IB/CAIS Evaluation

INSPIRING

GIRLS

Elmwood School IB/CAIS Evaluation October 28th - 31st 2018

The Process

Highlights

Standards

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“...there are so many positives about your school and I am keen on sharing these with our programme development teams. Your staff’s work is truly recognized and valued by IB and I intend on letting my colleagues know about your excellent work with the exhibition and personal project. I encourage you and your team...to share your practice with other schools who desperately look for exemplars. ” John Sauer, Chair of IB Visiting Team

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“Under the strong, innovative, and committed leadership of Elmwood’s Head of School, Cheryl Boughton, Elmwood’s leadership and staff have, without a doubt, strengthened Elmwood’s position as a leading school that fosters excellence in teaching and learning, innovative leadership practice, and development of an exceptional and talented staff.”

CAIS Report

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“Parents identified the school's onus on communication as a strength.

Students expressed that they felt supported and cared for by the teachers.

Throughout their time Elmwood, site visitors witnessed the honest and open rapport teachers have with students. Positive student interactions, both formal and informal, were also apparent.�

IB Report

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“The team was enormously impressed with the school’s evident high expectations for exemplary teaching and learning, the faculty’s commitment to it and the girls’ and their resulting engagement in their learning. These expectations and ongoing improvement have resulted in great progress.”

CAIS Report

Commendations organized by Elmwood’s Strategic Plan

Vision, Mission and Values The Visiting Committee commends the school for its powerful and inspiring mission vision and values statements.

The Visiting Committee commends the school for its set of belief statements that align with the IB philosophy and for building understanding of these beliefs among its stakeholders.

Academics Engaging, intellectually rigorous and relevant academic programs lead to outstanding student achievement and success at Elmwood and beyond.

Academics

The school for its commitment to an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning evident in documentation, conversations with faculty and during classroom observations.

The school for its systematic approach to ensure the five essential elements are developed throughout the programme of inquiry and the unit planners.

The school for providing a wide variety of relevant and engaging learning experiences for students.

Academics

The school for its engaging teaching and learning experiences that promote inquiry-based learning.

The school for its systematic documentation and reporting of student learning over time.

The school for its planning and implementation of the Exhibition that supports students to demonstrate their learning in PYP.

Academics

The school for ensuring all members of the school community understand, value and celebrate the central importance of the personal project.

The MYP coordinator for creating a detailed and comprehensive ATL skills chart for all years of the programme.

The teachers for ensuring the curriculum raises students’ awareness of local, national and world issues by providing stimulating and relevant connections to these topics of concern.

Academics

The school for ensuring that students and teachers demonstrate a common understanding and adherence to academic honesty.

The teachers for ensuring students are provided opportunities to be and become independent learners.

The teachers for ensuring access to information technologies are regularly used for teaching and learning.

Academics

The school for the strong emphasis placed on differentiating to meet the learning needs and styles of all their Diploma students.

The school for the hard work that they do to ensure that both Ministry of Education and IB curriculum are blended together to enhance student achievement.

The school for giving students a range of choices in every group of the Diploma Programme.

Academics

The school for designing learning experiences to address the diversity of student language needs, including those for students learning in languages other than mother tongue.

The school for employing a wide array of instructional strategies in teaching and learning.

The school for adapting learning experiences to engage students in reflecting on how, what and why they are learning.

Academics The school for the wide variety of both formative and summative assessment strategies and tools it has implemented to measure student learning.

The school for the value it places on language acquisition and for the choices provided and pathways offered to students in learning languages.

Whole Girl Elmwood’s dynamic learning environment fosters the development of well rounded girls.

Academics

The teachers for ensuring that learning experiences include an emphasis on student reflection.

The teachers for providing opportunities for students to demonstrate learning in a variety of ways.

The school for the Theory of Knowledge collaboration that extends throughout all six groups of the Diploma Programme.

Whole Girl

The Visiting Committee commends the school for the work that has been done in implementing new and well thought out initiatives in the areas of Standard 2.

The school for actively promoting and supporting initiatives to embed student action in its culture.

The school for providing opportunities to increase student agency.

Whole Girl

The school for creating and sustaining a learning environment which encourages mutual understanding and respect throughout the community.

The students, teachers and academic leadership team for establishing a positive learning environment based on understanding and respect throughout the school community.

