Coast Meridian Elementary 22-23
OUR CONTEXT
Coast Meridian Elementary strives to create a sense of community with our students, their families, and educators. We embrace a diverse and creative community of learners and value each of those learners by creating safe learning environments, encouraging a growth mindset, and helping them understand themselves and others. At Coast Meridian, your story is important to us.
Learning Environment & Guiding Principles
At Coast Meridian, learning environments differ depending on our students’ needs with a common goal of:
Creating a safe learning space by harbouring openness, trust, and honesty. A safe learning space allows our students to be open and honest with their struggles and celebrate their accomplishments.
Fostering a sense of wonder and inquiry by providing students with a creative space, taking their diverse tastes and personalities into consideration.
Creating a sense of joy by providing engaging opportunities to learn and grow in all learning environments from the classroom to the library, extra-curricular activities, and explorations in our community forest.
Providing an opportunity to reflect on their learning and be aware of their growth by sharing what they know, wonder, and learned. Allowing students to see their growth and progress instills a growth mindset.
OUR LEARNERS
“All that we are is story. From the moment we are born to the time we continue on our spirit journey, we are involved in the creation of the story of our time here. It is what we arrive with. It is all we leave behind. We are not the things we accumulate. We are not the things we deem important. We are story. All of us. What comes to matter then is the creation of the best possible story we can while we’re here; you, me, us, together. When we can do that and we take the time to share those stories with each other, we get bigger inside, we see each other, we recognize our kinship – we change the world, one story at a time…”
― Richard Wagamese
At Coast Meridian, we have a focus on creating a love of reading and writing with a variety of materials, including story and informational text. Our students use their literacy skills to build their sense of personal and cultural identity, while valuing other perspectives.
Literacy is a fundamental life skill. It is the ability to read, write, speak, and think in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world. 55% of our students speak a language at home, other than English. We are diverse. We learn from one another. Using the core competency of communication, our students are guided to think critically, creatively and reflectively. We share our stories and continue to create new chapters in our stories. Our stories are built by learning from one another.
As we continue to build our stories, our literacy skills improve.
*Data in the above tables has been collected from all students, K-7, at the end of each term, throughout the year, from teacher feedback.
OUR FOCUS
At Coast Meridian, we have a focus on creating a love of reading and writing with a variety of materials, including story and informational text. Our students use their literacy skills to build their sense of personal and cultural identity, while valuing other perspectives.
Our goals at Coast Meridian include:
- learning to read for information and enjoyment
- deepening their understanding of the importance of identity
- communicating ideas through their own personal writing
- learning that everyone has a unique story to share
- Learning that stories can be understood from different perspectives
Our Cohort
We have a cohort of students from the primary grades. They have a diverse background yet have the common experience of the same grade and learning environment.
What Our Students Have to Say...
What do you like about reading?
I like hearing the stories.
I like to learn new things and I can do that in different stories.
What do good readers do?
Good readers keep reading, even when it’s hard.
Good readers practice reading.
When someone reads you a story, what are you thinking about?
I think about the characters. I think about what they are doing.
I think about the pictures and I think about pages. I look for clues in the pictures.
What do good writers do?
Write something without looking at how to write it. They just know what to write and what the story will be about.
Good writers write the right thing – a good story that is really interesting."
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OUR NEXT STEPS
At Coast Meridian, we celebrate our growth and learning. We are proud of our student progress.
Our students have demonstrated improvements to their Literacy skills throughout the year. Students in our cohort have shown growth in the areas of:
- Reading for information and enjoyment
- Deepening their understanding of their importance of identity
- Communicating ideas through their own personal writing
- Learning that everyone has a unique story to share
- Learning that stories can be understood from different perspectives
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As we look forward to our next school year, we will continue to grow and expand our skills within these goals.
In the next school year, we plan to:
- Create a School Wide Read, with families, students and teachers involved
- Continue to hold Monthly Assemblies that focus on a Social Emotional Learning Aspect, using a picture book to guide learning and understanding
- Explain and Celebrate various Cultural Celebrations throughout the year
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Surrey Schools
Formed in 1906, the Surrey School District currently has the largest student enrolment in British Columbia and is one of the few growing districts in the province. It is governed by a publicly elected board of seven trustees.
The district serves the cities of Surrey and White Rock and the rural area of Barnston Island.
