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Board-Operations
Staff
Schools
Students
Families
Learning
Sun West is committed to an educational philosophy rooted in personalized learning, which means recognizing and celebrating each student's strengths, interests, and learning styles. Personalized learning, academic achievement and 21st Century Skills, and engaging instructional and assessment practices are foundational to learning in Sun West classrooms. Whether it's through project-based learning, independent research, or collaborative projects, students are encouraged to take ownership of their learning journey.
Learning in Sun West is part of the 2023-26 Sun West Educational Plan that has three priorities: Achievement, Engagement, and Well-being. Click here for more information on the Sun West Educational Plan.
Families play an essential role in their child’s education. We value positive relationships between students, parents, and teachers. Regular and ongoing communication and feedback ensure everyone is involved in the student's success.
Sun West students follow the Saskatchewan Curricular outcomes, to ensure students acquire essential knowledge and skills across various subjects.
Sun West reports on academic outcomes and 21st Century Skills achievement through Edsby.
Sun West School Division educates students living on 19 Hutterite Colonies within our school division. These schools thrive within Christian-based, rural, farming communities, each with their own identity. Hutterite Colonies build and maintain their schools to minimize outside influence, in alignment with their beliefs. Teaching at a Hutterite Colony school offers unique and rewarding experiences. Colony school operate through an agreement and partnership between Sun West and the Hutterite Brethren.
Click here for more information on Colony Schools.
The early years of a child’s life are an exciting time of growth and discovery for both the young person and their family. Sun West School Division offers two programs to support your child’s learning during this exciting stage. Pre-Kindergarten is a targeted program offered at four schools in Sun West. Kindergarten is offered at all our schools as the first entry into the K- 12 school system. Both programs focus on the development of the whole child in the four areas of intellectual, physical, social- emotional and spiritual growth. Students are offered various developmentally appropriate opportunities to play, explore, and learn, guided by their teacher. Teachers of both programs hold teaching degrees and regularly participate in professional learning to further their knowledge. Families are welcomed and encouraged to take part in their child’s life at school. We are excited to partner with you at the beginning of this amazing journey!
For more information:
Click here for more information on Early Learning.
Sun West reports on academic outcomes and 21st Century Skills achievement through an online platform called Edsby.
Edsby is a great way for parents to support their children at school. Edsby pulls together information about each student and presents it in a clear, easy-to-understand format. Some teachers will assign work through Edsby and if they do, parents will be able to see academic progress, upcoming assessments, and current assessments. Each child has a calendar that will display tests and events from their classes and groups, if the teachers are entering the information. Parents may also see what teachers are posting in a class to support their child.
Click here for more information on Edsby.
Sun West provides every student with access to either an iPad or laptop making Sun West a 1:1 student/device school division. Students in grades K-6 are assigned iPads and in grades 7-12 are assigned laptops. Sun West operates in the Microsoft Education Environment, which means that Microsoft programs such as Word and Excel are on all Sun West devices and students use platforms like Outlook and Teams for electronic communications.
Click here for more information on Educational Technology.
Sun West School Division welcomes both newcomer students and students whose families speak languages other than English at home. Sun West strives to be inclusive of the rich cultural diversity within the division and offers English as an Acquired Language (EAL) support to students and teachers. In partnership with the local Newcomer Associations, a Settlement Worker is available to support families and share services available to them in their communities.
Click here for more information about English as an Acquired Language.
In today's rapidly changing world, students need more than just academic knowledge; they need skills that prepare them for the future. Teachers infuse these skills into lessons, assisting students in developing the competencies needed to thrive in an increasingly complex world.
Through assessments, projects, and continuous feedback, Sun West tracks growth in 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, and habits for success. Student growth in these 21st Century Skills is reported on the report card as Factors Affecting Student Achievement.
Click here for more information on 21st Century Skills.
Teachers offer students opportunities to engage in real-world learning through innovative programs such as Power Play, Destination Imagination, and Science Olympics.
In addition, the Grade-Alike Planning (GAP) Initiative offers teachers a chance to collaborate on developing engaging and fun cross-curricular projects.
Click here for more information about Innovative Education.
Building authentic and respectful relationships with Indigenous peoples is a priority for Sun West. We recognize that reconciliation is a life-long journey, and we are committed to honouring Indigenous voices as we continue learning and growing together. We aim to engage all students in their personalized growth in knowledge and experience of Indigenous Perspectives.
We do this by focusing on the following goals:
Sun West’s Indigenous Perspectives Learning Consultant provides professional learning opportunities for teachers and visits classrooms to teach students about Indigenous culture and history.
Click here for more information on Indigenous Perspectives in Sun West.
As part of our Achievement Priority goal, Sun West School Division continues to focus on ensuring student mastery in Math. The Math Literacy Group collaborates throughout the year to explore research based instructional approaches, assessment strategies, and math resources.
Click here for more information about Math in Sun West.
Sun West recognizes parents are their children's first and forever teacher. No matter a child’s age and stage, Sun West strives to build relationships of trust and collaboration so children can thrive! When parents and teachers come together to support students, everyone wins.
There are many ways that parents may choose to be engaged with their child’s learning. Each school offers parents multiple opportunities throughout the year to share in their children's learning journeys. From Back to School BBQs, to student-led conferences, there is something for everyone. All schools share academic progress through report cards, the Edsby Parent Portal and parent-teacher (student led) conferences. Parents are encouraged to reach out to their children's classroom teachers or the school with any questions or concerns.
Click here for more information on Parent Engagement in Sun West.
Some parents may be interested in joining the School Community Council (SCC). Click here for more information about SCCs.
Sun West schools considers the unique needs of each student through the creation of personalized growth plans. Students, at times, need extra supports to achieve their goals, and this is why “personalized goals” are part of student action plans. The term “personalized" in Sun West means that students are involved in the process of setting their own goals.
A personalized goal (PG) is an individualized, data-driven goal with a specific target that will allow students to work towards achieving specific expectations. PGs guide students from what they know to what they need to know. Personalized goals help teachers and students target the specific areas where a student needs further support. This might be a targeted goal in reading, writing, or math or it may be a goal to support credit achievement in Grades 10, 11, or 12. The personalized goals may have short timelines, and others may be ongoing. No matter what the personalized goal may there are school and divisional supports, to help each and every student continue to grow in their skill and knowledge development.
Click here to learn more about personalized goals.
Structured Literacy is evidence-based literacy instruction that has proven to be an effective means for students to master literacy.
Structured Literacy encompasses a science-based, structured approach that provides explicit, systematic, engaging, multisensory, and developmentally appropriate instruction. It teaches students the key skills to become efficient and accurate decoders. These skills lead not only to strong word identification but also to deeper text comprehension.
With Structured Literacy, there is a transfer of responsibility from teacher to student that allows students to control all the skills they are capable of controlling and supporting them appropriately until they are ready to use the skills independently.
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