Greeting GAA Families,

It has been a great start to the school year. The classrooms are buzzing with learning activities and student engagement is high! We welcomed many new students to the secondary school this year, including our youngest middle schoolers - the Grade 6 class.

Grade 6 Soft Start

To help ease them into middle school life, Grade 6 students took part in a Soft Start program for the first two days of the school year. During the Soft Start, students took part in team building activities, role playing to reinforce positive behaviours, and a scavenger hunt to get to know the building. They also spent some time going over the student handbook and deciphering their schedules. It was an excellent way to begin their middle school careers and they appear to be settling in well.

PBIS

One main focus in the Middle School this year is the PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports) framework. PBIS involves setting out clear behavior expectations and explicitly teaching desired behaviors to students. This requires clear and consistent follow through and positive behaviour recognition. GAA has adopted the following behavior school-wide expectations:

Be Safe - Be Respectful - Be a Learner - Be Kind.

Middle School students have identified specific behaviors for each area of the school that reflect these expectations. Their ideas are posted in classrooms and will soon be in the hallways, buses, cafeteria and play areas. Teachers will refer to these expectations regularly throughout the school day. If students are not meeting our behavior expectations, they will receive a warning, followed by a “time-out” on the second occurrence, followed by a call or email home on the third occurrence. At the same time, positive behaviors will be regularly acknowledged through GEMS cards, house points, special privileges and public recognition.

Thank you for being a valuable partner in your child’s education.

Kind regards,

Peter Thorpe

Middle School Vice Principal

Dear New Middle and High School Students and Parents,

We are happy to welcome you all in our GAA Community! We hope you enjoyed our Orientation Day. In case you missed it, please check out the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n1ucbjgWtI&feature=youtu.be

It is expected students will attend class every school day. All teachers will report attendance each period as well as keep an accurate record for each class. If a student arrives late to school, they are required to go directly to the Secondary Office immediately after arriving on campus in order to obtain a Student Late Pass. School clerical staff will record every time a student is late to school.

• ADEK Requirements:

For the purposes of this policy, absence refers to the days when students fail to attend school. A student who does not miss a single class throughout the year is said to have a 0% absence record or a 100% attendance record. Absence rates above 10% should be regarded as a cause for concern.

• Absences from school:

All absences from class, with the exception of field trips or school sponsored activities/sports, are considered as absences for the minimum attendance policy. In an effort to help our students maintain good attendance, the Secondary office staff will contact parents at four (4), seven (7) and ten (ten) absences, and Secondary Administration will contact parents after ten (10) absences to discuss the importance of attending school regularly. Every effort must be made by the student and the parents/guardian to ensure that students are in all their classes every day. Extraordinary situations will be reviewed and considered by the administration. After twenty (20) total absences a student a student may be considered a candidate for retention.

Excused absences include only school sponsored field trips. If a student is sick, he/she must contact their teacher to see what was assigned. It is the student’s responsibility to complete all work he/she has missed.

• Unexplained Absences (Truancy)

If a student skips a class, his/her parents will be informed, and the student will meet with the Vice-Principal, who will take appropriate action.

• Supervision Before and After School

Students are expected to leave the campus promptly upon completion of their scheduled classes and after school sponsored activities.

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(please note, updated regularly)