Wolf Creek Public Schools (WCPS) recently hosted its 13th annual Support Staff Conference at École Secondaire Lacombe Composite High School. During these two days, while teachers and administrators attended the Central Alberta Teachers’ Convention in Red Deer, more than 300 support staff took full advantage of the time to learn, share, and grow both professionally and personally.
The conference attracted 165 educational assistants, librarians, secretaries, division office personnel, and other support staff from (WCPS), as well as 143 staff from surrounding school jurisdictions.
“Over the past 12 years, we’ve had a wide range of sessions at the Support Staff Conference. This year, we reviewed all of our past sessions, surveyed our staff and put together an incredibly strong line-up of speakers,” said assistant superintendent Gerry Varty.
“Post conference feedback gathered from attendees confirmed that the conference met their needs and will enable them to return to their work with new skills, knowledge and energy.”
The conference consisted of 29 sessions, ranging from two days, to one day, to half-day sessions.
An exceptional variety of topics were available for participants to choose from in the following areas: (1) new ideas for aiding students in reaching their full potential; (2) strategies for working with students with behavioural and/or developmental difficulties; (3) new technologies and procedures to improve classroom and office activities; (4) first aid training; and (5) personal growth and renewal.
In addition to the Support Staff Conference, members of the WCPS family school liaison team participated in an intensive two-day workshop.
“It has been said that one measure of an organization’s commitment to excellence can be determined by the ability and willingness of the members of that organization to learn,” commented Larry Jacobs, superintendent of schools.
“We are proud that WCPS is an exemplary learning organization where personnel throughout the organization are committed to improvement, a commitment that was most obvious over the two days.”