School Handbook

School Information

Welcome to the website for Harrow School. I am Laurie MacDonald, the principal of this wonderful, small community school located at 550 Harrow Street (at the corner of Harrow and Taylor).  Harrow is a Nursery through Grade 6 school with a current population of approximately 170 students.  We also have a Learning Assistance Centre. The LAC is a special education program for children with behaviour difficulties.  We make it one of our priorities to help integrate these students successfully into their school and then into their home schools.

Mission Statement 

As a staff, we are committed to providing our students with the opportunity to learn and to thrive in a safe environment of acceptance and encouragement. Respect is the norm. We are the facilitators and we are here to help the children achieve their potential and become contributing members of society.

Guiding Principles

At Harrow School, we promote and celebrate individual differences. We also accept and respect the diversity of cultures and lifestyles. This involves the cooperation of our staff and parents in programming for the academic, social and emotional needs of each child. Parental support is essential, as it is through the commitment of both parents and teachers that the children will benefit most from the education that they receive. The expectation for all students is that they come to school ready to learn and to develop their skills to the best of their abilities.      

The staff is committed to providing instruction of the highest quality. Emphasis is placed on the student’s ability to accept responsibility for his/her actions and to maintain a standard of self-discipline while recognizing the rights of others. Children and adults must respect each other at all times. We encourage community involvement to enrich the programs of Harrow School.

School Goals

As we continue to work on strengthening instruction and assessment in both Literacy and Numeracy in our school, the focus this year will be on specific skills in writing strategies and conventions and implementing the concepts and strategies of the new Math curriculum.  This will include the use of technology in all curricular areas.

Classrooms will work on exemplars of good writing as children develop their skills in each grade level.  This will include clear expectations and modelling of writing samples, demonstrating, reinforcing and correcting the mechanics of writing, and expanding the purposes of varied writing styles.

Several of our teachers will be involved with the Literacy With Information and Communication Technology projects being offered by the school division.  This will provide strategies and opportunities for teachers to explore literacy and the use of technology as an effective teaching tool.  Our students will continue to develop their skills in place value, mental math, number sense, and problem-solving using the concepts and strands of the new math curriculum.

We are also committed to promoting a healthy lifestyle for our students.  This will include the encouragement of an active physical lifestyle, social/emotional skills, respect of self and others, nutrition, and wellness.  We appreciate your support at home in encouraging your children to learn and live healthy and active life skills. 

Special Programs

We are fortunate to have many specialists who enhance the programming available to our students. These include an automated library, French for Grades 4,5,and 6, computer technology, music, art, physical education, resource and special education supports.  

School volunteers come from many walks of life, including various high schools and both the University of Manitoba, and the  University of Winnipeg. We are able to offer resource tutoring, EAL (English as an additional language) support, and supported reading programs.

Other programs within our school include:

Harrow also houses a Daycare program (Harrow School Children’s Cooperative) which provides before and after school supervision as well as lunch for some of our students. The majority of our students staying for lunch are enrolled in our Harrow School Lunch Program, run by the Parent Council.
    

Parent Council

There is a very active, involved Parent Council at Harrow School. This group of committed parents works to ensure clear open lines of communication between home and school.

Our very successful Lunch Program is operated by our Parent Council. It is used by many of our students (approximately 75).
Fundraisers organized by our Parent Council help us to meet the many and varied needs and goals of our school community.

This year new basketball hoops have been erected through the fundraising efforts of the Parent Council.  New asphalt has been completed and trees have been planted to enhance the greening of our school yard.  Their support of the school is invaluable!  

    
Newsletter and Home/School Communication

Harrow School has an open door policy. It encourages open communication. We particularly welcome volunteers within our classrooms. There are numerous opportunities for people to become involved. Our monthly newsletter includes a calendar of events and is a valuable tool in helping to keep everyone informed of our activities and achievements.  Please note that this is available on our website.  Please ensure that you check your child's backpack daily (especially for our younger students) for notes, updates, and planned activities.

We are very proud of our school! Please feel free to drop by and see us in action! I look forward to your visits.

Laurie MacDonald

Copyright © 2002-2005 Winnipeg School Division
For more information, contact Webmaster.