Dear students, families and community members,
I hope you will take the time to read through the Superintendent’s 2016 ‐ 2017 Annual Report to the Community. This report highlights work guided by the SSRSB annual business plan and describes many of the initiatives and actions significant to achieving our mission to inspire our students to reach their full potential.
In the pages of this annual report, I believe you will see that we have made progress in supporting excellent instruction and assessment practices, professional collaboration, accountability and instructional leadership. Social justice and safety is paramount and continues to be a focus for all staff. There is student achievement data presented as well as the identification of areas requiring increased attention. We look to increase support for mathematics and literacy interventions and to build on a model of coaching for our teachers, and social and emotional learning of students. Work to support the provincial Action Plan for Education in Nova Scotia continues with the new literacy strategy, teaching standards and student success planning process. Also, I believe you will enjoy the several examples of student and staff successes and accomplishments.
The relationship between School Advisory Councils, staff and the governing board was a focus this year. We will continue to build on the fine start we had in the coming years.
The 2016-2017 school year was a challenging one in public education in Nova Scotia. The NSTU labour disruption did change the routines and predictability of our places of work and the experience for some students and parents. Over this time, I was reassured by the focused and responsive work of our staff in all divisions and the attention paid to the day-to-day experience of our students. Even in this challenging time, our staff remained committed to our students’ learning and well-being.
As you review this report, I believe you will see that our relationships are getting stronger, our connections deeper and our collective attention increasingly focused on student learning, teaching excellence and support for students and their families. For this report, I have not only provided a description of how we support our commitment to our students and their families, but also have attempted to add value to the report in describing the accomplishments by providing a bit of background information when the opportunity arises. I appreciate you taking the time to read the contents of this report and trust you will see that our dedicated staff in all divisions, parents, guardians, volunteers, community and municipal partners, and elected board members continue to demonstrate that our students are truly at the centre of what we do everyday in the SSRSB.
Thank you for supporting the work of the SSRSB. I am proud of our dedicated staff and community in supporting each and every student and their family.
If you are not already a part of the learning
community at your child’s school, I invite you to do so. By joining together, we can help our students realize great success.
Sincerely
Scott Milner
Superintendent
South Shore Regional School Board