By Jill

Over the past three years, I have been asked to go through our school’s Strategic Plan, look at the goals and note for each goal, how the Library is supporting each goal. This has been a great exercise! I am now fully aware of the direction the school is heading. I am more involved in the combined efforts of our entire school community to reach our goals. Also, I can see the gaps the Library can fill, to support these school-wide goals. I can also offer suggestions for complementary Library Development.

flickr image by kvanhorn

The Ministry of Education website tells us:

“Change is part of education. A strategic plan is a tool that helps manage change to the best advantage of the school, including staff, students and the community.  It encourages looking ahead and managing the future risks and uncertainties.  It means that the school is flexible and able to respond to new ideas.  It enables a board to plan for the future in a proactive rather than a reactive way.”

The structure as set by the Ministry of Education in its Schools Financial Sector is:

• Charter - including an annually updated section for the relevant year 
• Strategic Plan – ‘A school board’s strategic plan is an overarching plan to raise student achievement over the next three to five years’
• Annual Plan – ‘which shows the strategic goals and specific actions the school has planned for the current year.’  

The Strategic Plan tells where we want to be.  It will:

• Develop, refine, or revise a shared vision for the future.
• Identify priorities for action.
• Set goals to work towards.
• Describe what the school will be like when the vision is achieved, ie, the mission statement.

As you can see by the model above, the Strategic Plan is where all the decisions for school directions and spending are made. The Annual Plan is more about when and where the tasks in the Strategic Plan will be completed. To be more involved at the long-term planning stage, and to have the Library service  taken into account , then check out your school’s Strategic Plan and get your Library written into it.