Welcome Back!
After a beautiful summer here in Ottawa, it's time to head back to school. This is such an exciting time of year!
We want you to know that our Facilities staff has been working hard throughout the summer to enhance our learning spaces. In some schools, this work will continue into the fall. The end result will be great places to work and learn!
Our educators are preparing their classrooms and schools for the arrival of over 73,000 students. We've hired lots of new contract teachers this year - 250 elementary and 100 secondary teachers. They, along with our new hires from all employee groups, will add to the wonderful staff who help our students learn every day in our schools. Welcome!
You may have heard of some changes to curriculum that were announced by the Minister of Education over the summer. Here is a brief summary of what you can expect in our classrooms and schools...
Health and Physical Education, Grades 1-8 (2018).
The Minister of Education has released a new elementary curriculum forHealth and Physical Education, Grades 1-8 (2018) . This curriculum includes c ontent for all strands and topics except the Growth and Development component of the Healthy Living strand, which is taken from the 1998 curriculum . The Board of Trustees wrote to the Minister of Education to reiterate the importance of ensuring learning opportunities for students about healthy relationships, consent, online safety and mental health.
Our teachers will be developing lesson plans based on the expectations in the new curriculum, and will continue to communicate with parents/guardians about what their children are learning and when various topics are to be addressed. For example, as per current practice, teachers will provide parents/guardians with a letter indicating the topics pertaining to the Growth and Development strand based on the expectations in the Health and Physical Education, Grades 1-8 (2018) .
The OCDSB has a strong commitment to equity and to creating safe, inclusive, and welcoming learning environments. Our classrooms and schools will continue to reflect and support equity and diversity, and actively create and provide an inclusive, safe and caring learning environment for all students and staff. For example learning resources will continue to reflect diversity and representation of our families and communities; schools will continue to support clubs and activities such as the Rainbow Youth Forum ; and the OCDSB Gender Identity and Gender Expression Guide will continue to serve as a resource for supporting students.
Math Grades 1-8
There has been some discussion in the media about the teaching of mathematics. I would like to clarify that the elementary math curriculum has not changed. However, some new resources have been released to support math instruction. The new resources are there to support the current curriculum and highlight the "Fundamentals of Mathematics". This is something that we have been doing for the past number of years at the OCDSB. Our teachers have focused on a balanced math program, one that combines the development of operational skills and the development of problem-solving skills. Parents may want to review this publication from Ministry of Education - A Parent’s Guide to the Fundamentals of Math
In the coming months, there will be lots of District news with the new Director selection process underway as well as trustee elections taking place on October 22. We will keep you apprised of all developments.
In the meantime, as I head out to stock the cupboards with lunch items for my 15 year old son, I wish you all a great start to the 2018-2019 school year!
Jennifer Adams
Director of Education