Message from the Principal
Maple Ridge S.S. is a Great Place to Learn, Grow and Thrive!
We welcomed students into our fabulous state of the art facility in September 2021 after rethinking the traditional materials/resources that have been used to "do school" for years. Three years later, school at Maple Ridge S.S. still looks and feels different from other school experiences. Our focus is on teaching our students future ready skills through curriculum-connected rich learning experiences. Future ready skills are the skills and attributes that students need in order to thrive in the modern world. These include:
Take the Maple Ridge S.S., Future Ready Skills Self-Assessment (make a copy) to see how developed your skills are! Every student who graduates from Maple Ridge S.S. should be able to clearly talk about these skills and give examples of how they are able to demonstrate them in a classroom and/or work experience.
Students and families will also notice our focus on developing cultures of thinking in our classrooms. We define cultures of thinking as places where collective as well as individual thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted as part of the regular, day-to-day experience of all students. We focus less on “doing the work” and more on “explaining our thinking” and “discussing our progress in learning”. Students should be able to answer these important questions about the learning they are doing in each of their classes:
- What am I learning?
- Why am I learning it?
- How will I know I have learned it?
- Am I getting better?
Additionally, student voice is extremely important to us. We have been gathering information from our student body and will continue to do so over the course of the 2024-2025 school year to inform our ongoing planning. The focus on student voice will continue so that the important decisions that we make reflect our student population. Students can voice their ideas and suggestions through the clubs and teams that they join (e.g. Student Government, the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) team, the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) etc.) or they can make an appointment to meet with their Vice-Principal if they have questions, concerns or ideas - Erika Garrett (for surnames A - L) and Radim Jasek (for surnames M - Z).
Our students should feel empowered to share their ideas, thoughts and concerns so that together we can build a safe, supportive and, most importantly, an inclusive and equitable school community that celebrates diversity. We strive to ensure that every person, regardless of role in the school (e.g. student, staff, family, or volunteer), who walks through our doors feels a sense of belonging that allows them to learn, grow and thrive!
As part of developing our students digital literacy skills, we have been able to work together with our school community to ensure that each student has access to an electronic device (e.g. laptop or Chromebook). We encourage families, where possible, to send their child to school with their own device. Research shows that students that use their own device for school, become more technologically fluent. In other words, they become an “expert” at customizing their device to suit the ways in which they work best. Of course, for those who are unable to bring a device with them, we have a long term loaner program that ensures that every child has access to the technology they need to meet with success.