Journey Middle School | Sooke School District

What's on this page

School Overview
Focus and Planning
Reflect, Adjust, Celebrate

School Overview

School Identity and Context

Journey Middle School is one of four public middle schools in the School District No. 62 (Sooke) Milne's Landing area in the town of Sooke. We are situated on the beautiful traditional West Coast Salish territory of the T'Sou-ke Nation. Journey Middle School is a school with specific school goals to support and improve literacy and social emotional learning. JMS offers a safe and vibrant educational experience for our diverse community of learners that include 578 students in grades 6-8. Our staff includes 36 teachers, 5 IST teachers,1Nat'sa'maht Indigenous Education/ESD teacher, 1 Nat'sa'maht Indigenous classroom program assistant, 14 educational assistants, 1 counsellor, 1 student engagement facilitator, school psychologist, CYFSW and counselling resources.

JMS is in the initial stages of drafting a mission statement. Our values are centralized on being kind and compassionate engaged learners.

Our inquiry question investigates:

Will direct and explicit instruction literacy programs increase student comprehension, fluency, phonemic awareness result in higher student engagement and outcomes?

Our Learners

What do we know about our learners?

Our student learning grows through developing skills in critical thinking and literacy fluency and comprehension. This is supported through differentiated classroom instruction, as well as the supportive work of our ESD and IST teachers as well as our EAs, both in classrooms and in additional learning support spaces.

Our student wellbeing is supported through social emotional learning, counselling resources, restitutional conferencing, and developing strong connections in our learning community.

What evidence supports what we know about our learners?

Our Student Voice

Focus and Planning

What focus(es) emerge as goals to pursue?

Intellectual Development

School Goal 1

Students will demonstrate continuous improvement in literacy skills, meeting or exceeding, provincial and district targets.

Strategic Plan Goal

Learning

Strategic Plan Learning Objectives

Provide opportunites for learners to develop critical and creative thinking skills.

Action Plan

Review and discuss RTI (Response To Intervention) Model
School wide literacy screening for all students
Formatively assess students in September, January and May
Complete marking in grade groups; highlight aspects of scales that correspond to questions
Input data into data management program to identify individual and group achievement levels
Create a focus group within JMS to examine trends and select specific areas
Examine and develop strategies , including technology such Google Read and Write, IXL, Directed reading programs to address the learning needs of students.
Implement in class RTI Tier 1 and in small instructional groups Tier 2 (Differentiated Instruction)

School Goal 2

Students and staff will learn and work in a safe, healthy and positive environment that fosters a sense of belonging.

Strategic Plan Goal

Engagement

Strategic Plan Engagement Objectives

Develop, expand and implement inclusive and collaborative practices and processes.

Action Plan

working side by side with families, community agencies, our Indigenous Nations and the school
developing and implementing a culture of learning that supports wellbeing and academics
weekly assemblies based on virtues
monitor and record office data to assess student interactions to communicate in a safe respectful manner, including restitutional collaborative conversations to support students.
review and create a plan for parental engagement with JMS PAC
provide professional development resources for teachers and families
consult with the Nat'sa'maht Indigenous department to enhance collaboration and inclusivity and a holistic approach to wellness.

How can the district support your goals?

Curriculum

Professional Development and Training

Provide professional development opportunities for educators to be able to utilize UDL in their classroom
Provide professional development for educators to be familiar with RTI model of supports for students
Provide training and resources to apply UDL and RTI in the classroom
Provide professional develop for educators to be able to apply social emotional learning embedded throughout the curriculum

Reflect, Adjust, Celebrate

Indicators of progress

Indicators of progress connected to Goal 1

Indicators of progress connected to Goal 2

How will we communicate and celebrate our progress?

Progress and Evidence to date