.

Inside this issue:

School and Community Con-

text –Who we are

1

School Advisory Council 1

Safe and School Environment 1

Assessment Results 2

Student Engagement 3

Professional Development 3

Additional School Supports 3

Planning for Improvement 4

Chignecto Central Regional School Board

MAITLAND DISTRICT SCHOOL

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014

SAFE and Orderly Environment

At MDS we promote the Virtues

Project, PEBS, and Anti-Bullying

campaign to help our students be-

come compassionate and responsi-

ble individuals. We celebrate suc-

cesses at monthly assemblies. We

offer a Safe Arrival Program, all

doors are secure during school

hours, and students are well pre-

pared for code red, blue and black

procedures. Our school feels like

one big family that respects and

trusts each other.

Page 2

MAITLAND DISTRICT SC HOOL

PROVINCIAL AND SCHOOL ASSESSMENTS

Student samples from Maitland are very small so this impacts our data. Scores for conventions are low in all 3 sections,

especially in RW6. This data as well as school data, and general observations by teacher and parents led to our new goal

for CSI (5% increase on writing conventions scores).

MDS students participated in yearly writing assessments during our first Accreditation Phase. Each individual student’s

overall score was determined by an average of the component scores of Ideas, Organization and Conventions

(consistently lower). This school data was used to help set our new phase two goal (5% increase on writing conventions

scores).

Maitland District School Results – Narrative Writing % met

# of stu-

dents

Overall % Ideas Organization Conventions

2010-11 25 52 60 40 48

2011-12 25 86 92 84 64

2012-13 23 83 91 91 64

Page 3

MAITLAND DISTRICT SC HOOL

CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT

Teachers at MDS use a variety of assessment strategies to track student achievement Assessment takes place on a daily basis

and includes both formative and summative forms of assessment that include student portfolios, checklists and rubrics, student

conferences , quizzes and tests , peer and self assessments, anecdotal notes, reading records, etc. Teachers effectively differen-

tiate their instructive and use a gradual release of responsibility as the foundation for classroom practices.

Yearly planning and effective assessment practices are shared with staff

in collaborative PLCs. Reporting of outcomes and achievement takes

place three times per year on report cards and at parent teacher confer-

ences. Student led portfolio conferences were held at the end of second

term this year. At MDS it is important that students take responsibility

for their own learning. Teachers emphasize outcome based learning and

give timely and explicit feedback to students to help them achieve.

Assessment focuses on conversations, observations and products. This

year teachers used Gradebook to track student progress at least 3 times

per term in at least one subject area. IPads were provided to teachers this

year to help with on-the-spot PTGB assessment in the classroom during

classroom instruction.

For our new CSI goal in writing conventions, a school wide assessment

was administered to all students Gr. 1-6 in May 2014, using a writing

prompt generated by the staff and scored using a school created assessment based on the CCRSB Literacy doc. # 5: P-6 Writ-

ing Conventions. Baseline scores were tabulated. This template will be used in classrooms.

Our DOE surveys indicate that we need to work on matters of racial equity and cultural proficiency at MDS.

Many fun, enriching educational activities were offered to students during

the 13/14 school year. Students were involved in our annual Terry Fox

Marathon, Remembrance Day service, performances by Symphony NS,

Stadacona Band, Young Neptune and Mary Poppins at Neptune Theatre,

Donna Washington at Marigold Theatre, Pine Ridge Middle school Band,

Winter Carnival, two music concerts with our music teacher, 3 author vis-

its, Sugarmoon Farm tour, Domino Man, NSCC Mawio’mi, fire & winter

safety presentations, Family Literacy Night, ski trip, Science Fair, 2nd

annual Spelling Bee, Learning Buddies, Running Club, Craft Club, Earth

Day Challenge, Great NS Pick-Me-Up, Federation of Agriculture visit,

Moby S Loop visit, Art Gallery of NS tour, Sports Day at East Hants

Sportsplex, annual community ballgame MDS vs MDVFD, Swim to Sur-

vive program, and Goatworks workshops., just to name a few. Each month

we highlight student achievement/behavior at monthly PEBS assemblies.

AA

RCMP liaison officer

Technology mentor

Breakfast program

MDDA support of breakfast pro-

gram

Hot lunch volunteer

Fluoride Rinse Program

Learning Buddies

Supports provided at MDS:

SLP

School Psychologist

Literacy Mentor

PST/ELS

Home & School group

SAC

Library Volunteer

Clubs (Craft, Running)

After hour groups (Scouts,

Jusitzu)

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT-HIGHLIGHTS OF YEAR

ADDITIONAL SCHOOL SUPPORTS

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

During the 2013-2014 school year teachers were involved in ongoing PD

projects. Our school achieved accreditation in January. On site PD in-

volved sessions around data review and setting new CSI goals. IPad train-

ing with Cindy Hall took place on several occasions after new IPads were

purchased for staff/student use. Classroom teachers were involved in pro-

vincial marking sessions for the RW3, M4, and the RWM6. The principal

attended the Learning & the Brain Conference in NYC, teachers attended

Social Studies/ Health PD, First Aid Training, Autism , Literacy Liasion,

PPP Module training, Social Justice, Fontas & Pinnell training, Gradebook

support with Kelly Brown, I-School, new math curriculum, TIENET, ELS

support. Work with our literacy mentor continued with classroom teachers.

Joint PD days with our 3 neighboring schools included: Social & Emo-

tional \Learning with Frank Lambert, East Hants Dept. of Recreation, Big

Ideas around Health Ed. With Natalie Flynn and the Landscape of Food

with Kimberley Hernandez, and Team Building with Goatworks.

Page 4

During the fall of the 2013-2014 school year the final accreditation report and presentation were prepared for presentation. Our

school was very pleased to achieve accreditation in January 2014. The goals achieved were:

By June 2013, there will be a 5% increase in student achievement in the area of writing as measured by provincial

and school level assessments.

And

By June 2013, there will be a 5% increase in satisfaction with communication between staff and school and the

school community.

During the 2013-2014 school year we began analyzing provincial and school level data to look for trends, strengths and challenges.

From this data our new achievement goal was established.

DOE surveys were administered to parents, staff and students in December of 2013, and from the results our new performance

goal was established..

By June 2014 we had established two new goals for the second accreditation phase for Maitland District School. These two goals

are as follows:

By 2018, there will be 5% increase in student achievement with writing conventions as measured by school based

and provincial assessments.

And

By 2018, 90% of all stakeholders will respond positively to how the school addresses matters related to racial

equity and cultural proficiency, as measured by DOE surveys.

CONTINUOUS SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Chignecto-Central School Board

60 Lorne Street Truro, Nova Scotia

www.ccrsb.ca

Maitland District School

177 Cedar Rd., Maitland, Nova Scotia

www.mde.ccrsb.ca