Our School
Queen Elizabeth Public School is a junior school with approximately 240 students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade Six. Queen Elizabeth prides itself on providing a safe, supportive learning environment that promotes respect, responsibility and teamwork.
The staff at Queen Elizabeth is dedicated to developing capable, responsible students in a nurturing environment of mutual respect and trust. Through on-going reflection about what we do, we strive to continually improve and to instill a love of learning in our school community.
We have high expectations for all of our students in all aspects of life. We expect our students to set goals for academic, social and physical success. We believe that students achieve excellence through high levels of participation and a commitment to always do their personal best.
School Motto:
We are Lions, hear us roar!
We are a HERO Generation School!
Our School Day:
8:50 Entry
8:50 – 10:50 Instructional Block #1
10:50 – 11:30 First Nutrition Break
11:30 – 1:30 Instructional Block #2
1:30 – 2:10 Second Nutrition Break
2:10 – 3:10 Instructional Block #3
3:10 Dismissal
Our Students:
Queen Elizabeth Public School is home to approximately 240 students from over 24 countries. We provide the All Day, Every Day Kindergarten program to approximately 80 Junior and Senior Kindergarten children. In addition to our regular Grade 1 – 6 classrooms, we also have two Special Education Composite classes. Most graduates from Queen Elizabeth Public School go to Courtland Senior Public, where they attend grade 7 and 8. A smaller group of our students will attend Laurentian Public School for grade 7 and 8. From there, our students attend Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute for secondary school. Most of our students walk to school and approximately 40 students ride the school bus each day.
Our Staff:
We have a staff of 18 teachers whose focus is developing engaged, successful learners who demonstrate effective learning skills both inside and outside the classroom. Our teaching staff is supported by three Early Childhood Educators, nine Educational Assistants, one Child and Youth Worker, two Administrators, an Office Manager, a part-time Library Clerk and two Custodians. We have a highly skilled, caring staff working with our students. As a team we work hard to create a positive, safe learning environment for our many diverse learners.
Parent and Community:
The parents of this community are very supportive of our school. We appreciate the number of parents who regularly volunteer in our building and those who help out when they can. Our active School Council meets on the third Wednesday of each month, except in December and March. School Council supports school initiatives and policies in an advisory capacity. Many items are addressed including fundraising, school and staff initiatives and community issues. This group works closely with the school to make it a safe, welcoming place for our students every day.
Early Literacy Supports
In addition to the regular academic program, Queen Elizabeth offers students opportunities to participate in a number of programs to support Early Literacy. We have the Early Literacy Intervention program, Strong Start program, and our Home Reading program.
Our Early Literacy Intervention program provides intensive support to students in Grade 1 to strengthen developing literacy skills.
Our Strong Start program is run by community volunteers to provide young students with literacy support. This program is sponsored by the Hallman Foundation in conjunction with the Waterloo Region District School Board and is managed by our Early Literacy Teacher.
The large majority of our grade 1-6 students are involved in our Home Reading program and we hope to involve our kindergarten students as well. Students read at home and the number of nights of reading is tracked by the school and recorded on our Home Reading bulletin board. Student milestones are celebrated at the school (we recognize students for every 25 nights that they have read). Home Reading is a very important initiative at Queen Elizabeth and we appreciate the support of our parents for this program!
At Queen Elizabeth, we offer resource support through our Special Education Resource Teachers and our Educational Assistants. There is a wide variety of services to support students with special needs. Assistance may be provided in the classroom or in the special education room.
English as a Second Language Program
The English as a Second Language Program (ESL) at Queen Elizabeth serves approximately 20 students and supports students to develop vocabulary, oral language skills, and literacy. Students benefit from contextualized reading and writing development that is based in communicative oral language tasks. In this way, our English Language Learners develop both the ability to express themselves with growing competence, and the ability to read and write meaningfully. The ESL Program accelerates natural language acquisition, and we are often amazed at how quickly students acquire basic speaking and literacy skills.
Our goal is to also support students beyond basic English development so that they reach their academic potential. Our classroom teachers understand the needs of English Language Learners and accommodate these children with key visuals, modified work, peer helpers, and volunteers. Understanding and supporting English Language Learners is a community effort and a privilege that we enjoy here at Queen Elizabeth Public School.
Classroom Organization
Queen Elizabeth currently has an enrolment of approximately 240 students. There are three sections of All Day, Every Day Kindergarten and eight classes of grade 1 to 6 students We also have two special education Composite Classes.
Facilities and Resources
Queen Elizabeth School has a very large playground area. We have an extensive playing field that contains a soccer field, a baseball diamond, creative playground equipment, and a large general play area. We also have a large tarmac area that has basketball nets and a variety of painted tarmac games. We have recently completed a School Greening project and have added shade trees, rocks for sitting, pathways and a new Kindergarten play area.
The school structure consists of the original school, which has one floor. The school has 15 classrooms, a library, a staff room and a gymnasium. We also have several smaller spaces used by our Child and Youth worker and Board staff.
Clubs and Activities
Students at Queen Elizabeth can participate in a wide range of activities. We offer sports activities for students and a variety of clubs. We also provide students with a variety of play equipment at recess time.
Junior students have the opportunity to take on leadership roles such as library helpers, office helpers, bus patrols, safety patrols, lunchroom helpers, and announcement team members.
Queen Elizabeth families have supported many local charities, including our local Food Bank, the Terry Fox Run, Jump Rope for Heart, etc. We think it is very important to help others when we can.
School Improvement Plan Goals
Our school improvement plan highlights the following key goals:
* We are working to communicate our thinking when problem solving in math.
* We are working to model daily the HERO Generation attributes
Character Education is Important to Us
Queen Elizabeth is a HERO Generation school. We support the development of the HERO Generation attributes by collaborating with our staff, and students to model them on a daily basis. Teachers model, reinforce and celebrate each of the attributes on a regular basis and we hold monthly assemblies to share what these attributes look like, sound like and feel like. The QE attributes focus on:
Hope – is having goals
Efficacy – is believing that you can
Resilience – is not giving up
Optimism – is finding the good
Gratitude – is being thankful
Empathy – is being kind
Mindfulness – is being calm
Our mascot “Leo The Lion” helps us to connect these attributes to our school.