Wow - what a great discussion about the direction the school could take. Thanks again, for helping me reground myself (vent).
Please add a comment to the blog detailing a response to what we discussed. Aim for about five sentences and I encourage you to consider speaking directly to what someone else says or has said.
Thanks for keeping up with your homework; I really appreciate your commitment to the course.
My mind seems to be very malleable these days... During our wonderful discussion I felt sad, because I want to stay in school for the rest of my life! However, I don't want to be a teacher... I think that our ideas were great but without any extra budget I don't think these ideas are achievable. However, if someone or a few people decided that this was something that they would like to focus their energy on, then maybe it could be plausible. I hope that we can recover from the declining enrolment rate and hopefully we can come out of this better than we started because even though I want to get out of here as fast as I can, I love Pender.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the discussion today, I also agree with Mitch that i would much rather enjoying being here at the school in the future. The ideas presented today will provide a spark to what will expand to be the future of this school. Each idea opened a new route that was possible for this wonderful school to take on improving the atmosphere, and overall standards that Pender Harbour has acquired.
ReplyDeleteIt is a sad thought to know that if something doesn't happen at Pender then within years time there probably won't even be a school available for those who do live in this area. Mitch is right, if someone or some group of people focused their energy then something could be done to make Pender more appealing. At the end of this school year we will leave here, and as we go further in life we will look back on our years at Pender and most likely think to ourselves "those were the good days." So if we remember our years here as some of the best years of our lives we should want others who come Pender to feel the same way and have a good experience. If there is something that could be done to help Pender for the future then our class out of all is the one who would be able to.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Morgan. If you guys (English 12) feel the same sadness as the two of us then we should do something! It would not only potentially save Pender (or at least put us one step closer) but we will also be immortalized. I don't know about the rest of you but I know that this school is something special; the way the teachers know the students, the way we all know each other. This school creates family and, personally I don't want that to end.
ReplyDeleteI felt the discussion went well and the ideas that we came up with were great. I believe the idea of a marine biology course would be a great way to get more students to come to our school. It would be a class only offered at our school and a class that would draw people in. Also The fact that everyone in the school knows each other it makes it easier to keep track of trouble makers and help fix the problem. When your at Pender it is like being in a large family through good times and bad times.
ReplyDeleteI felt the discussion today was very interesting although it didn't appeal to me much because I will not be there much longer. I did hear some good points and ideas though. If I was going be be there longer I would have been contributing a lot more. For instance if we had this discussion in grade 8 or 9 it would have been more appealing to me. I think these ideas and thought should be presented to the lower grades because its a little to late for us.
ReplyDeleteToday the discussion about how to draw more people to our school was interesting. The ideas that we came up with were really good ones, With the exception of giving them Ipads because you could just give them $200 laptops that function just as well. The ideas about having classes that are not offered at other schools could help draw more students in also. However it could also be bad with such specific courses such as marine biology because if kids decide to take that instead of the general biology classes they shut many doors and options for university Sticking them in something that they may have just wanted to try.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, some very thoughtful comments, so far. I think that your sincere feelings about the school are probably the best advertisement/endorsement we could ever hope to get. I understand Gavin's point about leaving soon, but I hope you all are able to see past how the school's future will affect you personally and pursue the altruistic path of "giving back," whatever that might look like. I'm intrigued by Mike's economic acumen; I guess I am stuck in the Mac world - maybe that's a world too rich for us right now. It would be troublesome to have two computer platforms in the same school, or would it? I thought Macs were less prone to viruses and breakdowns; is that true (a question for the Tech. Dept., perhaps). Maybe instead of replacing Biology, we could augment it with a marine biology unit - a sort of "mini elective." Keep writing, folks; your ideas are refreshing.
ReplyDeleteWell today's class definetly went in a different direction than usual. I say that however in a positive way, I believe time should always be made to talk about what can make our school better and available for years to come. Some radical ideas were definetly brought forth today. I agree that these ideas arent the most plausable but with enough effort could turn this school around, so they shouldn't be dismissed. I believe the less radical ideas about promoting the things we do have to the students and parents of those students at Halfmoon Bay Elementary should definetly be followed through. I disagree with Gavin's comment about how "it's too late for us" and I disagree because we are the leaders of this school and to quote Morgan "our class out of all is the one who would be able to" to do something. I believe todays discussion was very valuable and should be further discussed because Pender Harbour Secondary is well worth it.
ReplyDeleteOur class discussion held some good ideas. However, an even better idea would be to start a bike club because lots of kids are interested in biking. And Pender should have a race team. So if you're interested in setting up a bike club you should talk to my brother, Maciek because he's stoked about biking and he would totally love to see a race team started at Pender.
ReplyDeleteBiking is popular at Halfmoon Bay Elementary, so having a biking club would be a good draw.
Today's discussion opened up my eyes as too what really we as students and even the faculty can do for our school. The discussion brought new ideas up when before I felt it could have never been possible. It also made me look deeper into my grad class, we truly live up to the "Dream Team" name. Also, I agree with Morgan "our class out of all is the one who would be able to" make this school more well rounded. And defiantly be able to create some new, innovative ideas for our school. Overall, i enjoyed taking our time to discuss this topic in class. Coming from a student who chose to make the transfer to Pender, our school deserves new bright ideas for the upcoming years.
