Westfield Community School
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Westfield Community School (WCS) is a K-8 public school in District 300, Algonquin, Illinois, USA. The school is located in Kane County, Illinois.
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[edit] Background
The school colors of Westfield are blue and gold (yellow). The school mascot is a wolf. Westfield is a large school with approximately 1,800 students in total.[1] The school is divided into Elementary and Middle School.
The school opened in 1996 [2] and has just celebrated its 10 year anniversary.
The school is headed by Dr. Doran, who was announced as school principal in 2005. Dr. Doran has taught fifth grade and varsity basketball at schools prior to Westfield. He replaced Dr. Brenda Satchal, who replaced Mr. Russ Ballard. Dr. Doran is very involved with students and teachers.
[edit] Arrival/dismissal times
For students in Kindergarten, they attend school from 8:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
For students in Elementary School (grades 1-5), they attend school from 8:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
For students in Middle School, (grades 6-8), they attend school from 9:10 a.m. to 3:55 p.m. Middle school students rotate classrooms approximately every 38 minutes.
[edit] Elementary students
Students in grades 1-5 have only one classroom. This is because they stay in one classroom the whole day, with the exception of gym and exploratory. Their lockers are located just outside the classroom.
Elementary students are served lunch in the cafeteria. Lunch, for them, is approximately 20 minutes long with a 15 minute recess time (weather permitting).
[edit] Middle school students
Students in grades 6-8 have more than one classroom. They only have one homeroom teacher. The students have 9 periods, or classes, per day. Two of these classes are used for "resource" or study halls, unless the student has chorus or band/orchestra.
In-between periods, they have passing periods. These periods are used to get a drink of water, go to the bathroom, get supplies, and get to class. The passing periods are approximately three minutes long.
Since the students change rooms every 38 minutes, they do not have desks to store school supplies. Instead, the supplies are usually stored in their lockers along with their backpack and coat.
Lunch is approximately 34 minutes long with 4 minutes to get back to class. Middle school students do not have recess time.
[edit] Middle school teams
The Middle School at Westfield is well-known around the district. It is divided into teams. Which are 6A, 6B, 6C, 7A, 7B, 7C, 8A, 8B, and 8C.[3] Each one of these teams have their own unique nickname. All the nicknames have one thing in common: wolves.
1.) 6A - The Sawtooth Pack
2.) 6B - The Wolf Pack
3.) 6C - The Arctic Attackers
4.) 7A - The Alpha Pack
5.) 7B - The Denali Den
6.) 7C - The Big Dogs
7.) 8A - The Top Dogs
8.) 8B - The Trackers
9.) 8C - The Wolf Den
[edit] MS exploratory classes
Exploratory classes provide students the opportunity to investigate areas of study outside their regular core classes (Math, English, Science, Literature, and History). Exploratory classes include Art, Spanish, Music, Modular Technology (Mod Tech for short) , Speech, Drama, and Technology (Computers). The Music and Speech Exploratory is reserved for 6th graders, while the Mod Tech Exploratory is for 7th and 8th graders.
[edit] MS physical education
Physical education classes engage students in individual and team sports. High achievement is encouraged by utilizing the Presidential Physical Fitness Test.[4] Another annual event is Hoops for Heart, which brings awareness of cardiovascular fitness.[5]
[edit] WCS sports
Westfield Community School has a variety of sports that students can become involved in. Some include Cross-Country, Track and Field, Pom Pons, volleyball, boys and girls basketball, cheerleaders, wrestling, and track.
There are many intramural sports that students can become involved in as well. They include volleyball, football, pom-pons, girl's basketball, boys' basketball, and wrestling.
[edit] WCS technology
Almost all the computers at Westfield are Macintoshs with the exception of a few Windows-based PCs. All of the Macintoshs are primarily for student use, although sometimes teachers use them to put grades into their gradebook with. All of the Macs are relatively new. They have G3 iMacs and eMacs All of the Macs have the Mac OS X 2.8 version, although they have been upgrading them from year to year.
Westfield has a Class C mixed network with over 400 computers. Mandatory by Illinois-State Law, all computers are behind a proxy server. This proxy along with Westfield's network allows all their computers to be hidden from the outside world. The network only allows outbound Internet traffic. All Internet traffic is closely monitored and can be traced by to the student's local IP address.
Students K-1 do not have a login name and password.
During the 2003-2004 year, Westfield purchased mobile labtops with Apple iBooks. These iBooks connect to the Internet via 802.11g wireless networking.[6]
[edit] Band and orchestra
Westfield is known for its Band and Orchestra programs. The Band Directors are Mr. Gnutek and Mr. Glowacz. Mr. Gnutek conducts the 7th and 8th grade band while Mr. Glowacz conducts the 5th and 6th grade band. Mrs. Jones is the Director of the 6-8 grade orchestra.
[edit] Achievements
In 2006, the 8th grade band traveled to Peoria, Illinois to participate in the high school band festival. Westfield was one of two middle school bands in the state who were invited.
Also, in 2005, a sixth grade student participated in the Geography Bee (sponsored by National Geographic). He was one of one hundred students to take place in the state finals. This is Westfield's only student to go that far in the Bee.
The 8th graders traveled to Washington, D.C. in April 2005.
[edit] Trivia
- From a satellite view prospective, the school is in the shape of a "W". Supposedly, this is because the school's name is "Westfield".
