We are back to school now and making plans for the year.  Last year we worked on developing our reading skills and that will continue to be a focus this year.  All children will participate in a reading assessment so teachers know where they are at and what will need to be an area to concentrate on in order to become proficient readers. 

Throughout all that we do, we continue working with the students on developing Core Competencies and how these intertwine throughout learning and generally being with others in the world.  Again, children will be asked during the school year, what Core Competencies they are working on and what their next steps in learning will be.

      Building connections with our students always has and always will be an intentional behaviour that we know benefits childrens' well being and their access to learning. The reason we are here is for children and we want to meet their social and emotional needs the best we can so that they feel safe, connected, and happy. 

2022-2023

We continue to work on building connections at Byng knowing that the more connected a student feels to their community, the better they are able to learn.  We want our students to feel safe and cared for so that they can focus on their learning.  We are also focusing in on our students' reading proficiency and how we can help our learners become comfortable in their reading skills and able to understand and make meaning of what they are reading. Please read our Focus, Action and Evidence sections of our School Story for more information. 

2019 - 2022

We continue to remain committed to our social responsibility goals and the importance of core competencies, but we are also taking a closer look at assessment since all classes at Byng Elementary are sharing their learning on e-portfolios. 

    SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: Byng staff put a lot of time and effort to developing a powerful framework to help students identify their feelings using “I feel” language. As a staff it became clear that    there was too much language for the students to attain, recall and apply. We decided it would be best to keep our focus clear, concise and manageable. Therefore, we are focusing on the following:

            • B’yng Responsible

            • B’yng Respectful

            • B’yng Kind

As we share our most recent framework, we hope that we can help all stakeholders (students, staff and parents) develop the common language to continue working together as a community.

ASSESSMENT: We are thrilled that all classes at Byng are using e-portfolios to share their learning. As a collective, staff feel it is important to delve deeper in to assessment and see how our practices are supporting student learning. As we begin this journey, we are choosing to use the spirals of inquiry – a framework based on research evidence and implemented by educators not only provincially but across the world. The framework has six stages for consideration. As we begin our process, we are starting at the first stage referred to as SCANNING.

During January, we asked ALL students two questions to help us identify areas that are working, areas that need further consideration, and where to next.

1. How’s my learning connected with the Core Competencies? 

      2.  Is receiving teacher comments/feedback helpful in understanding what to do next in your learning? (We tweaked the wording for our early primary learners)

As of January 2021, collated data has been shared with staff and is shown in our 'Evidence of Learning' post . Unfortunately, we had to take a pause in our inquiry due to COVID, but we are now ready to move our learning forward.

2018 - 2019

During the 2018 - 2019 school year, we had two buddy classes host a sharing assembly focusing on two of our "I feel..." words. The students were actively engaged in describing what these words mean to them and how they connect to the core competencies. 

Students and staff collected photos, videos, and artifacts that showcase our understanding of how "I feel" statements and core competencies can further support building kindness in our community as well as a better sense of "self." 

Please click on the link for the highlights of our assemblies (2018 - 2019):

October Sharing Assembly - Div. 2 & 10: Connection and Acceptance

January Sharing Assembly - Div 3, 13 & 15:  Encouraged and Supported