At Wishing Well Elementary School, we teach one academic year ahead in an enriched learning environment. We follow the Ontario Curriculum guidelines and place critical thinking at the core of our teaching practice. Our lessons are rigorously planned to ensure that we meet and exceed provincial teaching standards and fully challenge each child to reach their highest level.
Math and Language Arts We have dedicated Math and Language Arts teachers from Grades 4 to 8. Students are provided with a minimum of 350 minutes of Math each week and a minimum of 500 Language Arts minutes each week. Most of our students graduate Grade 8 with the skills to succeed in advanced AP and IB programs across the GTA in public, Catholic and competitive private secondary schools.
Academic Achievement - Using 21st Century Skills in the Classroom Wishing Well Schools values the tools of 21st century learning, including:
Critical thinking, problem solving, reasoning, analysis, interpretation, synthesizing information
Research skills and practices, interrogative questioning
Creativity, artistry, curiosity, imagination, innovation, personal expression
Standardized Testing - Why? When? We administer the CAT4 test in October for Grades 1 to 8. These test results provide us with a snapshot of how well our students achieve as compared to 60,000 other students across Canada, informing our teaching for more effective planning for the students in our classroom. We do not believe that standardized tests should be used as a stand alone measure of achievement, but as a tool to measure where a child may need additional enrichment or support. We test in October in order to effectively plan for the year.
Professional Development - Staying Relevant in a changing educational world Our teaching staff engage in regular professional development and have a strong Professional Learning Network both in and out of our school environment. Collaboration is the key to our planning success as we strive to integrate the most relevant and student-centred teaching practices into our daily lesson plans.