Vision

To strive toward creating a school responsive to the needs of the new millennium. The foresight of Linda Darling Hammond is useful to lend clarity to the vision….

“The schools we envisioned are exciting places; thoughtful and engaging. They are places where meaning is made. They are places that resemble workshops, studios, galleries, theatres, studies, laboratories, research sites, and newsrooms. Their spirit is one of shared inquiry. The students in these schools feel supported in taking risks and thinking independently. They are engaged in initiating and assessing their ideas and products, developing a disciplined respect for their own work and the work of others.

Teachers function more like coaches, mentors, wise advisors, and guides than as information transmitters or gatekeepers. They offer high standards, with high levels of support, creating a bridge between challenging curriculum goals and students’ unique needs, talents, and learning styles. They are continually learning because they teach in schools where everyone would be glad to be a student or a teacher - where everyone would want to be, and could be, both.”

The Right to Learn by Linda Darling Hammond

Riverbend School is committed to fostering a love for life-long learning by providing opportunities for students to be active participants in and to take ownership for their own learning. We believe it is necessary for students to work cooperatively and independently to develop a keen sense of citizenship and to address the intellectual, spiritual, physical and emotional aspects of life.

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Background Information

Riverbend school is nestled mid-way into the community of Riverbend and is easily accessible from any area of the city (north and south via Deerfoot Trail and east and west via Glenmore Trail). The strength of Riverbend community lies in the dedication of the parents to building a strong sense of neighborliness, the commitment of parents to the educational opportunities for their children and the stability that comes from a very low mobility rate, allowing the majority of students to attend Riverbend school from kindergarten through grade six.

About the School

Built in 1995, our school retains its first year luster because staff, parents and students take pride in how it appears. The teaching spaces are bright and cheery due to natural light as well as the artful display of student work. The facility offers a breadth of teaching and learning spaces. Open classroom type team teaching settings are interspersed with more traditional closed classroom settings and all are complimented by a large and central media center, a multipurpose area, a double gymnasium and a variety of other flexible learning stations. Our school ground is large and complete with a parent constructed playground, our newly developed naturalization area and a city rink, soccer and baseball field.

We are a safe and caring community. Students live our motto: Take care of yourself, each other and our place. Good manners and respectful interactions are the norm. Students are expected to develop in the are expected to develop in the areas of mastery, independence, belonging and generosity through participation in programs such as Circle of Courage and Lion's Quest.

The focus of Riverbend is student achievement. Students are encouraged and expected to expend every effort to be and to do the best they can in all endeavors. Staff take delight in continuous learning and in being current when it comes to educational research and practice.

The school was named after the community that it serves.

Purpose

Parents, staff and students at Riverbend School strive to create optimum conditions for students to work to meet their full potential. We value a strong sense of community. Parents, students and staff all assume ongoing responsibility for creating high standards in all that we do.

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Covenant of Beliefs by which we agree to live and work.

• Learning should be an active process that demands full student participation in valid work. (see excitement in their eyes)

• Learning should be both individual and a cooperative venture, where students work at there own pace and performance level and also work with other students on solving problems.

• Learning should be goal-oriented engaging, and connected to the real world so students can connect what they learn in school to the outside world.

• Learning should be personalized to allow students, with teachers to set goals that are realistic and attainable but challenging and filled with rigor.

• Learning should contain a component of self-evaluation in a school culture that nourishes, enhances and allows each individual to find their own path. Assessment should be seen as a tool to develop further teaching and learning strategies.

• Learning should be in a comfortable and attractive physical environment and in an atmosphere of support (caring), respect and safety.

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Context

We believe that the fundamental democratic purpose of public education is to 'Educate Tomorrow's Citizen Today'. So as servants of the public we embrace, honor, integrate and work toward the five ends of the board as well as tend to the strategic directions:

• E-1 Mega End: Each student, in keeping with his or her individual abilities and gifts, will complete high school with a foundation of learning to function effetively in life, work and continued learning.

• E-2 Academic Success: Each student will possess the knoweldge, skills and attitudes required for academic success and be effectively prepared for life, work and further learning.

• E-3 Citizenship: Each student will be a responsible citizen by being an informed and involved member in his or her local, national and global communities.

• E-4 Personal Development: Each student will acquire the skills, attitudes and knowledge to achieve their personal highest potential.

• E-5 Character: Each student will possess the character to do what is right, act morally with wisdom , and balance individual concerns with the rights and needs of others.

Intentional Focus Points

Goal#1 - To support academic rigor (E2) and a global perspective (E4) through the use of Inquiry and embedded technology.

Goal #2 - To develop children of good character (E5) and active citizenship (E3) through a focus on environmental stewardship.

Goal #3 - To enhance student achievement in Math by using best teaching practices and portfolio assessment presentation.

Annual School Results Report (PDF)

Riverbend School Song

**It's Me and You**

Chorus:
Take my hand - call me friend
Come and learn, here at Riverbend
Red and yellow - green and blue
Riverbend School - it's me and you
***
We have an extraordinary story to tell
About caring for ourselves, each other
And our school as well
We're multitrack and all-year-round
Hardworking and it's true
When we put our hearts and minds to it
There's nothing we can't do. (chorus)

We're leaders and we're learners
We're thinkers and we're dreamers
We have love and kindness and encouragement from our teachers
We clean up and cooperate - take turns and pitch in
We laugh and sing and play and try to do the best we can. (chorus)

We're wise enough to know that we will make mistakes
We're smart and we can figure out just what it takes
To go beyond our limits - to turn hard times around
To give each other 'put-ups' and not ‘put-downs’. (chorus)

Lyrics: written by Riverbend School students, teachers, and Peggy Ward.
Music: written by Peggy Ward (c) 1998
Created as a culmination of our first CAPES (Calgary Arts
Partners in Education Society) project.