Notre-Dame de la Merci earns EQAO award

Coniston’s French Catholic elementary school, École Notre-Dame de la Merci, was recently rewarded for its efforts in improving its students’ academic performance.

The Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario (CSCNO) school was among 27 schools in the province to be named as recipients of the Dr. Bette M. Stephenson Recognition of Achievement.

A team of school representatives was on hand to receive the award at the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) recognition gala in Toronto.

This provincial award of merit, which recognizes the teaching staff’s dedication to student performance and their efficient use of provincial test results to improve student learning, has been awarded by EQAO since 2009.

EQAO also acknowledged the leadership, initiative, proactive attitude and sincere efforts made by École Notre-Dame de la Merci to help every student succeed.

“Thanks to its devoted staff, the school can closely monitor the performance of its students in regards to reading, writing and mathematics, as well as ensure the implementation of an improvement plan to help every child succeed,” a press release said.

“Through the school's professional learning community meetings, the teaching staff was able to determine what actions were required to enhance teaching strategies and implement an evaluation process to better support learning.”

Since 2012, Grade 6 students from Notre-Dame de la Merci achieved results above 90 per cent in mathematics, reading and writing. Results also indicate Grade 3 students steadily improved in all three disciplines during the last six years.

“Notre-Dame de la Merci’s staff commitment to student success has been outstanding,” said Lyse-Anne Papineau, director of education at the CSCNO.

“This academic success is the result of a real team effort dedicated to support each student’s individual progression in the acquisition and development of lifelong abilities and skills.”

“We strongly believe that all students can succeed and we are ready to do what is required to support them. Our teachers are aware that they can bring positive changes in student learning and help them succeed in life. We take great pride in our capacity to work as a team to identity efficient teaching and learning strategies for all our students,” said École Notre-Dame de la Merci principal, Mélanie Bourget.

“We congratulate the entire Notre-Dame de la Merci school community for its success in increasing student achievement rates,” said CSCNO president André Bidal. “The CSCNO is thrilled to see that the province acknowledges this strategy as a best practice that can serve as a model for other Ontario schools.”