EQAO Sessions for Grade 3 and 6 Students

April 4, 2016

Dear Parents and Guardians:

Re: Upcoming EQAO Assessments

Between May 25 and June 8, your child will be taking part in the provincial Assessment of Reading, Writing and Mathematics, Primary Division (Grades 1–3) or Junior Division (Grades 4-6). This assessment is administered to all Grade 3 and 6 students in Ontario’s publicly funded school system by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO), an independent agency of the Government of Ontario. 

This assessment consists of two booklets assessing language and a third booklet assessing mathematics. Each booklet is made up of two sections, for a total of six sections. Each section will take about one hour to complete. The administration of the six sections will be spread out across the two-week window.

EQAO assessment questions are directly based on the expectations set out in The Ontario Curriculum, which is what teachers teach in the classroom every day. Therefore, your child does not need to prepare in any special way. Students will write the test in their regular classrooms with their regular teachers and are simply encouraged to do their best and show what they know.

In September, EQAO will send our school a report on your child’s achievement on the assessment, and we will send it home at that time. Your child’s results are private and will give you an indication of his or her achievement in relation to Ontario’s high provincial standard. The standard, or Level 3, represents the range from B– to B+. Meeting the standard means your child has a solid grasp of the required knowledge and skills, which is a good indication that he or she will be ready for the next grade. The results of the assessment do not affect your child’s grades or report card in any way. They do, however, give you information about your child’s progress to add to the overall picture.

You can use the information that EQAO assessment results provide about your child’s strengths and areas needing improvement to celebrate his or her progress. It can help you in discussions with teachers. We can use it as a school community, along with other information, to guide our school improvement initiatives for reading, writing and mathematics. This benefits not only your child but all the students in our school. The results are also used by our school board and the Ministry of Education to direct attention and resources where they are needed.

For more information about EQAO and to view a sample of its assessments, you are encouraged to visit www.eqao.com.

Sincerely,

           Claudia Fischer

Principal

Gr. 1 French Immersion Orientation Session - May 19 th

April 1, 2016

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I would like to invite you and your child to come to Joseph A Gibson PS on May 19 from 7 – 8 p.m. for a French Immersion orientation session. We will explain the procedures for the first day of school and give a short tour of the first floor of the school.  The children will be shown where the bus lets them off and where to line up.  We will make a brief presentation to parents in the gym and will also be available if you have any questions. Please RSVP to the school at (905)832-1291 to let us know whether or not you will be attending this session.

We have developed some learning resources for the incoming grade one students that we will hand out at the orientation. Also available is learning package which includes a CD and materials by Jacquot, a francophone entertainer whose songs are very popular with young French Immersion students (and their teachers). The cost of the learning package is $10.00 (a real bargain!) and I trust all of you will take advantage of this learning opportunity for your child.  The learning package will be available at the orientation session. ($10.00 payable by cash or please make cheque payable to JA Gibson PS).  If you cannot attend the orientation session and would like the learning resources and/or the learning package – please contact the office.  We would like all students to be familiar with the vocabulary and the songs presented in the learning package.

For your information, the school’s hours are 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  Most of our students are bussed and you will be able to access information about transportation toward the end of the summer on the web site www.schoolbuscity.com.  Please ensure that you have provided the correct information regarding daycare or after school arrangements: This is especially important for the first week of school, as the safety of your children is our primary concern. Please do not call the school about bussing issues as we do not have the information. Finally, if your child is a first time bus rider, I strongly encourage you to attend the training program offered by Student Transportation Services of York Region at the end of August (please check www.schoolbuscity.com for information about date and location).

Feel free to contact the school if you have any questions.

I look forward to a productive partnership throughout your child’s grade 1 school year.

Bien à vous,

Claudia Fischer

Principal

April Newsletter

Click on the following link for the April Newsletter.