ReplyDeleteAlso, i would like to agree with Mr.Marshall on his comment about Marine Biology. Because most of the students attending Pender enjoy the outdoors (possibly boating) marine biology would be a refreshing way to teach the students new things. Also, we have all the resources basically in our back yard. It's a fantastic idea to start out with.
ReplyDeleteEnglish class today brought out a more pro-active side in me that doesn't show itself too often. I've often complained about little aspects of our school in the past but the truth is, we have it so much better than many other kids on the coast. Our enviroment is drastically different in comparison to recent years and, in my opinion, way more positive than the other schools available. I completely disagree with Gavin's comment about how this discussion is no longer relevant to us because if our school has done good things for us, then we need to advertise that to future kids so they can enjoy the same experience. I agree with Aurora's comment about how we have to get through to kids at Halfmoon Bay elementary and possibly West Sechelt elementary. If a few grads who are passionate about our school went to these schools and spoke to the grade sixes and sevens it might get through a lot more than the ramblings of their teachers (no offence). Even if we encouraged them just to go to the tour, this would bring much needed exposure to Pender. However, as Mr Marshall said in class today, the decision is ultimately up to the parents. If we handed out pamphlets advertising programs and other things that would attract to parents to the kids when the grads went and made their presentation, we could take care of both targets at one time.
ReplyDeleteEileens idea of a bike program is awesome! Biking is huge at Halfmoon Bay and it would appeal to students and their parents. It would be a real shame to see Pender shut down because of lack of enrollment and this is definitely something we can help with.
Sorry for the length of my comment, I just had a lot to say on this subject.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mr. Marshall's idea of "giving back". The teachers at this school have done nothing but treat us with respect. They care about us and are willing to spend the time with each of us over the years we have been here. I yes i agree very much with "giving back" with us as the graduating class of this year we should set a major example for following classes.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the previous comment and considering the conversation in English class we had earlier today i emerge with mixed feelings. Ive always been proud of being from Pender Harbour ever since i was young and people always told me how lucky I was. However, in recent years i've found I've struggled to feel good about my school and the people in it because of the apathy that some people here have and that, I think, has rubbed off on me somewhat. There've been so many last straws for me in the last year that ive considered leaving just to make it easier on myself. Contradictly, i also believe that this place is so special compared to the other schools along the coast. You see a noticable difference between the grads in Pender and the grad classes of Chat and Elphi.
ReplyDeleteIn relation to the previous comments:
Although many people disagreee with Gavins comment, I see some honesty in it inreagrds to the too little too late aspect for us, However i do agree with Mitch and Aurora that we should be giving back to the younger grades to show them how excellent this place could be in the future.
I really hope that in the furture not only will Pender still be a genuine home-y place that it is today, but also desirable in the academic and technologically advanced sort of way as well.
Im sorry for the spelling errors, i kind of ramble quickly when typing. I also have a hard time remembering to capatalize my 'I's haha
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't want to seem like a pessimist, I don't quite think that a few people really trying will actually have that much of an effect, for several reasons. The primary reason is that people are leaving our school or not coming to our school, because it does not have many people. It's a downward spiral, we don't have enough enrolment, so we can't offer as many courses, and our enrolment is declining because we don't have enough courses. I don't doubt that this is one of the main causes of our lack of enrolment, simply because of the number of people who have left Pender in recent years. These people almost assuredly left due to lack of options, and if they didn't then we have to face the worrying prospect that other schools ARE better than we are, in which case our primary goal would have to be bringing ourselves up to that level.
ReplyDeleteI'm not trying to say we're in a hopeless position, or that we're somehow inferior, but I believe that it's not such a simple thing to fix. There are fewer and fewer children in Pender Harbour, as it is slowly becoming a Retirement Community. The sustainability of a High School in such an area is fundamentally in question, as is the practicality of it. Unfortunate as it may seem, with current trends in enrollment, educational funding policy and the general policies around education as a whole, we are not really in a climate that supports a small somewhat alternative school in an out of reach area that draws from a completely different area.
On a more positive note, providing incentives could certainly boost interest in our school, and spreading the word could definitely boost our enrolment temporarily, I just don't know how long it could last. Using iPad's or Laptops we could move to digital textbooks, which could help us save a lot of money on textbooks. I certainly believe we should become more digital, however I don't know if that will save us from the coming storm.
^wow i can't top
ReplyDeleteOn another note I like the idea of making some clubs, and advertising what we have will help some what. However, I do think the problem Rowan pointed out will be a much harder fix.
I definitely think that Mitchell and Aurora are on the right track. A few grads should go down to the lower coast elementry schools and make some sort of presentation about Pender. They should encourage them to come take the tour of the school and highlight all the positive aspects about our school. For example our sports team programs. Neither Chat or Elphi have soccer teams at their school. Eileen's comment about the bike team is really good as well. For a start. this is something that our grad class can easily do to give back to our school.
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