View Royal K-5 School continues to provide quality educational experiences to all children, within a “caring community of learners”.
Success For All Learners
Part of what makes View Royal the rich and diverse school it is is the long-standing commitment to ensuring that all of our students, whether they experience difficulties with academics, self regulation, friendship skills, mobility challenges or any other variety of exceptionalities, get exactly what they need in order to be successful. This year is no different. In addition to our ongoing focus on reading and numeracy, we are putting a great deal of effort into constantly improving our practice to ensure that every child is successful. Over time, and working with our district and community partners, we will be continuing to develop our learning support team and model so that we are able to create and offer even more specific interventions to more students. With a focus on self regulation, sensory integration and processing, social thinking and friendship skills, our check-in program, MIF club and chess club, students are learning so much about how to manage their feelings and a lot more about who they are as learners.
Our shared philosophy is to create a safe and respectful environment where students learn to be responsible, caring and supportive of others. Equally important, we focus on coaching and guiding our students to be mindful learners who have a number of strategies that clear the way for them to be the best learners they can be! We have high expectations in all academic areas, and we know that a safe, caring and accepting environment allows the skills and talents of each of our students to shine through!
Our staff are highly committed to learning, and are organized in professional learning communities, with a regular focus on what we want our students to know and be able to do, how we will know when they have mastered a skill or concept, and how we will enact a specific intervention for students who struggle. In addition to our strong core of classroom teachers, we have highly skilled educational assistants, occupational therapists, speech therapists, physical therapists, learning support teachers and counsellors.
Of course, we continue our amazing work on reading at the primary level. In addition to Reading Recovery, we have small group instruction for all students in grades one through three. Students are benchmarked and leveled and their progression as readers is tracked as they move ahead! It is amazing to have so much of our school dedicated to the practice and process of reading.
Mathematics, both the ability to retain basic facts and think mathematically, continues to be a whole-school goal. As our curriculum changes over time, mathematics will be integrated into more and more of what we think of as language arts and social studies. The ability to think critically and solve problems is a big focus for us at View Royal, and strategies like our Math is Fun club, Chess club, number wall and Sudoku walls do have an impact.
As our school continues to grow, our thinking, creativity and innovation will continue as well. We are having conversations about embedding our learning in nature and the environment, and given our spectacular location in the Town of View Royal, we are fortunate to have areas of cultural, historical and environmental significance right on our doorstep. Even in the planning of our new playground, we are actively building on the attributes we have right here on our property and within the greater community.
We also believe that a rich and diverse set of extra-curricular offerings in the fine arts, athletics and specialty clubs enables students to be more connected with their school and enhances their school experience. We offer sports programs in cross-country, soccer, basketball, rugby, floor hockey and track. In addition, we offer opportunities for students to take part in choir, ukulele, recorder and drama through our music program. This year we have one-third of our school involved in our chess club, we have a Math is Fun club, a Red Cedar Book Club, and many leadership opportunities for our intermediate students.
Our goal is to foster literate global citizens, and to that end, we use a variety of technology in the school. We have a number of Smartboards that are actively integrated into daily practice, a variety of Apple devices, and a new set of Acer Chrome Books, which form a mobile lab. We believe that in using multiple devices, we are able to meet the needs of many, many more students.
View Royal really is a neighbourhood school. We welcome a variety of users from Cubs and Scouts to adult floor hockey in the evenings. We share property and space with our out of school care provider, and most importantly, we have a Parent Advisory Council that is second to none. They have tirelessly raised funds to support our school’s technology and literacy efforts, and are an important part of discussions to determine priorities at our school each year. Parent involvement is an important part of student success. Parents often join children in morning reading sessions in many classrooms, help in various volunteer capacities at our annual book fair, Fun Food Days and special evening events such as family movie nights and dances, and our annual fun fair.
We invite you to join us as we all continue to learn and grow!