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Planning

We take student placement very seriously and go through a meticulous process. At the initial stage in our planning, we anticipate a Kindergarten to Grade Seven enrolment of approximately 300 students.

Once an organization has been decided upon by the school district the process of assigning students to classes begins. Our class placement process ensures that thoughtful consideration to create balanced and effective learning environments for all students occurs. The assignment of students to classes is decided by a team, which includes the child's current teacher, specialists such as the English Language Learner Teacher, Learning Assistance Teacher, School Counselor, and the School Administration. This professional team considers each placement carefully as they create classes that include a wide range of students who learn in a variety of ways.

Once we have all of the information available to us, the following decisions can be made:

• the number of divisions at each grade level
  
• the number of students in each class
• where classes will be combined (4/5, 6/7, etc.)
• the amount of time provided to other disciplines in the school such as Music
• what grade levels teachers will request to teach

Student Placement

Criteria considered in the placement process include, but is not limited to, the following:​

• 1. Workable instructional groups considering:
  • the child's academic needs and strengths
  • teaching and learning styles
    
  • the child's work habits
  2. Positive social groups considering:
  • placements where a child can work positively and productively with other children in the class
  • peer support or conflicts
  • establishing the presence of positive leaders in each class
  • ratio of grades in split classes
  3. Balanced classes considering:
  • gender (male/female)
  • students with Identifications
    
  • students who are English Language Learners
  • academic, social, and emotional needs and abilities
  • leadership abilities ​
    
  4. Other Information considered:
  • the past history of students in combined or single grade classes
  • school-based resource team recommendations 
    

Student placement is a very complex process that we take very seriously. We take a collaborative approach when planning for student placement.  It is important to us that we have all the information we need about a child to make the best decision for them.  This can come from Staff/Parents/Students:

1. Teacher/Specialist- ​our school staff review each class carefully and discuss the strengths and stretches of all of our learners.  Our staff are deeply invested in the success of each of our students and per their responsibilities as informed by the School Act, staff advise on the organization and placement of students.  Through collaboration and dialogue, staff build equitable and diverse learning environments that are grounded in student social emotional learning, academic success, and student social growth and development.  
   
2. Parent Input Form (optional): while we appreciate the insight of families around their child's needs and we will do our best to accomodate requests where possible, please note that we are unable to make any promises or commit to being able to fulfil requests at any time.  What is important to us is that we have all the information possible about a student that we need in order to make a positive placement.  If there is information that we do not know, we always encourage families to share that privately with Administrators, outside of that, we are confident that our staff know our students incredibly well.  
   
3. Student Feedback: in late May, we ask students to consider peers that they work well with when we start to go through the building process.  As with parent requests, it can be increasingly difficult to ensure that individual student requests are implemented, however great consideration of teachers around positive peer connections, student skills and abilities.  Teachers know their students well and want to ensure that students feel supported in their transition to the next school year.  
   

It is the professional duty of all educators is to build classes that meet the needs of the school and the students. Our goal with class placement is to provide students with a robust learning opportunity that provides them with new experiences and conncetions in order to maximize their growth as learners.

A Note on Combined Classes

Combined (or split) class organizations result from imbalances in the number of students in particular grade levels. Class size limits are set by the Ministry of Education. In today's reality that often means that the school organization needs to include some split classes. For example, we might have 41 Grade One students, but the class size limit is 22. We would need to create a Grade 1 class and a Grade 1/2 class with the remainder of the Grade 1 students and some Grade 2 students. Depending on the number of students at each grade level, using all of the criteria above may well result in the creation of some split classes.

Many areas of the student's growth are considered in a student's placement such as: social skill development, independence in work habits, leadership potential, personal initiative, and organizational skills. Consideration is also given to previous placement in a split or combined class. Please rest assured that if your child is placed in a split (combined) class the grade appropriate curriculum that is prescribed by the Ministry of Education will be taught.

For more information, please review this resource on combined classes​.
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