Principal's Message - Rutland Senior Secondary

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Rutland Senior Secondary

Home of the Voodoos!

Principal's Message

Welcome to our website for Rutland Senior Secondary School. Our learning community is located on the Traditional Territory of the Sylix Okanagan people.

RSS is an exceptional place for our diverse student population and caring staff. The many unique course offerings are part of what make RSS a special place for our staff and students to learn together as we transition from a teaching culture to a culture based on Learning - Learning for All.

Our students are provided agency through 'voice and choice' and encouraged to choose their learning via the many curricular and extra-curricular activities. Our students are able to pursue challenging Academic programs such as Advanced Placement (first year university level course work) and core Academic subjects. Other choices for students include our extensive Applied Skills, Languages and Fine Arts programs. Our athletic teams are called the Voodoos, named after the Canadian Military Fighter Planes that used to refuel in the Okanagan as we were the closest secondary school to the Kelowna airport at that time. Everyday at RSS one can see students engaged and active in their learning.

Our work is guided by the international research of the OECD's 7 Principles of Learning in the work that we do, which recognizes:

- the importance of putting learners are at the centre of their learning,

- the social nature of learning

- that emotions are integral to learning

- individual differences

- the importance of stretching all students

- assessment FOR learning (to guide further learning)

- the value of building horizontal connections.

Recently we have put an emphasis on building community through outreach into the other schools in Rutland and within our district. Examples of this include: Our ASL (American Sign Language) classes visiting other schools and classes in our district of Deaf or Hard of Hearing students to teach sign language to their classmates, English classes visiting Middle and Elementary schools teaching lessons, our Physics students teaching middle school science lessons, our Earth Science students designing and teaching lessons to grade 3 classes on Earthquakes and Volcanos, our French & Spanish classes teaching French & Spanish to Elementary students. Our Drama department invites elementary classes in to watch our drama Fall Production which always has a young learner theme.

Our Grad Council (Elected executive of the Grad class) raises funds as part of their Annual Legacy Project. Each year they choose one of the Rutland Elementary Schools to connect with and provide additional support for the students who will one day be students in our school. In 2017 they purchased books from the Adrienne Gear recommended book list, and went to the South Rutland Elementary school and read with the young students. In 2018 the class chose to support the Fine Arts program at Springvalley Elementary and in 2019 Pearson Road Elementary's library was supported with 50 new books whereby our students read the new books with their grade one students.

The staff is very proud to work in a learning environment where we continually strive to foster success for each student. Many of our staff members attended RSS as students themselves and feel such a strong connection to the community that they have chosen to return in order to continue to give back to our community. Our teachers are constantly exploring new ways to teach students and help meet their needs. Although we have formal parent teacher conferences throughout the year, teachers are available to meet or connect with parents to address any concerns in an ongoing basis.

Our Indigenous students are provided support in academics with Teacher tutors, with social/emotional needs via Indigenous Advocates, and a community support worker. This staff also provides support in Professional Development sessions for the rest of our staff in sessions after school and during staff meetings. In January of 2019 we added an Indigenous Learning Leadership Community to our school.

The diversity and variety of RSS course offerings is arguably the best in British Columbia. Some of these offerings include: Forestry, Emergency Medical Responder, Firefighter, Pre Lifeguarding Academy, BCIT Dual Credit program (Electrical), Equine Learning Academy, Okanagan College Dual Credit programs (Trades Sampler) , Indigenous Outdoor Education, Traditional Outdoor Education, Cafeteria -- Culinary Arts, Cutter’s Edge Program, Advanced Placement, a Preschool Program , Pre-AP Courses, Cyber Security, Leadership both Climate & Culture, as well as Social Justice. Additionally we also have Sports Academies (Hockey, Soccer and Baseball) which is no doubt another reason why RSS is a school of choice in our district. In partnership with Kelowna United Soccer, we have an indoor soccer dome and an outdoor artificial turf field on our property which we have use of during the school day.

At RSS we embrace our beliefs about learning and our mission statement of creating “A CARING COMMUNITY CHALLENGING STUDENTS TO PURSUE EXCELLENCE IN LIFELONG ENDEAVORS”

In partnership with our staff, students and Parent Advisory Council, we gather information through scanning, identify Patterns and Trends that emerge and develop our 'If - Then' statements. These become our goals or School Learning Priorities. Our goal is to have our students with dignity, purpose and options.

Our hope is that this website will provide you with more information about all of the wonderful and creative learning opportunities at Rutland Senior Secondary.

My personal belief is that Learning is a personal experience for each of us and I am both honoured and proud to serve as the Principal of this caring learning community where students have a staff dedicated to supporting our students in a wide range of learning communities.

Hugh Alexander