Mission Statement
Southern Tutchone: Kwanlin Kets'edän Ku shäwthan kedst'edän yu äkwäch'e dunena ädä ghay kenadän yu dunena French ye English shäwthan kenudan yu, dunena kedashagoon ghanda µkinuthi dudänk'e shµ shäwthan uyekuje du. |
| en français: L'école élémentaire de Whitehorse est une école communautaire qui est accessible et intéressée, où les enfants peuvent apprendre à leur propre rythme, aussi bien en anglais qu'en français et ou l'individualité et l'héritage de chaque enfant est respecté et encouragé tout en entretenant une compréhension et un développement de la culture autochtone. |
| English: Whitehorse Elementary School is an open, caring community school where children may learn at their own rate, in either English or French, and where each child's individuality and heritage are valued and encouraged, while an understanding of First Nations' culture is fostered. |
After School and Lunch time activities
Learning can take place in any setting, and as educators, we must strive to expose our students to a variety of experiences both in and out of the classroom. It is imperative that we take advantage of the richness of our resources both within our school community, as well as the greater community around us. Within our school, we must encourage staff to offer their talents in developing noon hour and after school activities. One of our goals is to develop a solid after school and lunch hour program for our students. The majority of our students stay at school for lunch, and therefore, we felt it a priority to be able to offer a variety of activities for our students. |
| Students at Whitehorse Elementary take part in a wide variety of Yukon tournaments & meets. |
| Parent Volunteers: At Ecole Whitehorse Elementary, we believe in the concept of partnership in education, and the inclusion of our parent body is a key component to the establishment of a child centered school. Parent volunteers are an essential part of the life of any school. It has only been recently that schools have begun to explore the possibilities in terms of how parents volunteers can take an active role around the school, and at that we have barely scratched the surface. At Whitehorse Elementary, we are committed to increased parent involvement in our school. Parents are encouraged to take an active role in all areas of the school. The following are some of the areas that our parents take an active role in our school: helping out in the classroom, reading to children, hot dog & pizza days, as guest speakers, games room supervision, supervising classrooms to allow for staff collaborative professional development, special projects, computers, library, call back system for student absence, camping trips with students, fund raising, breakfast program, sports supervision, computer support, field trips etc. |
| Breakfast for Learning program: This is a program that is now Yukon wide and provides children breakfast at school. The program in the Yukon was first initiated at Whitehorse Elementary School which has been in operation for 16 years, and in the first three years was supported financially and run by the administrative team and parent volunteers. All food was donated by the various grocery stores and bakeries in the downtown area. At Whitehorse Elementary School, we continue to provide the program with the help of our parent volunteers and five years ago, we added a lunch component. In the morning, the volunteers make sandwiches that are given to children who come to school without a lunch. This program would not be possible if it weren't for the strong commitment of many parent & staff volunteers! |
| Learning Assistance Program: WES has 3 learning assistant teachers . |
| Music Program: Every student receives formal music classes in the school. These children also attended the Yukon annual Music Festival. A musical is typically performed each year at Christmas time. We also have a beginner Band program available to Grade 7 students. |
| PE specialist works with all students at Whitehorse Elementary. |
| Library Program & Information Technologies: WES has both a Librarian and an Information & Communication Technology specialist. Units are developed collaboratively with classroom teachers and are good examples of the strong team work evident at our school. |
| Southern Tutchone Program: Native language program is available to all students Grades 1-7. Daniel Tlen has developed a program that involves formal language instruction, cultural activities and field studies. |
| Supervision of the playground: WES is supervised by at least 5 adults at all times which includes daily supervision by the administrators. |
| Open School: School should be a place that is inviting, not only to teachers, but also to parents and students. It is our belief that an open school creates a positive atmosphere. We endeavor to create an atmosphere of “our school.” At Whitehorse Elementary, we open the doors at 8:00 in the morning from August to June to offer our students a variety of activities to choose from such as Computer Lab, Library, and Gym. It should be noted that students who participate in morning activities tend to be more relaxed when the regular school day begins. Another byproduct of the open school concept has been the virtual elimination of truancy, as students who were once continually late for school, are now arriving one hour early. |
| Technology: Ecole Whitehorse Elementary has received recognition as part of the Canada’s Network of Innovative Schools in technology. There were 129 schools in Canada that applied for this designation and only 36 new schools were accepted. WES rated as 5th in the 129 schools that applied. We are now one of 150 schools designated in Canada. Our school received $30,000 for hardware and software over the course of 2003-2006 school years. The projects we have done and the quality of the student’s work had a significant impact on the success of our application. Please visit our webpage feedback page to see just some of the email we receive regarding our site. |
| WES Code of Conduct: please download the attached pdfs. Code of Conduct 1 and Code of Conduct 2 |
