Elmwood is proud to offer a wide variety of resources to help both students and parents get any and all assistance they need academically. Student Success assures the success of each student, helps to create an inclusive learning space at Elmwood, and works to remove the stigma around needing academic support. Everyone has their own individual toolbox when it comes to learning skills, and sometimes we need help finding the right tool for the job. Our Student Success department works very hard to ensure all students are getting every tool they need, and if you were unsure of just how much the Student Success department offers, we have broken it down for you.
Success Studios:
Three days a week, after school, middle and senior school students can get some extra help with specific subjects. Each of the three days has a different theme, Mondays with Mr MacGillviery, are Math and Science focused, while Wednesdays and Thursdays, with Mme Bourdeau, focus on executive functioning skills and French Language Arts. Keep an eye on the Success Studios, as there may be more to come for Physics or English.
Writing Clinics (Senior School):
On Tuesdays during lunch hour, Senior School students can meet with Ms Elgee in the library for writing clinics. Writing is not just a skill used in English class, it is an important skill used in the sciences as well! Elmwood wants to make sure students have a strong foundation of writing skills, and the Writing Clinics are an excellent place to start, or to just fine tune your skills!
Period 6 Homeroom Programming (Middle School):
On Mondays during homeroom time, middle school students have the chance to practice and develop their executive functioning skills using brain boosters and clinic sessions. While executive functioning is the priority of these sessions, there is also opportunity for students to meet with Ms Royce for Math assistance, and Ms Elgee for English.
Elmwood Edge Tutoring:
Elmwood offers a tutoring program with specialized content experts, set during school hours for ease of scheduling. Parents can access this program if they feel their child needs academic support for any reason. Reasons could be: learning gaps from transferring to a new school, or even to a new country, perhaps your child is neurodivergent and requires one on one assistance with a subject, maybe there’s an IB exam coming up and they just want a little more practice, or they just need some help grasping difficult concepts. No matter the reason, Elmwood Edge provides excellent support for students, and there is always communication between tutors, teachers, and parents about the students' progress.
Success Coaching:
Middle and senior school students are able to connect with either Mme Bourdeau or Ms Walsh, Elmwood Student Success Coaches, to receive extra support in developing their executive functioning skills. Time management, prioritization, organization, study skills, task initiation, you name it. Many Grade 11 and 12 students access Student Success to receive coaching on specific brain functioning skills such as how we process information, how your brain actually works, or how to learn properly and efficiently. Students often feel that there is a significant shift in content level from grade 10 to 11, and seek out assistance from Student Success to redesign their learning tool box. One of our goals is to have grade 12 students graduate Elmwood with each and every tool they need to succeed.
Learn to Learn:
Elmwood’s Learn to Learn programme is a group session aimed at teaching students how their brains learn, and is based on work done by Barbara Oakley, a professor of engineering at Oakland University and McMaster University. Her work focuses on learning processes and the Learn to Learn programme is designed to teach students how to learn. Grade 11 & 12 students meet Mondays at lunch, with Mme Bourdeau, to follow Oakley’s Coursera course on Learning How to Learn.
Junior School Student Success:
Elmwood’s Student Success department has implemented a literacy intervention programme that is aligned with the science of reading, that notes gaps and areas of improvement for foundational literacy development. All junior school students are screened for literacy skill levels, using data driven instruction to ensure all our students will get the help they need to read at the level they should be. This science of reading is also beginning to branch out into the middle school as well.
The Student Success department also works very closely with junior school teachers to make sure they have all the tools they need to understand their students' needs. For those with specific learning requirements who need some one on one or small group coaching meet with Ms Eades, Elmwood’s Early Literacy Intervention Specialist.
Elmwood Edge tutoring is also available to Junior School students during and after school.
Additional Support:
Elmwood’s Student Success department can also coordinate with parents to facilitate other forms of support such as speech and language pathologists, occupational therapy, etc.