Access our Action Plan For Learning Blog here

H.D. Stafford Middle School is located in the City of Langley and serves the catchment area elementary schools of Blacklock, Douglas Park, James Hill, Nicomekl, Simonds and Uplands with our grade 8’s transferring into Langley Secondary School. With a school population of approximately 750 students in grades 6, 7 & 8  HD Stafford Middle has been designed to specifically support young adolescents as they transition through the middle years of their educational journey. We offer students the chance to explore their talents and passions by offering a variety of learning opportunities including Tech Arts (woodworking, metalwork, robotics); Home Arts (cooking, sewing); Fine Arts (music, dance, drama and visual arts), OACES (Outdoor Aboriginal Community Environmental Studies) as well as an impressive number and variety of athletic, extra-curricular and intramural opportunities.  HD Stafford Middle strives to provide middle years students with an opportunity to develop academically, emotionally, socially and physically in the safety of a grade 6 to 8 configuration while engaging them in exciting learning opportunities. 

Inquiry Question #1: How Will A Focus On School Community and Culture (Staff, Parents, Students) Improve Student Achievement?

• Connected Inquiry Questions:
  • How can we build a more positive culture within our school connected to powerful instruction and learning
  • How do we leverage the community around us to best support our students’ basic and learning needs.
  • How do we better connect with our feeder schools to understand students coming to HD Stafford and with Langley Secondary School to prepare the whole child for their learning experience at high school and beyond

• Rationale:
  • Learning cannot occur without a positive culture in a school focused on student well-being and learning
  • HD Stafford Middle has undergone considerable transition in its short history, requiring a re-focusing on culture and vision

• District Connections:
  • The District Achievement Contract includes Transitions. This inquiry question focuses on creating a culture that welcomes students from our feeder schools and utilizes the middle years at HD Stafford to prepare them for Langley Secondary and beyond

Pillars of Action:

• Establish Behavioural Norms For Staff and Students:
  • Staff commitments when engaging in collaborative time and decision making
  • Clear and consistent expectations for students behaviour

• Establish a vision for what a student leaving HD Stafford Middle looks like:
  • Embark in a visioning process for establishing character traits and skill sets we want our students to have entering into Langley Secondary School … Profile of a Skyhawk

• Encourage Parents, Feeder Schools, Community Partners to be an active part of the HD Stafford learning community
  • Improve communication between parents, feeder schools and community partners to truly leverage all resources to support students.
  • Embrace parents to attend PAC meetings and other crucial school activities and decisions
• Develop HD Stafford Middle as a Community School
  • Leverage our Community School Coordinator position to grow the tenants of the community school model

Resources Needed:

• Staff Development
  • Develop Profile of a Skyhawk … key character traits/values for our students
  • Maintain consistent implementation of both staff and student behavioural norms 
  • Focused use of staff meetings and collaboration time to revisit the culture being developed at HD Stafford Middle School
  • Opportunity to connect with parents, feeder schools and community partners in both face to face and online avenues
  • Human resources and capital supplies to create a central “Community Room” for breakfast/lunch program, homework club, community support, etc.
  • Work closely with Community School Coordinator to develop Community School Model

• Parent Education
  • A genuine welcoming of parents to PAC meetings and school events and decisions
  • Focus group to discuss what parents want for their children and how the school can support that
  • Involvement in creation of Profile of a Skyhawk

Indicators:

• Qualitative:
  • Focus groups (parents, staff, community partners) to illicit feedback on overall culture of HD Stafford Middle (on-going)
  • Design and implement a survey to parents, staff and community partners as a baseline on what our school culture is at HD Stafford Middle School (Spring 2018)
  • Data from MDI Survey (on-going)
  • Reliable achievement data … district assessments, FSA, literacy reading levels, numeracy assessments, etc (on-going)
• Quantitative:
  • Recognize and celebrate symbols of improved positive culture
  • anecdotal comments from students, staff and parents about “feel” of the building
  • Maintaining Action Plan For Learning blog as well as a Community Room blog