Millstream Elementary

School Overview

School Identity and Context

École Millstream Elementary was established in the 1959 and is among the oldest elementary schools, in its original building, in the Sooke School District. The school has grown to include four portables, a two-story main building and a gymnasium housed in an adjacent annex. In 2012, the school district expanded its French Immersion programs by beginning a dual track program at Millstream. Since that time, the school’s catchment has included French Immersion students from the Lakewood as well as Millstream catchment areas. In the last two years, Millstream has served as one of the school district’s ‘overflow schools’ and now has students who live in various parts of Langford, Colwood and the Highlands.

The growth in the Westshore, in recent years, has increased the diversity of the school. Millstream currently has just over 300 students, with 7 French Immersion and 9 Regular Program divisions. Since 2009, the school has hosted one of the District’s StrongStart programs, a drop-in program for 0 to 5-year-olds and their parents/caregivers. In January 2022, Millstream began the Seamless Day Kindergarten Pilot, an opportunity for two early childhood educators (ECEs) to work alongside a Kindergarten teacher during the school day and offer a before and after school program to a total of 12 Kindergarten learners.

Millstream’s staff is comprised of over 40 employees including teachers, educational assistants, an administrative assistant, custodians, administrators as well as several itinerant support staff. Over the last three years, the team has experienced consistency despite annual layoffs due to teachers with low seniority. Each year we were pleased to welcome back experienced Millstream teachers as part of the spring staffing process. Of late, staff have engaged in school-wide initiatives including, but not limited to, CRD Ready, Step, Roll, Artstarts AIC Grant to develop a new mascot and school mural, and a writing continuum project aimed at improving the skills of our primary learners. Staff are engaged and interested in supporting students and each other.

The school’s Parent Advisory Council (PAC) is well-established and works effectively to liaise between school staff and parents, provide advocacy on relevant issues, and fundraise. Despite COVID, the PAC has remained active through regular on-line meetings. They have developed a budget that has supported a variety of school expenses, from field trips to class consumables to special teacher requests. We are grateful for the positive relationship with our PAC. Their efforts assist us in encouraging parents to become involved in their child’s education through parent-teacher conferences, regular communication with teachers and events.

Our Learners

What do we know about our learners?

Our school is comprised of 314 students in 7 French Immersion and 9 English classes. Our learners come from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds and neighbourhoods. We support children-in-care (1%) as well as newcomers whose children receive ELL support (9.6%). About 12% of our students have a Ministry-approved designation and receive additional learning supports. Approximately 7% of our students are of Indigenous background, and 1.9% of our students receive weekly support from an ESD teacher.

We aim to make learning engaging for our students and find ways in which to create a sense of community and fun. Our student leadership group includes Grade 4 and 5 students, mostly female, who organize and promote spirit days, assist students with peer helper support at recess and lunchtime, and provide lunch monitor assistance to our younger students while they eat their lunches. Moving forward, we hope to engage more male students in these student leadership activities.

With the lifting of COVID restrictions this spring, we have seen a return of elementary school sports and in person assemblies. We were pleased to have about 50 students participate in spring cross country races, our girls’ and co-ed soccer teams played a few games each and participated in a soccer jamboree, and 51 Grade 4 and 5 students attended the District Track Meet. English and French Immersion assemblies took place in May and June 2022 as well as two in person cultural presentations to get students accustomed to being audience members and/or performers.

Our school benefits from being adjacent to the Millstream Creek, and many of our divisions use this forest ecosystem as an area for students to play and learn. On Earth Day 2022, our student leadership team spent the morning cleaning the creek area, accompanied by biologist and Millstream parent Michelle Paleczny. Our CRD Ready, Step, Roll initiative has also encouraged the use of the forest path as a means of arriving at school via one of the Walk/wheel for 5 drop off locations.

Several of our classes have a buddy class who they work with to engage in learning activities such as reading, or nature walks at the Millstream Creek ecosystem. These types of connections build a sense of community among our learners.

