School of St. Ignatius, Inc.

Administrative Manual

Introduction

The SSI Administrative Manual serves as a guide to assist employees in their day-to-day
performance of administrative and management functions.  The manual contains instructions
and procedures that delineates responsibilities.

The manual also serves as a consolidated reference document about the operations and
programs of the school.

Major Requirements and Regulations for School Operation

Instruction Regulations

No instruction, education, entertainment, recreation or activity of any kind,

which is in any way prejudicial to the welfare of the students or to their education generally,
shall be permitted in the school premises or on the occasion of any school or classroom activity.

Student Matters

1. No teacher shall administer corporal punishment to a student.

2. The Principal shall immediately report to School Clinic Attendant any

suspected or known case of infectious disease amongst teachers, students or
employees, or when he/she suspects or knows that any such person has been in contact
with a case of infectious disease.

3. No teacher or school personnel shall make collection among students without written
permission from the School Directress.

4. The school shall issue formal receipts in respect of every payment made
by students/parents/guardians.

5. A written permission from the School Directress must be obtained in any of the
following cases:

-to operate or to allow any person to operate any business or trading

undertaking on the school premises; or
-to enter into any business or trading arrangements, directly or indirectly,
with any person for the supply of any items for students
Personnel Matters

1. The appointment of any teaching staff shall be approved by the School Directress.

2. The dismissal of any teaching staff shall be approved by the School Directress.

3. The School Directress shall be responsible for issuing to all teachers letters of
appointment or employment contract which shall set out the conditions of service,
salary scale and conditions of termination of appointment/contract.

4. The school shall follow the relevant procedures for dismissal and termination of
employment (including non-renewal of contract) of teaching staff as laid down in the
employment contract.

School Premises

1. The School Directress’ approval is required for the following matters:

-additional premises, alternative premises and deletion of premises;

-structural alterations to the school premises;
-alteration to the latrine accommodation or the sanitary arrangements of the school;
-alteration to the ventilation or lighting of a classroom; and
-any subdivision of a classroom

2. The use of Laboratories, Library, Special Rooms, Swimming Pool and other facilities
must be under the supervision of a teacher.

3. A teacher shall be appointed to be in charge of every workshop; and every

laboratory, library, special rooms, and store rooms. The teachers shall be
responsible for ensuring that all necessary safety precautions are adopted and that
all materials are complete at the end of the school year.

4. No student shall be permitted to enter any school workshop or laboratory unless a

teacher is present.

5. No smoking and spitting shall be permitted on the school premises.

General Administration

1. The Principal shall draw up a practical scheme for the evacuation of the school premises
in case of fire. Fire drills carried out by teachers and students, and the time taken to
evacuate the school premises, shall be recorded in a school
log book.
Home-School Communication

Home-school communication is essential to enhancing the use of resources and

strengthening the concerted efforts of both the school and the family in improving
students’ learning.

The School Principal must do the following:

a. Establish a partnership with parents in educating their children.

b. Help parents understand that standardized processes and materials of learning and
teaching alone cannot help children to achieve all-round development. Rather,
diversified styles, strategies, contexts and resources of learning and teaching can
maximize the different potential of different students.
c. Help parents understand the purposes of assessment. The rank order of their
children in class through aggregated scores does not necessarily reflect the actual
abilities of their children. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of their
children is more essential for genuine improvement and progress.
d. Communicate with both parents and students, e.g. by means of a school newsletter,
open-door parent-teacher conferences, a parent bulletin board and communication
notebooks.
e. Use different strategies to engage all families in the learning of their children.
Children do well in schools when parents have expectations of their studies, encourage
the productive use of their time and provide learning experiences as a regular part of
family life.
f. Ensure that students are given meaningful home works that foster a learning
environment at home.
g. Ensure that projects assigned to students are relevant, reasonable and does not
require collection of payments.

Development Strategies and Professional Support to Teachers and Administrators

Professional support to teachers and schools is essential in enhancing the quality of teaching
and learning. Since different needs require different strategies and no one strategy is all-
powerful, multiple interactive development strategies are planned to support teachers and
administrators.

1. A variety of professional development programs are provided to in-service teachers and

administrators based on the needs of curriculum change, the purpose of different
modes, the demands and other opportunities available in the vicinity. Teachers may
choose to study those that are relevant to their needs.

Two broad categories of professional development programs are provided:

a. courses to enhance the overall professional knowledge of teachers, e.g.

 understanding and mastery of whole-school curriculum planning, implementation
and evaluation, enhancing assessment literacy, catering for learner diversity,
motivation, critical thinking skills, curriculum and assessment, gifted education,
moral, civic and national education, culture, media education, curriculum
management and leadership; and

b. subject specific courses to meet the needs of the new curriculum framework, and
sustain the curriculum and assessment reform.

