“Leadership in the OCDSB is the demonstration of personal initiative to achieve a positive outcome.”
Students
Forest Valley students are recognized for their leadership in sports activities within the North-Eastern Region. Recent student accomplishments include gold medal wins in; boys and girls cross country, girls volleyball, boys and girls track and field. Forest Valley students have been the regional champions in track and field for the last 7 years. Our school choir has been show cased on a local television station and performs in the community. Our students are enthusiastic volunteers in charitable fundraisers as well as providing mentoring to our younger students in various activities. The high level of student volunteerism at Forest Valley, amongst our grades 4 and 5 students, is a reflection of the values modeled within our community.
Staff
All the staff at Forest Valley care deeply about the students. Our office staff, Early Childhood Educators, educational assistants, teachers, and professional partners (speech pathologists, psychologist, social worker, itinerant teachers) all dedicate their efforts to ensure that the students’ educational, emotional and social needs are taken care of. We are a group of educational professionals with a wealth of professional qualifications including; Bachelors and Masters degrees in various areas of study, Child and Youth Worker diplomas, Developmental Service Worker diplomas and Early Childhood Education diplomas. Many staff have actively participated in a variety of Board and school sponsored professional development workshops in literacy, numeracy, kindergarten and English and French as a second language and Outdoor Education. We have diverse backgrounds that allow us to bring our special talents into the classroom, which enrich our music, art and technology programs. Our Early Childhood Educators and our Educational Assistants also bring a wealth of knowledge with them. Some have received training in non-violent crisis intervention and continuously take courses so that the skills and strategies they employ with our Kindergarten and special needs population remain current. Our Care Staff take pride in our building and always strive to ensure we are working in a clean and safe environment.
Parents/Guardians/Volunteers
Our parents and volunteers are invaluable partners in the students’ total educational experience at Forest Valley and our School Council is the cornerstone of that foundation. Our dedicated School Council meets monthly and contributes educational support as well as thousands of dollars yearly to support and enhance learning at school. As invaluable partners, we acknowledge our parents and volunteers through school announcements, our Principal's report to School Council, school newsletters, and our annual volunteer breakfast.
Community
Forest Valley is fortunate to be enriched by a variety of community partnerships. We regularly welcome Co-Op students from our OCDSB High Schools, as well as student teachers from Ontario Faculties of Education, Child and Youth Worker students and Early Childhood Educator students from Algonquin College. Ottawa Volunteers in Education (OVIE) provide Forest Valley with community volunteers who support our students and teachers. Our community includes Global Child Care Services which is located within Forest Valley Elementary School. Forest Valley is also privileged to have community business partners that make donations to support student and family activities such a ‘Springapalooza’. Some of these business sponsors include: Metro, The Independent Grocer, Boston Pizza, CIBC, as well as numerous others. Forest Valley is very lucky to have so many community volunteers who spend countless hours benefiting the school population on a daily basis.