École Élémentaire James Whiteside Elementary School, is a diverse and exciting school community with approximately 400 students. We welcome learners to three programs - English, Early French Immersion, and Late French Immersion. Our well-established and vibrant music and band programs provides the opportunity for students to develop their skills in both singing and playing instruments. Most recently Whiteside underwent a dramatic renovation project. Each corner of our school has become refreshed, renewed, and beautiful. We thank our school district and the Ministry of Education for their dedication to our school. We continue to expand our outdoor classroom and look forward to further developing our connection to our local environment. Our school backs onto South Arm Park, there are many opportunities for teachers to use nature as a learning tool. 

Whiteside is fortunate to have a Late French Immersion Program which begins in grade 6, we have a large number of students in grades 6 and 7, which provides the opportunity for strong leadership development. Throughout the year, our amazing teachers and staff host a series of Student Leadership conferences. During our leadership conferences, we invite student voice to help provide feedback, insight, and guidance on the direction of our school. We also focus on team building, community volunteerism, and school enhancements.

During the 2023-2024 school year and continuing into our current (2024-2025) school year, our teachers, staff, families, and students scanned, reflected on, and discussed learning at Whiteside. Our community has strong connections with each other and look forward to coming to school each day. Our teachers and staff recognize and appreciate the support and dedication of our families. We come together to provide the best learning environment for our children. We are also grateful for the love of learning that our students display every day. Our classrooms are alive with student engagement. During this year of reflection and scanning, our community sees two areas of growth: Literacy (specifically reading comprehension strategies) and social responsibility (specifically peaceful problem solving and consistent school-wide expectations). We are enthusiastic about the opportunities presented to us to build our repertoire, enhance student learning, and engage our community.

In literacy this year, we are committed to:

• completing thorough literacy assessments
• using data from our literacy assessments to guide our teaching practice and differentiate our instruction
• provide comprehensive and specific instruction to target specific reading comprehension strategies.

In Social Responsibility this year, we are committed to:

• creating school wide language based on shared values among our students, families, teachers, and staff
• developing a social-responsibility framework that strengthens our positive and safe school culture
• implement clear, positive social-emotional, behavioural expectations leading to more connectedness and social emotional success.

We will be successful when we see:

• our Wolfpack engaged in their literacy learning and can specifically name reading comprehension strategies that help them understand their reading.
• improved assessment scores
• common use of school-wide language
• our Wolfpack using learning from our social-responsibility framework to resolve conflict in the classroom and on the playground.