| Section A: School Information | |
|---|---|
| Full Name of School | Hess Street Elementary School |
| Address | 107 Hess Street North Hamilton, Ontario L8R 2T1 |
| School Board or other Affiliation | Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board |
| Grades served by your School |
|
| Number of students at your school in eligible Grade Levels | 300 |
| Does your school have charitable status? | Yes |
| The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation defines a high-needs school as a Canadian publicly funded elementary school that receives at least 80% of its funding from the provincial or federal government. Does this accurately represent your school funding situation? | Yes |
| Principal Information | Principal Information |
| Name | Steven Johnston |
| Phone | (905) 527-1439 |
| sjohnsto@hwdsb.on.ca | |
| Secondary Contact Information | Secondary Contact Information |
| Title | Teacher Librarian |
| Name | Jelissa Buchanan |
| Phone | (647) 408-7321 |
| jbuchana@hwdsb.on.ca | |
| Additional Information | |
| 1. Has your school previously participated in the Indigo Adopt A School Program | No |
| 2. Has your school been awarded a Literacy Fund grant in the past? | No |
| 3. Is your school a French speaking school? | No |
| 4. Is your school French Immersion? | No |
| 5. Do you have an English-speaking staff member available for correspondence via phone? | Yes |
| 6. Is your school a First Nations School? | No |
| 7. The Indigo Love of Reading Foundation specifically directs resources to communities in need. Which of the following demographic groups does your school community identify as serving? |
|
| 8. How did you find out about the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation? |
|
| Section B: Authorized Account Representatives | The Foundation now allocates grants through the Adopt A School program in the form of an Indigo Corporate account. Your school is permitted to have up to three (3) authorized account representatives who will have purchasing power on your account. The principal of your school must be one of the designated representatives. In the event that your application is successful, please indicate the other two representatives you would like to have on your account,.we suggest that your Teacher-librarian or library technician are includes as reps. |
| Contact 1 | Contact 1 |
| Name | Jelissa Buchanan |
| Title | Teacher Librarian |
| jbuchana@hwdsb.on.ca | |
| Contact 2 | Contact 2 |
| Name | Steven Johnston |
| Title | Principal |
| sjohnsto@hwdsb.on.ca | |
| Section C: Selecting your partner store | In the event that your school is selected as an Adopt A School partner, what store location (eg. Indigo, Chapters, Coles, Indigospirit store) in your community would you like to be partnered with to help fundraise for your school library? Remote/rural schools: We recognize that some recipient schools will be located at a significant distance from a store. We suggest selecting a store that is closest to you geographically if possible. |
| Section D: Tell us your story | This section is your opportunity to provide the Foundation and our Indigo partners with the story of your school, students, and community. We want to learn more about the challenges you face in accessing literacy resources, but also the commitment you’ve demonstrated in the face of these challenges. Please be specific as you discuss your local demographics as well as any special programs and/or government/board designations that may exist in your community. |
| 1. Why have you chosen to apply for the Adopt-A-School Program this year? | We are a high-priority underserved school with high culturally diverse classrooms. We would like to create library and classroom reading material that represent our students and provide current up to date material that is engaging for our students. |
| 2. What literacy initiatives already exist at your school? | Hess is a highly diverse school with approximately %80 newly arrive Canadians who are supporting their children in their first language. This opportunity will allow us to further enhance the resources available to our students; such as dual language readers, level reader and implement recommendations from the recent "Right to Read" from the Ontario Human Rights Commission. At the present time we have the following literacy initiatives in place, daily independent reading, guided instruction, decodable texts, Strong Start Reading parent volunteers who are trained to do small group instruction, After school reading program, Phonics Academy. |
| 3. How has literacy at your school been impacted by COVID-19 and how would receiving this grant make a difference? | Since the pandemic our students have had lack of access to public libraries and some school library material that went home were lost. Many after school programming provided through the community was cancelled and has not been restarted. Students lost socialization opportunities which has affected their oral language skills, which impacts their early skills. Students with prolonged absences has substantiating affects on their success. Also changes in families social economic status may have lost opportunities to improve their financial status. Lastly, students lost opportunities to gain valuable experiences through educational excursions. |
| 4. How would you rate reading engagement in your student population? | 4 |
| Section E: Past Adopt A School participants | |
| Section F: Library Status and future state | |
| 1. Does your school have a school library? | Yes |
| 2. What percentage of classrooms at your school have classroom libraries? | 51-75% |
| 3. What was the dollar amount spent on books per student last year? | $ 1,000.00 CAD |
| 4. Approximately what is the average age (in years) of library books in your school? | 6 |
| 5. With additional funding in place through the Adopt A School program, what literacy pillars are you looking to grow in your school library/classroom collections? |
|
| Please indicate your response to the following statement: "Our students have equitable access to diverse and representational books and educational resources.” | Disagree |
| Please indicate your response to the following statement: “Our students have equitable access to books that interest them and support a love of reading.” | Agree |
| 6a. Please include 1-2 short-term goals that you have for your library learning commons and/or classroom libraries | National Geographic biographies |
| 6b. Please include 1-2 long-term goals that you have for your library learning commons and/or classroom libraries | Develop a culturally responsive collection |
| 7a. Does your school have priorities surrounding diversity/anti-racism? | Yes |
| Section G: Amplifying Awareness and Connecting with your Community | |
| Section G Description |
This section of the application will give you a chance to express your ideas and capacity for effectively partnering with a neighboring (or remote) store to communicate your story, as well as promote awareness-raising activities within your own school and parent community. |
| Partnering with an Indigo store: How would you partner with a neighborhood or remotely-located store to bring your school’s story to life? | Images of students reading their favourite books could be used if the store allowed something like this. QR codes that customers could scan that would show our students talking about a favourite book or showing their Learning Commons. |
| Generating awareness within your own School and parent community: How would you raise awareness for the Adopt A School program with your members of your School and/or parent community? | Twitter |
| Date Created | May 31, 2022 |
