Jack introduced a familiar visitor to our club, Troy Calder, Principal at Westgrove Elementary. Jack noted that we have worked with the school on a number of projects over the last few years.
Troy said he felt privileged to be visiting the club and enjoyed meeting the members. He said our club has had a big impact on the school and wanted to be sure we were aware of it.
Troy told us that last year they re-branded the school and adopted a new motto: Kind, Respectful & Resilient. He said the school has some of the greatest needs in the Pembina Trails division. They are an “inner city school” in the outer city. We heard that many of the students who enter the school are not really ready – about 90% are from socially assisted housing and many come to school hungry and sleep-deprived. Troy said it’s not that parents are unfit, but they deal with the stressors that accompany poverty; the school is careful to avoid judgement. He added that more than 20% of the children are involved with some sort of clinical service provider.
Troy’s staff includes 10 teachers and 11 educational assistants along with 4 “English as an Additional Language” teachers.
The school’s strengths are:
- the Indigenous population with strong culture and beliefs
- young energetic teachers
- very high attendance levels – the kids want to be there
- very good growth in reading levels
- excellent spirit
- good parent involvement
- students and staff are very supportive of one another
- staff understand the needs of the students
- and they have plenty of student leadership
Troy said that one of the initiatives Rotary supports is the literacy program. With our help the school operates a ten-week summer program for 50-60 participants that help close the gap that occurs in reading levels between June and September. Students in the program are chosen based on numeracy and literacy needs and the program extends the school year to student in low income communities. The more experiences you provide a child, he said, the more they grow.
Troy told us the results of the program are that 82% of the students are reading and writing at grade level; nearly half increased their reading grade level over the summer and the majority are reading at the appropriate grade level by Grade 5.
In addition to classroom training the children are given opportunities to visit farms, museums and other interesting locations they would never otherwise get to.
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This spring our club worked with the school on the garden initiative. The idea was to create a school led garden in the hope of feeding the community. He said it was awesome to see so many Rotarians working on the raised beds in May. Then all of the students took part in the planting and watering of the garden, caring for it all summer. The garden had a huge impact on the community and the students were able to take home the produce in the fall.
As to what comes next, Troy said the teachers and club members had a meeting on October 10th to discuss future initiatives. One will be a book program where a child from each class will be chosen every Friday to receive a new book to take home and keep. Funds will also be used to support digital literacy, providing a variety of technology to assist learning.
Troy said clothing and footwear are other areas where we could help. Children would have clean clothing and shoes that fit and will bring pride and lower the stigma of poverty. The club will also help with grant writing and with topic specific learning.
Troy ended by saying that along with learning, the school is teaching hope. The key, he said, is a school that is safe and he repeated their motto “Kind, Respectful and Resilient". Troy thanked the club again for our support.
Roh thanked Troy for his presentation and told him we will be making a donation to Sherlerbox in Troy’s name.
