Ocean Cliff Elementary 23-24

OUR CONTEXT

We acknowledge that our school, where we work, play, live and learn, is on the shared traditional territory of the Katzie, Semiahmoo and other Coast Salish Peoples. Ocean Cliff Elementary is located in the Crescent Beach/Semiahmoo area of Surrey. We have approximately 320 students in Kindergarten through Grade 7. 

Staff and students enjoy many opportunities for outdoor learning and we are fortunate to have access to many unique outdoor spaces including our “secret garden” outdoor classroom. Our school is bordered by mature wooded areas and we are located a short walking distance from Crescent Park, Crescent Beach and 101 Steps. 

Our school is an important part of our surrounding community and we value our close connection with community stakeholders. Our Parent Advisory Council supports field trips and classroom needs as well as families in need and hosts well attended community events such as a welcome barbecue and annual fun fair. The OC PAC and parent community work hard to support the needs that are identified by staff with funding support and volunteers. In 2024 we are excited to add a brand new accessible playground to our schoolyard after many years of planning and fundraising. The Ocean Cliff PAC's diversity and equity committee works closely with our school to celebrate and educate about a variety of days of cultural importance as well as special topics such as Black History Month, Pride Month, International Women's Day and Autism Awareness. Throughout the year our community holds special fundraisers and clothing drives to provide support to our sister school.  

Ocean Cliff offers many extracurricular athletic opportunities for students including basketball, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, soccer, track and field, cross country, running club and intramural soccer. Other opportunities include student leadership, reading link challenge and grade seven band. Special learning opportunities this year have included science fair, Nanowrimo writing challenge, "We Scare Hunger", raising butterfly larvae, homework club, pickleball workshops, Joanne Howard art workshops, White Hatter online safety workshops and a Christmas concert. 

Our students are cheerful and engaged learners who enjoy coming to school. Many students attend Ocean Cliff for their entire elementary school journey from kindergarten to grade seven. Our students engage in a great range of extracurricular athletic activities including dance, theatre, acting, diving, triathlon, volleyball, baseball, track clubs, football and basketball. Many of our students have a particular passion for soccer and the OC Intramural Soccer League was a big hit this year! We are particularly proud of the way our students support each other and acknowledge and appreciate the diversity at our school. There are a range of languages spoken at our school including English, French, Hindi, Farsi, Punjabi, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish and Korean. Students are proud to show off their second language and often volunteer to help with translation when needed. Students moving into sixth grade at OC can elect to join our intensive French program for enhanced French instruction throughout grades 6 and 7. 


OUR LEARNERS

This year, our school team decided to pivot our Student Learning plan's focus to improving the foundations of Literacy. We recognize the importance of foundational literacy in student success. Our staff is engaged in professional learning around the Science of Reading and we are working on implementing evidence-based strategies to teach strong foundational literacy skills including phonemic and phonological awareness and decoding. We recognize that writing skills develop on a continuum and provide many opportunities for students to develop. 

At the beginning of the 2023/2024 school year our teachers reviewed data representing our student’s achievement in literacy. The charts below are based on teacher’s end of year summative assessments in reading and writing from the previous two school years. We were particularly interested in the data for this timeframe as it is widely recognized that there has been a global decline in literacy scores emerging from the pandemic. Our school data showed that roughly 33% of our primary learners and 20% of our intermediate learners are at risk for reading difficulties. 35% of our primary learners and 30% of our intermediate learners are not yet proficient in writing at their grade level.  

Fundamentals of literacy such as “comprehending and connecting” and “creating and communicating” are embedded throughout the BC English Language Arts curriculum.  

Through our literacy initiatives this year we are working towards the following learning goals:   

Students have the opportunity to build their decoding skills through sequential phonics instruction and access to decodable texts. 

Students have the opportunity to build phonemic awareness skills through explicit practice and frequent instruction.  

Students have the opportunity to practice emergent writing skills through frequent opportunities to draw, write and tell stories through a variety of media.  

Students have the opportunity to build effective writing skills and habits through coordinated school wide writing activities.  

