2011 State of the School Address San Jose Elementary School October 17, 2011

SAN JOSE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: Working Our Way through Challenges Good Morning and welcome to all. I am glad that everyone is here to witness an event that is significant for our beloved school, San Jose Elementary School (SJES). I am pleased to deliver today as principal my first state of the school address. I divided the focus of my speech on three sections: Achievements, Obstacles and Forthcoming Goal. Within my speech, I will recall the past of how our school established her way towards what we are now. In the course of my speech also, I will emphasize the struggles that we are facing and the suggestions that we sat on together to resolve these struggles. And hopefully, within my speech, I may introduce conveniently new programs that will enhance our current system for the betterment of our students, faculties and community. So with enthusiasm, may I request everyone, sit tight and relax. ACHIEVEMENTS Recalling the past, no one can deny that San Jose Elementary School started with a humble beginning. From a small shack, it flourished to become a school that catered hundreds of individuals towards good education. Refined by times and collaboration of the town people, San Jose Elementary school still stands today to continue her commitment for the community and that is delivering quality education where students can become responsible citizens of the community, government and of the country. For me, there is no other greater achievement than this that the school must and should boast of. Aside for the established commitment, I would like to report that our school achieved 1,500 enrollees for this school year 2011-2012. For the point of view of others, this might be 1,500 times of added tasks, but here in the Elementary school of Barangay San Jose, by virtue of our vision and mission, we see this as 1,500 times of opportunities of reaching the youth and touching their lives. We may not have the best facilities for them, at least, through our efforts, we are a part of their someday success. Imagine 1,500 individuals that can become future lawyers, teachers, doctors, achievers, even the president of the country, all originated and inspired by our school. Their achievements are our achievements too. I would like to inform you too that not only the students are guided to excel here in our school. Our teachers who patiently guide the students were also molded well here. I am glad to tell you that the teachers of San Jose Elementary School can be rated top calibers in their profession. Two of our colleagues are pursuing their Masteral Degree through sponsored scholarships. What they did is a proof that the staff of our school is committed in their personal and professional

growth. Their endeavors in their post graduate course are valuable to the improvement of San Jose Elementary School. Let us support these endeavors, let us give them a big applause. When it comes to recent National Achievement Test, we are glad that our students made to achieve an average grade in their Main Percentage Score (MPS). This is a proof that our efforts are not in vain. We are happy that we passed the nationwide NAT garnering scores of 60.08% in English, 53.22% in Science, and 54.65% in Mathematics. For our dear students, I would like to say Not bad, nice work!

OBSTACLES We all knew that obstacles are a part of a mans life in order to grow. Here in San Jose Elementary School, it is undeniable that we have problems that need to be solved. I am counting on everyone to be concern and participate as we search for the solution on these challenges: The Lack of Facilities to accommodate our increased number of enrollees As a principal, I already took the effort of bringing this matter to our superintendent in the division office in Maligaya. They too are concerned with our current flight but due to lack of budget, they cannot make an action on it immediately. They have to convene for it and find ways to allocate budget for our problem. Friends and colleagues, this was been our past struggle and until now, still it is. San Jose Elementary School is been molded enough by this problem. We are used to it. While waiting for the solution, my advice is to maximize what we have. A little patience is what we need to endure again this challenge. The Lack of Manpower Faced by 1,500 students, our current manpower is not enough to provide quality time and focus to these children. It is also my regret that 3 of our teaching staffs are about to venture abroad. Im not against to their plans, in fact, Im happy for them. Hopefully we could find substitutes as dedicated as them. While waiting for the provision of DepEd, I urge everyone to extend their patience and dedication to their profession once more. Within this week, before the month ends, the office will issue new schedules that I hope, will still be convenient for everyone. And lastly, Malnutrition This year, out of our 1,500 students, 10% percent of them are malnourished. As the principal of the school, I would like to address this problem with your help. Let us develop a program that will combat malnutrition. I look forward of reducing this malnutrition by half, next year.

FORTHCOMING GOAL I would like to report to you that our school will engage in a program that will fight malnutrition and enhance the learning capabilities of our students. Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to propose a school feeding program made from the efforts of our teaching staff and the collaboration of NGOs and LGUs. We agreed to name this program Sopas para sa Markang Mataas. The goal of this feeding program is to provide breakfast for the malnourished students of San Jose Elementary School in daily ration. Details will be discussed in our upcoming meeting nextweek, for the mean time, I solicit the support of everyone especially our local officials. Hopefully, they will extend their charity towards this project. For the conclusion of this State of the School Address, I would like to leave some impressions.
Our successes may not been tremendous, but sufficient enough to give us cheers amidst our perseverance. Challenges remain and new ones are on the horizon, but the San Jose Elementary School will remain strong. We are focused, moving forward, and supported by concerned individuals. We are standing straight. We need to now stand strong. Most of the problems I stated earlier, resources are the key to succeed. But while waiting for this solution, we must not stop looking for alternatives. On this, I am working diligently as I know you are too. By the end of this retreat, I hope we will have reassessed our direction, identified course corrections, uncovered new paths and welcomed new faces. Most importantly, I hope that by this time tomorrow we will have strengthened our resolve to work collectively and coherently. It has been my privilege to address you today.

--- Elizabeth M. Domantay, MaED

Principal