Committees - Excellence in Education

 

 

Representatives

 

 

 

 

 

Objectives for the Excellence in Public Education

The objectives of the Excellence in Public Education committee for the 2011/12 fiscal year are:

1. To coordinate the administration and adjudication of the Golden Star Awards Program on behalf of the BCRTA.
2. To continue writing articles that celebrate the excellence of the contribution made to the BCRTA and/or ACER-CART by living past presidents of the organization.
3. To continue to attend monthly meetings of First Call,
4. To promote the endorsation of the proposed Community Plan for a Public System of Integrated Early Care and Learning for BC.
5. To identify ways to support positive (education) programs and initiatives in specific groups or areas (e.g. programs for aboriginal children).

 

Golden Star Awards

 

The BCRTA Golden Star Program, consisting of five $1000 awards, has been established to recognize and reward programs that have as their salient feature the interaction of BC seniors with public school students. The application deadline is April 15th of each school year.

 

 For full details including application form, click here

 

 

 

Kershaw address to BCRTA Annual Conference September 2011

for a copy of the presentation click here

 

 

From Summary of Reports 2011

 

 

In acknowledging that one of the guiding purposes of the BCRTA is to promote excellence in public education, our committee set three objectives for the 2010-2011 year:

1. To continue to review, continue and improve the Golden Star Award project;

2. To write articles that celebrate the contribution made to the BCRTA and/or ACER-CART by living presidents of the respective organization; and

3. To study how excellence in education is impacted by child poverty.

The Golden Star Awards program is now an on-going project of the BCRTA. It is based on the premise that programs exist in BC public schools featuring the interaction between students and community seniors, and that these programs enhance the learning experience of students and provide the seniors opportunities to share their knowledge and to enjoy their contact with young people.

This year the program was revised to have five $1000 awards, with corresponding amendments made to the posters and application forms. New posters were mailed out to all school work sites in November 2010 and to all branch presidents in December 2010. Copies of the poster were published on the BCRTA website and in Postscript, BCTF Teacher, the BCPVPA magazine and BCSTA e-news.

Twenty-four applications were received, a 25% increase over the 2009-2010 year, thus contributing to the added challenges of adjudication. After much deliberation five winners were chosen:

« Qualicum Beach Elementary School, Qualicum, BC

« Seaview Elementary-Junior Secondary School, Port Alice, BC

« Smithers Secondary School, Smithers, BC

« Springvalley Elementary School, Kelowna, BC

« Steeples Elementary School, Cranbrook, BC

A description of the award-winning programs at these schools can be found on the Excellence in Public Education Committee webpage at the BCRTA website.

Many favourable compliments and lots of good publicity to the Association were generated by this year’s Golden Star Awards. Many thanks to all BCRTA members and branch presidents who promoted this program and helped in making it a success.

The living past president biography collection continues to be in progress. The first publication of a biography of a living past president of the BCRTA was featured in the Summer 2010 issue of Postscript. The article on Lillian Holeton was very timely, in that Lillian died a few weeks after receiving and reading her copy of Postscript. Lillian’s family reported that Lillian was most pleased with the recognition given her in that article. Other biographies published this year include those of Art Rempel, Norval Brown and Greta Nelson.

The Committee also began its study into how excellence in education is impacted by child poverty. This entailed a review of a number of publications as well as meetings with Dr. Paul Kershaw, an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia and recognized authority on the impact of poverty on school children, and the BCTF Committee on Social Justice and Community Anti-Poverty Action Groups through First Call. Three outcomes of our study over the past year were our recommendations to the BCRTA Board (and which the Board later endorsed) that:

«Dr. Kershaw be a speaker at the 2011 BCRTA Annual Conference;

«the BCRTA become a signatory organization to the Call for a BC Poverty Reduction Plan; and

«the BCRTA become a member of First Call, the BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition.

Respectfully submitted,
Steve Bailey, Val Dyer, Mary Hunter, JoAnn Lauber, Jane MacRae, Sheila Pither and Carolyn Prellwitz (Chair)

 

 

 

Penticton Awards Ceremony

Presentation by Joanne Lauber, Sheila Pither, Doug Edgar & introduction to presentation by Keith Coates

This year's  Golden Star Awards were presented to an Alexander Robinson Elementary School Grade 3 Class and their teacher Jeanette King in Maple Ridge (1st place), to Penticton and Summerland Secondary Schools' "Clowning Connections" (2nd place), and to Strawberry Vale's Grade 1 Class taught by Marjorie Ireton Roach in Victoria  (3rd place).

This video captures BCRTA's presentation to Penticton and Summerland Secondary Schools on June 16, 2010.   Keith Coates, member of the Excellence in Public Education Committee who recorded this video, introduced the ceremony with these  words:  

I would like to congratulate the staff and students involved in the "Clowning Connections" program.  As a person with a loved one in long term care through Alzheimer's disease, I realize how important all kinds of stimulation and human contact are to sufferers, and was delighted to see this program as one of the applicants for the Golden Star Award - in fact, I told the selection committee that if this program was not among the winners I would quit immediately.  I was impressed not only by the benefits this program gives the residents but also by the fact that young people interacted so well with the elderly - many young people seem afraid of contact with the elderly; honestly, old age isn't contagious. 

My hope is that this award will not only encourage you to continue with this innovative and impressive program but also that the exposure the BCRTA can give it will encourage other schools and students in other communities to create something similar - I have already talked to a board member in my area about it and have his support.

As a retired teacher, but more as the husband of a resident in a long term care facility, thank you for this program, and please keep it going in the future.

 click here to watch a YouTube video of the presentation

 

 

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