The school for promoting meaningful student action in response to students’ own needs and the needs of others that occur in the CAS programme and throughout all other aspects of the school.

Whole Girl

The school for promoting student action that fosters positive peer-to-peer collaboration of learning based upon respect and the needs of others.

The school for the varying and vast number of co-curricular programs relative to the school population.

The school for the structure they have in place to support all students.

Whole Girl

The Junior School for their building an evident foundational approach in guiding students to taking responsible risks. This approach sets students up for success as they continue to learn and grow at the School.

The success of the International Student Program.

The Visiting Committee commends the Elmwood Bistro for its excellent, enviable, well balanced, flavourful and large variety of food service for the students and staff.

The school for the detailed, thoughtful policy it has developed to support inclusion of all learners.

Faculty Elmwood’s team of teachers are consistently excellent, innovative and committed to the school’s mission

Faculty

The school for the commitment to, research of, and initiation of a collective leadership approach.

The Visiting Committee commends the school for the implementation of design thinking.

The school for a positive professional culture that allows faculty to collaborate, maintain excellent personal and professional relationships and work harmoniously together to provide high quality teaching, support and learning for the students and each other.

Faculty

The school for creating an environment whereby the employee group has energy, passion, cohesion and commitment regardless of role or function at the school. It was evident that Elmwood is a gratifying and enjoyable place to work.

The teachers for utilizing a wide variety of teaching and learning strategies that engage students in their learning.

The school and teachers for documenting their curriculum and planners systematically using a central location

Faculty

The teachers for their thorough planning of lessons based on a full overview of student learning experiences.

The teachers for planning for differentiation for students’ learning needs and styles in their unit and lesson plans.

The teachers for actively considering all attributes of the learner profile when developing their written curriculum.

Faculty The teachers for creating a culture in their classroom that encourage students to be inquirers and thinkers.

The teachers for carefully planning their lessons to develop and engage students as inquirers and thinkers.

Community Build strong, loyal and supportive relationships through effective communication, parental and alumni engagement

Community

The school for utilizing the expertise of the community to enhance learning within the programmes.

The school for the effective communication of the mission, vision, values and strategy

The school for the quality of its marketing materials, both printed and digital.

Community

The School for its effective and open communication that promotes understanding and respect and puts into practice the values embodied in the school’s belief statements

The school for a wonderful Centennial Celebration and publication that engaged and re-engaged so many alumnae and members of the community.

The school on the level of current parent, staff and Board engagement in the annual fund.

Sustainability Ensure the strength and capacity of Elmwood for future generations.

Sustainability

The evident hard work and strategic focus of Elmwood Head of School, Cheryl Boughton.

The Head and Leadership Team for facilitating regular generative discussions at all Board meetings

Elmwood for their evident work in staying true to the mission, vision and values of the school. It is evident that the Board uses these as a filter when considering decisions at the school.

Sustainability

The Board for their thorough process of annually reflecting on and identifying potential strategic risk to the school.

The Board for their thoughtful and detailed work on their bylaws and requirements.

Board for its detailed and careful financial planning and projections with careful consideration of risk and opportunity factors.

Sustainability

The school’s financial management team for systematically making changes and detailed monitoring of the school’s financial position.

The Board for their thoughtful and detailed work on their bylaws and requirements.

The finance department and the oversight of the Finance Committee on their collaborative input regarding the assumptions that have formed the basis of the long-term financial plan.

Sustainability

The school for the outstanding Junior Facilities that are well maintained and excellently presented with living examples of student work, educational opportunities and messaging.

The school safety committee and the facilities team for high levels of security, general and safety maintenance, cleanliness and presentation of the school buildings and grounds

The School for a visionary and ambitious Campus Plan that will modernize and improve the overall school educational facilities in line with the strategic plan and ensure that the school can operate more effectively at full capacity.

Next Steps - School

There is an opportunity to further develop as an organization through enhanced long-term planning and alignment of key programs and departments.

Next Steps - School

Further enhance the professional skills of staff.

Next Steps - School

Gather additional information and feedback regularly.

Next Steps - School Consider how we organize ourselves and how we function as an organization including: ● Time ● Schedule (collaborative planning time etc.) ● Roles and structures

Acknowledgments

Thank you to faculty and staff, Board members, parents and students for contributing to the school’s success and positive roadmap for the future.