As very few Millstream students wrote the Grade 4 FSA, we do not have a reliable set of Ministry collected data to measure the academic progress of our learners. Moving forward, we will look at comparing our school-wide write results as well as our annual literacy proficiency levels recorded in MyEd.

What evidence supports what we know about our learners?

Our Student Voice

Grade 4 Student Learning Survey
Focus on the following five questions:

Is school a place where you feel like you belong? Most of the time = 34% Sometimes = 39% (June 2022)
Do you feel welcome at your school? All of the time = 41% Most of the time = 36% (June 2022)
At school, are you learning about Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Inuit, Metis)? Most of the time = 21% Sometimes = 58% (June 2022)
At school, do you get to work on things you are interested in? Most of the time = 29% Sometimes = 48%
When you have trouble doing something, do you keep trying? All of the time = 34% Most of the time = 39%

Equity in Action Learning Environment Student Survey
Focus on the following five questions:

Are children in your classroom kind and caring? Always = 38% Sometimes = 46% (May 2022)
Are there times when children in your classroom are unkind or hurt your feelings? Sometimes = 50% Rarely = 20% Never = 10% (May 2022)
When you have a problem, are you comfortable asking an adult for help? Always = 31% Sometimes = 43% (May 2022)
Who do you talk to if you have a problem? No one = 5% (May 2022)
Do you feel like these problems get solved? Always = 18% Sometimes = 62% (May 2022

Focus and Planning

What focus(es) emerge as goals to pursue?

Intellectual Development

School Goal 1

To provide skills and strategies for learners to develop critical and creative engagement with literacy and to empower parents to understand and support their child’s literacy development.

Strategic Plan Goal

Learning

Strategic Plan Learning Objectives

Provide opportunites for learners to develop critical and creative thinking skills.

Action Plan

School Goal 2

To enhance the collaborative practices of the school community by embedding the core competencies into the Wild Schools initiative.

Strategic Plan Goal

Engagement

Strategic Plan Engagement Objectives

Develop, expand and implement inclusive and collaborative practices and processes.

Action Plan

How can the district support your goals?

Curriculum

ELL

Human Resources

Na’tsa’maht Indigenous Education

Professional Development and Training

Staff and Organizational Structure

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Reflect, Adjust, Celebrate

Indicators of progress

Indicators of progress connected to Goal 1

School-wide write (beginning and end of school year)
Parent reading support survey (beginning and end of PAC series)
Completion of regular reading assessments
Teachers participating in school writing continuum inquiry
MyEd English Language Arts proficiency levels – (June 2022 and June 2023)
Grade 4 Student Learning Survey – Review of following survey question results (Spring 2022 and Spring 2023)

Are you taught to improve how you learn? All of the time = 39% Most of the time = 21%
If you do not understand something at school, do you ask for help? All of the time = 43% Most of the time = 36%
At school, do lessons begin with a review of the last lesson? Most of the time = 24% Sometimes 41%
Do you set a goal when learning something new? Most of the time = 26% Sometimes = 34%
I feel I am getting better at reading. Strongly agree = 43% Agree = 46%
I feel I am getting better at writing.
Next Steps (2023/24):
School-wide write (beginning and end of school year)
In-person parent literacy learning sessions
Parent input survey for literacy support (beginning and end of school year)
Continued regular reading assessments
Introduction of writing continuum to students, staff, and parents
MyEd English Language Proficiency Scale (June 2023 and June 2024)
Grade 4 Learning Survey

Indicators of progress connected to Goal 2

Number of assemblies held related to the core competencies
Staff regularly participating in Wild Schools’ Professional Learning
Student survey pre- and post-Wild Schools’ initiatives
Staff regularly participating in bio-diversity monthly challenge

Next Steps (2023/24):

Hold assemblies related to the core competencies
Complete Wild Schools Survey with all students (fall and spring)
Continue staff Professional Development Learning with Wild Schools facilitator
Continue regular classroom visits with Michelle Palenczny, Wild Schools facilitator

How will we communicate and celebrate our progress?

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