Chapter 4 - Schoolwide Success Factors

     As teachers, we don't know what our students are bringing in their backpacks when they get to school.....was there a fight at home, did they have breakfast, do they feel safe, are they physically doing well etc.   We know what we expect of them in our class, but that's only a snapshot of what they experience in their entire day.  I would hope as educators that our entire staff would want to do what is necessary to try to meet the needs of our students....at least with what is in our power.

     I think Rugby Public School is working towards meeting more of these needs with every passing year.  One of the really positive steps, I think, was when we did the activity where we put a sticker on the pictures of the students that we felt we had a relationship with beyond the normal classroom interaction.  I'm very interested to see the results of the students' survey and how the data compares between staff and students.  Making sure that we take the time to form these relationships with our students and that every one of them feels that they have at least one staff member in their corner is so important....an advocate of sorts.

   The possibility of having a school social worker, psychologist, etc, more readily available to our students in the future if finances allow, would be such an asset.  I feel that our student body has a variety of needs socially and emotionally.  Unfortunately,  they are not always able to get the help that they need because of transportation issues in the home or a variety of other factors.  Sometimes I get the feeling from this book that the school really needs to be the support system in most areas of our students' lives....especially the ones who are living in poverty.  The fact is that if they are not getting these needs met and the schools can find a way to help meet them, why wouldn't we want to give them these resources.

    I look forward to seeing what other steps we will take at Rugby to continue to work towards school-wide success.  If we have positive staff relationships and staff-student relationships as we continue moving forward........exciting things can happen!