Briar Hill Safety Plan & Procedures

Code of Behaviour:
•The Briar Hill Code of Behaviour is published in both our school agendas and handbook.

Briar Hill Golden Rule:
•The Briar Hill “Golden Rule” “At Briar Hill we keep our hands, feet and hurtful words to ourselves” is well known to most senior students and should be familiar to all junior students.

Dress Code:
•The Briar Hill Dress Code is also published in both our school agenda and handbook.

Character Education:
•Character Education is taught on a weekly basis at Briar Hill. The staff has developed a curriculum to guide the weekly lessons.
•The Future Aces Program and Philosophy is actively promoted and pracitised at Briar Hill. Students are rewarded with Future Aces Mini-Alerts after displaying Future Aces behaviour and they are recognized at our monthly assemblies.
•The Briar Hill School Song is also sung at our monthly assembly to help instill pride in being a student at our school. The lyrics in the song promote good character behaviour. The song is also published in the agenda and handbook.

Partnerships with Charitable and Community Organizations:
Partnerships include:
Terry Fox Foundation
UNICEF
Jump Rope For Heart
Food Banks
Senior’s Group Entertainment
Remembrance Day and The Memory Project
Student Volunteer Programs: Eco Club, Milk Program, Fun and Fitness Ambassadors, Special Education Helpers, Library Helpers, Peer Tutoring

Centrally Assigned School Support Staff:
•Constantly being utilized to give support to “At Risk” students

Agendas:
•Many staff members use the agendas to communicate with parents about concerning situations in the classroom or at school

Phone Calls and Parent/Teacher Conferences:
•Ongoing for “At Risk” students

School Support Team Meetings:
•Monthly meetings to discuss students experiencing academic or emotional concerns

Staff Meetings:
•Staff meetings are held at least once a month to disseminate up-to-date information from the Board of Education or others on health and safety matters.

Physical School Safety:
•School Doors are locked on a daily basis at 9:15 a.m. Doors are unlocked by a buzzer system and visitors to the school are viewed on a video monitor before entrance is granted. Communication is by an intercom system.
•A Health and Safety Committee of different staff members is in place and meets to discuss school safety issues.
•Fire Drills and School Lockdowns are practiced six times a year to help students become familiar with school safety routines.

Student’s Emotional Well-Being:
•Except in extreme situations, progressive discipline is used at Briar Hill. Infractions of our Code of Behaviour are consequenced progressively e.g. warning, lost recesses, call to parents, in-school suspension, etc. Out of school suspensions are used rarely and usually only when other measures of discipline have not been successful.
•The Briar Hill Community is very diversified. Equity for all students and staff is an expectation at our school. An Equity Committee is in place and receives on-going professional development throughout the school year.
•To promote positive self-esteem, Briar Hill seeks out opportunities to highlight such events as individual birthdays, exceptional behaviour, academic successes, etc.

Transitions:
•To ensure smooth transitions for students who are moving to other schools, both students and their parents are invited to attend an information session and take advantage of an arranged school visit to the new school (for Grade 5 students, if it is the middle school that is in our area). This is also encouraged for Special Education students and their parents who are moving on to a new academic setting.

At-Risk Students:
•Students who are identified as “at-risk” academically receive individual support in either our self-contained classes, Home School Program or receive Resource Support from our school Special Education Staff
•Centrally assigned support staff are also available to support the above students, students with special needs (e.g. hard of hearing, blind, intellectual disabilities, students experiencing emotional difficulties, concerned parents, etc.)

Parking Concerns Meeting with Howard Moscoe

Meeting Date: January 22, 2008

In Attendance:
Howard Moscoe
Jack Sinopoli
Bob Cott
Howard Goodman (trustee)
Trina Byrne
Tony Minchella
Mr. Pagano (parent)
Mary Whittaker

Discussion centred on student safety and the negative impact on this safety from cars parked on Briar Hill Ave. to either drop off or pick-up children.

Several possible solutions were discussed, including: a bus layby, cut-outs of children attached to parking pylons, assemblies to enlist students' help in discouraging parents, no stopping signs, signs directed to parents, snow-removal from roadway, Walk-a-Block program, moving the sidewalk, creating a boulevard, etc.

Some changes involved changing by-laws.

Proposed solution:
- make the area on both sides of the street in front of the school a "No Stopping" zone patrolled on a daily basis by police (or Parking Authority);
- make a very small 15 minute parking area to the west of the bus loading zone
- move the present sidewalk north and create a boulevard between the sidewalk and the road. (During the winter, the boulevard would be used to collect snow ploughed from the road.) This would also involve moving the current fence surrounding school property from city land to school land.

Howard Goodman suggested identifying parents who are contributing to the parking problems in order to have individual conversations with them. He also suggested identifying those parents who had expressed concern for student safety due to parking to enlist their support, (the school’s allies).

School Safety - Draft Final Report

The draft Final Report on school safety from the School Community Safety Advisory Panel was released on January 10, 2008.
Click on www.tdsb.on.ca/schoolsafety to view the full report.
There will be an opportunity for parents to discuss issues from the Report at your School Council meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for January 17, 2008 at 6:30 p.m.