Hand Book

General Procedures

Reporting Academic Progress

We report student academic progress to parents and guardians five times per year. We have two informal and three formal reporting periods a year. Parent Teacher interviews in the Fall and Student Led Conferences in the Spring make up our two informal reports.

Communicating student learning is a vital component of the learning process and fundamental to student success. This is an ongoing process throughout the school year that involves the teacher, the student, and the parent.

The assessment information communicated to parents includes suggestions on how to improve student learning and how parents can support their child in the process. This communication can occur in a number of ways, from traditional report cards to conferencing, to electronic communication.

The B.C. Ministry of Education requires schools to communicate formally with parents regarding their children’s learning at least three times a year. At James Thomson school, teachers provide a written learning update two times a year, with a third and final summary of learning report in June. All three report cards describe what the student knows (content), can do (curricular competencies), and understands (transfer of big ideas and concepts), as well as suggestions for ways to support the learning at home.

Assemblies

Our assemblies will be held typically once a month at 1:30pm unless otherwise advised. We warmly invite you to come and celebrate our successes and enjoy our achievements at our assemblies. We have a monthly focus on academic and social skills and our assemblies will include student recognition for growth in these areas. We also try to highlight student talent, classroom productions and community events at our assemblies. Our newsletter provides up to date information about upcoming assemblies.

Student Attendance, Absence, Lateness, Sign Out

If your child is going to be absent from school or late for any reason, we would appreciate that you let your child's teacher and the office know. The District uses the Safe Arrival program through school messenger and if you are aware of a student absence, we ask that you use the system to notify us.  All absent students are accounted for by 9:30 am and a call back system is run to notify families of an unexplained student absence. We also ask that you come to the office and sign out your child if you are taking them out of the school during the day. We also ask that you sign them in if you return to school prior to the end of day bell.

Unless students have permission to leave, they are required to remain on the school grounds from the time of their arrival until dismissal.

Before School & Recess

Students are expected to remain outdoors until the 8:55 bell unless they are involved in a teacher-supervised activity. Students are also expected to be outside during recess (10:30 - 10:45am & 12:00 - 12:30pm) unless they are involved in a club event or an "inside day" organized by their teacher or the whole school.

Newsletters and Communications

Our weekly newsletter is published on Fridays (where possible) and emailed to JT families. Along with the weekly newsletters there are a few letters that come from the main office. Be sure to keep up to date on our happenings through our facebook and/or instagram pages as well.

Lost & Found

We usually have a large collection of shirts, jackets, shoes, socks, Tupperware and assorted items in our Lost and Found hamper. Over the year it takes on the aura of an archaeological dig. At the end of each term and at the end of the year we donate all Lost and Found articles to a charity. If all items of student wear were labeled with your child's first and last name we could easily match all the "Losts" with their owners. A laundry pen works well for this purpose and your child could easily be given the task of labeling their own items.

School Supplies

There is a district list of school supplies for each grade. As well, individual classroom teachers may request optional supplies in September. We appreciate your cooperation in providing students with the correct tools for their learning. Teachers pool these supplies to ensure that students have enough supplies to meet their learning needs throughout the year. Here's the link to the most current list: SD47 School Supplies