Cameron Elementary School – Our Story
Cameron Elementary School is a diverse and dynamic learning environment. All the teachers and support staff work incredibly hard to meet the needs of all our students. We offer a variety of experiences at the school including after school programs such as Friendship Club, ACTS, Burnaby More Sports and Burnaby Parks and Recreation Programs. Like any organization, we are only as good as the staff that we have in the building and at Cameron…we have AMAZING staff who go well above and beyond to make Cameron a welcoming place for kids.
We have over 546 students who attend our school on a regular basis with the following breakdown:
- We have 37 languages represented in our school with the top 5 being: English, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Farsi.
- We have 45 students with Ministry of Education Designations for Special Needs and 27 full-time Education Assistants to help support their learning.
- 19 Indigenous students across all grades.
- 265 English Language Learners
According to the most recent EDI Report:
- Cameron students are showing increased vulnerability over the course of the study (Wave 2 to 7) in one or more categories.
- The categories that show the greatest vulnerability amongst our youngest students are:
- Emotional Maturity
- Physical Health and Well-Being
- Language and Cognitive Development
- 32% of our youngest students arrive at the school as vulnerable in at least one of the categories
We provide rich learning experiences including (but not limited to):
- MindUp Lessons
- Ruler
- Mood Meter
- Zones of Regulation
- WITS and LEADS
- Growth Mindsets
- IXL Math
- Targeted Student support interventions
- Weekly support for Indigenous Students from our District Indigenous Resource Teacher
We have a dynamic group of professionals working in our Learning Support Services Department that provide much needed support and guidance to our classroom teachers in support of some of our students in need.
- We provide targeted support using a variety of the following:
- Boardmaker communication symbols
- Online learning resources
- Functional Behaviour Assessments
- K-TEA Assessments
- Support “Community Wrap-Around” services for complex family needs
- Respite Room
- Physiotherapy support
- Positive Behaviour Support Plans
- Working with Challenging Students
Other initiatives undertaken at Cameron:
- Technovation Challenge
- Hour of Code
- Anti-Racism and Personal Bias Workshops
- ADST Programs
- FastForword
- Girls Who Code
On the Horizon…
The Global Pandemic has impacted organizations around the world in various ways and schools are no different. Here are a few things we are noticing at this point in time:
- Younger students are arriving in Kindergarten, Grade 1 and 2 with less school-ready skills as before. Particularly, we are seeing challenges in behaviour with respect to social-emotional learning. This may be due to the lack of daycares, preschools and schooling during the pandemic.
- Older students seem a bit more resilient at this time, although we’ve noticed changes there as well (just not as noticeable as with the younger students). This may be partly because older students don’t always attend daycare and they are able to maintain contact with peers through technology.
- We anticipate spending more time and resources on social-emotional learning in the next few years.