OUR FOCUS

Focus 

Learning Objective 

Cohort 

Students have the opportunity to build their decoding skills through sequential phonics instruction and access to decodable texts. 

Use developmentally appropriate reading, listening, and viewing strategies to make meaning- Primary Language Arts Curriculum 

Students in Grades 1-3 participate in the UFLI Foundations program as part of their weekly routines to build phonics and decoding skills. 

Students have the opportunity to build phonemic awareness skills through explicit practice and frequent instruction. 

Use developmentally appropriate reading, listening, and viewing strategies to make meaning- Primary Language Arts Curriculum 

Kindergarten classes use the Heggerty phonemic awareness program as part of their weekly routines to build early literacy skills. 

Students have the opportunity to practice emergent writing skills through frequent opportunities to draw, write and tell stories through a variety of media. 

 

Create stories and other texts to deepen awareness of self, family, and community - Primary Language Arts Curriculum 

 Plan and create a variety of communication forms for different purposes and audiences - Primary Language Arts Curriculum 

Teachers in a range of grades implement a variety of routines to promote emergent writing and storytelling such as story workshop, literacy stations and loose parts activities.  

Students have the opportunity to build effective writing skills and habits through coordinated school wide writing activities.   

Use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create texts for a variety of purposes and audiences- Intermediate Language Arts Curriculum 

Students across a variety of grades participate in School Wide Writes at intervals throughout the year to target specific writing skills and build effective writing habits. 


OUR NEXT STEPS

At the beginning of this school year our staff learned about the science of reading and implemented a variety of strategies to improve literacy skills. These include: 

  • Participating in the Responding to Readers professional development initiative led by SD36 helping teachers 

  • Investing in sets of decodable readers for a variety of classrooms.  

  • Continuing to use the Heggerty Phonemic awareness program in a variety of classrooms. 

  • Implementing the UFLI foundations phonics program and investing in materials for this routine in primary classes.  

  • Investing in loose parts and story workshop materials to provide opportunities for emergent writing 

  • Implementing School Wide Writes at regular intervals across all grades. 

  • Explore new age appropriate reading routines in a variety of classes (literacy centres, book clubs, reading reflections). 

In September our staff also discussed collecting detailed information about the reading proficiency of our students to make more targeted interventions. Teachers performed a variety of assessments in the fall to get baseline data about student strengths and weaknesses in literacy and repeated these assessments in the spring to identify areas of improvement.  


Phonemic Awareness:

In this Kindergarten/Grade 1 cohort students have been participating in phonemic awareness exercises as part of their weekly routine.  They have also participated in literacy stations to build letter and sound recognition. Their progress was assessed using the ELPATS assessment in January and June to collect data to show growth over time.  During their June assessment 15/20 students were able to master the initial phoneme segment of this assessment of these students 6 were able to master the final phoneme section. This represents progress from in phonemic awareness throughout the year.



Phonics

In this grade 2/3 cohort students have been participating in UFLI foundations activities to work on phonics and decoding. This learning has been supported with regular access to decodable readers. Their progress was assessed using the SD36 Phonics Survey in September and May to collect data to show growth over time.  Through the alphabet skills segment of this assessment no students were identified as needing intensive support but in the reading and decoding skills section 6/22 students were identified for intensive support.

Fluency

In this grade 5 cohort students have been working on their fluency using a variety of strategies including setting reading goals and learning a variety of reading strategies. Their progress was assessed using the Listening to Readers Fluency assessment Survey in September and May to collect data to show growth over time. Through this assessment 13/23 students were identified as proficient with their fluency and 16/23 were proficient with comprehension.



Writing 

In this grade 5/6 cohort students have been working on their writing skills and habits through participation in school wide writes. A performance scale rubric is used to assess writing skills and identify areas for further focus.  The following areas of writing skills:


  • Meaning: 15/22 Proficient
  • Style: 10/22 Proficient
  • Form: 10/22 Proficient
  • Conventions: 15/22 Proficient
  • Overall: 13/22 Proficient

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.

Surrey Schools
14033 - 92 Avenue Surrey,
British Columbia V3V 0B7
604-596-7733