Conclusions/Recommendations from Meeting of
RE: Student Registration, Course Selection and Timetabling
In Attendance:
Parents: Doraine
SCI Staff: Mr.
Student Council: Ms.
Purpose of Meeting:
The purpose of this meeting is:
a) to share with administration and staff, concerns about the current process which exists at SCI regarding student registration, course selection and timetabling.
b) to get a better understanding of the issues which surround student registration, timetabling and course selection.
Parental Goal:
100% of SCI students timetabled for the first day of school in September with 100% student satisfaction in course selection.
Parental Concerns about the Current Process:
- Length of time at the beginning of the school year when students are not in class and are still sorting out personal timetables.
- The actual number of students requesting appointments with guidance to discuss courses and timetables. (approx. 500 for this school year)
- Number of students not satisfied with their courses for the school year.
- The compounding problems which arise as a result of not satisfying student course selections.
- Actual start time of some courses.
INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (TREVLAC):
a) On site, hands-on style Professional Development for staff of SCI. Attaining competency in all relevant areas of the system is crucial both in basic and advanced system capabilities.(eg pre-requisite checker)
b) There must be an expectation from the consumer (Division) that the supplier (Trevlac) invest in product development and timely consumer supports to address the needs of the school.
STAFFING:
a) Divisional ICT staff must be available to the staff of SCI to immediately troubleshoot technical problems identified by SCI staff during registration and timetabling periods which often fall outside of scheduled school days.
b) Skilled (skills to be specified by the school) secretarial support must be available to Guidance and Administration for peak times only.
c) Skilled (skills to be specified by the school) student management staff must be available to Guidance and Administration for peak times only.
d) SCI Guidance time allocation to deal with student failures in July as it relates to changes in timetabling and registration.
STUDENT SUPPORTS:
a) SCI Career Counselor.
b) Accommodate course changes in June for students who have identified that they require changes in courses. This may require staffing, to free up guidance who is typically involved with graduation responsibilities.
PARENTAL SUPPORTS:
a) Eye Catching notice to be put on cover of Registration Guide to invite parents out to a Registration Information Evening.
b) Use Synervoice and the SCI Website to remind and encourage parents to attend the Registration Information Evening.
c) SCIPAC can communicate to parents the importance of using the Registration Guide as resource when supporting students in course selection.
SPECIALTY COURSES:(eg On-Line Courses)
a) These courses should be treated no different than other courses with respect to start date. Start dates should be the first day of classes.
b) Specific specialty courses often require a high degree of student self motivation. Students and parents will require information identifying the kind of commitment, supervision and independent study skills necessary to successfully complete these courses.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS INCLUDED:
a) Current practices (ie meeting with senior 4 students individually, presentations to all feeder schools)
b) Barriers for the school to have a later registration deadline:
i) Hiring staff for the next school year.
ii) Time needed for data input and timetable development.
iii) Numbers required for the Budget Process.
c) The issue of students changing their minds about courses.
This issue did not have a decisive conclusion for reasons that are based on knowledge of the character of the student and the Need of the student to change courses as opposed to the Want of the student to change. What parameters should be considered as valid reasons for change? (A comment after the meeting by one parent was that in remote areas students may want to change because of geographic ability to be in with friends to work on projects and homework after school hours. The student may have valid educational reasons for requesting the change.)
d) Problems which may arise when requesting students come back in July if they
have failed a course.
e) Students who just don’t register.
f) Need to have the staff on board to consistently check students in their classes to be sure that they have the pre-requisites to be the particular class.
g) Brief discussion about independent study courses which require students to be working on their own.
Parental Goal:
100% of SCI students timetabled for the first day of school in September with 100% student satisfaction in course selection.
