School-Home Partnership and Student Support | |
Parent-Teacher Interviews Parent-Teacher Interviews can be arranged with faculty at any time throughout the school year, should the need arise. Please contact the school with any concerns. Official Parent-Teacher Interviews are offered to all parents in the fall and spring, between written reporting sessions. Approximately a month before each set of interviews, parents receive an email inviting them to sign up online for Parent-Teacher Interviews. | |
Student-Led Conferences Held annually in December, Student-Led Conferences are an important assessment tool within the Primary Years Program because they are a unique and personal way for students to share their learning. The conferences provide an opportunity for families to celebrate and appreciate students’ hard work and accomplishments. They also provide parents with a window into the daily classroom program. In conjunction with a student’s digital portfolio, a conference allows a student to demonstrate and reflect upon how much she has learned since the beginning of the year. Goal-setting is also an important part of these conferences. | |
Learning Strategies Support Branksome Hall provides a broad scope of support so that each girl is known by caring adults in our Branksome Hall community. The range of support includes classroom and specialist teachers, Learning Strategies teachers and the Social Worker. Learning Strategies Support, through Student Support and Wellness, is an integral part of Branksome’s academic program. Our goal is to work with students, their families and teachers to support the academic success of each student. The Junior School Learning Strategies Centre on the second floor of Read Acres operates as the hub of learning support for all students. It is staffed by three Learning Strategies teachers. The Centre is open every day before school and for after-school drop-in and homework support every day except Wednesdays.
Students also attend the centre for one-on-one and small-group support. Students with exceptional learning needs have individual Learning Strategies Plans developed for them. This plan is updated annually, and identifies areas of strength and areas to target for growth. Learning Strategies Plans are distributed to each student’s teachers to provide them with strategies for differentiated instruction in the classroom. Students are encouraged to become familiar with their Learning Strategies Plan to understand how they best learn, adopt an approach to studying that will be most effective for their learning style, and learn to advocate in a constructive and effective manner. | |
Social Worker As part of the Student Support and Well-being Team, the Junior School has a dedicated Social Worker, Ms. Carolyn Mak. In partnership with teachers, she is available to help students develop their social-emotional learning skills in the Junior School classrooms four days a week. She is also available to provide emotional support and consultation to individual students and their families. | |
Parent Involvement The Junior School thrives on parent participation. There are many opportunities to get involved, from being Class Parent Representatives to library volunteers, field trip chaperones or as guest speakers. If you would like to be a Class Parent Representative for your daughter’s class, please contact the Class Representative Coordinator from the Branksome Hall Parents’ Association. For information on other ways to get involved, contact the Branksome Hall Parents’ Association at parents@branksome.on.ca. | |
Clans Each student in the Junior School is a member of one of our eight clans: Bruce, Duncan, Fraser, Gordon, Grant, Johnston, MacDonald and Robertson. The purpose of the clan system is to give each student a sense of belonging to a small cross-grade group within the school community and to promote school spirit. In general, sisters are placed in the same clan and students with a family connection to a clan are placed within it. Those with sisters in the Senior and Middle School are placed in the corresponding clan that is twinned with our Junior School clans. Our Grade 6 students assume leadership roles by organizing activities and events for the clans. | |
Field Trips Field Trips provide students with valuable educational experiences by extending the classroom learning beyond the school and into our greater community.
If your daughter is unable to attend a field trip, please give as much notice as possible as field trips are planned and costs allocated by the number of students in the class. Please consult the school calendar on the Portal and our weekly newsletter, Friday File West, for dates of field trips and forms. | |