Priority will be given to the following emphases:

a. curriculum planning, learning and teaching strategies;

b. development of critical thinking and creativity through learning activities;

c. assessment for learning (to improve learning and teaching);

d. four key tasks (project learning, reading to learn, moral and civic education, and
information technology for interactive learning); and

e. school-based curriculum development

The Roles of the Change Agents in School

School Principal

1. plan curriculum, instructional and assessment policies;

2. set targets and priorities for development;
3. build up a good learning environment;
4. nurture staff’s curriculum and instructional leadership;
5. set targets and phases for organizational change;
6. value quality rather than quantity in teaching and learning;
7. create curriculum space and time for teachers;
8. co-ordinate departments and support the autonomy of departments;
9. commend progress and improvements made;
10. communicate effectively with staff;
11. remove barriers among teachers and school personnel;
12. share knowledge and experiences; and
13. communicate with parents.

Academic Coordinators
 1. assist the principal to lead and coordinate whole school curriculum planning and
facilitate implementation of the plans;
2. support the principal in planning and coordinating school assessment policy and
assessment practices;
3. lead teachers in improving learning and teaching strategies and assessment practices
through collaborative lesson preparation and professional development programmes;
4. promote a professional exchange culture within the school and to establish links with
other schools for sharing of experiences in learning, teaching and curriculum
development; and
5. take up a reasonable teaching load (which should be about 50% of the average teaching
load of a teacher of the school) for trying out or piloting different learning, teaching and
assessment strategies for further curriculum development.
6. lead curriculum and instructional changes;
7. support the professional judgement of teachers;
8. keep abreast of the latest developments and changes;
9. share issues, knowledge and experiences;
10. facilitate professional development; and
11. commend success and provide appropriate feedback.

Department Coordinators

1. lead curriculum and instructional changes;

2. support the professional judgment of teachers;
3. keep abreast of the latest developments and changes;
4. share issues, knowledge and experiences;
5. facilitate professional development; and
6. commend success and provide appropriate feedback.

Community Linkages and Partners

The aim of having community linkages and partners is to promote better co-operation and
closer partnership between the business sector and the school.

a. It leads students out of the classroom to gain a wider perspective of the world so that
they can get prepared for life in the society. Through this non-traditional learning
platform provided by the business sector, students will be able to learn about different
careers and understand the requirements of employers, enhance generic skills, develop
appropriate work attitude and values which enable them to adapt to economic and
social changes, hence ultimately achieve the goal of whole-person development.

b. To effectively assist students in planning for life and career development, besides
providing them with different career exploration opportunities, guidance from teachers
and support from parents are vital.
Therefore, the school and its community partners have organized activities for students and
teachers. Student activity mainly focuses on inter-school competitions, career exploration,
includes talks, workshops, workplace visits, mentoring programs, job shadowing programs,
work experience programs and tours to business entities, etc. Teacher activity includes
workshops, professional development programs and workplace visits.

Listed below are the established community partners of the school:

Republic Cement Corporation
Holcim/LaFarge Cement Corporation
CCI Trucking Services
CCI Petron Gas Station
HAMPC Cooperative
MCD Medical Clinic and Diagnostic Laboratory
Municipality of Norzagaray
Norzagaray Water District

School Report

The SR should aim to provide an account of the effectiveness of school work and the extent to
which the school’s major concerns are achieved, with reference to data analysis and evaluation
results. By reflecting on past performance, it serves to inform future planning and puts
continuous improvement in action. The report should be evidence-based and data-driven, and
truly reflect the school’s achievements and areas for improvement. The SR also provides a
channel for the school to report to stakeholders on the major tasks in various areas, thus
enhancing accountability. The key elements of an SR include the following:

Our School

Achievements and Reflection on Important Concerns

Learning and Teaching

Support for Student Development

Student Performance

Feedback on Future Planning

Timeframe for Preparation of the School Report

June to July -Administer survey to stakeholder

 -Collection and verification of data & other evidence

August to September -Data processing and analysis for school development and accountability

October to November-Conduct a holistic review, the results of which can serve as reference for
the preparation of the next School Improvement Plan (SIP)
-Schools are recommended to conduct a review on important school
concerns; and to gather related data and information for evaluating the
effectiveness of the actions taken on these concerns.

December to January-Start to draft the SR;

-Start to draw up the next SIP

February -The Principal should submit the SIP and SR to the School Directress for
endorsement to endorsement president

March -Publish the SR in school-wide circular for stakeholders’ information

Budget

A budget can be regarded as an expression of the school plan in monetary terms. It provides
information that facilitates a more effective cost-benefit analysis and also facilitates control
over school expenditure.

Principles of Budgeting

1. As planning has to be conducted in the context of resources, budgeting serves to

match the school activities with the available resources, including finance, staff time and
space, etc.

2. The objectives of the school will determine which proposals should be given priority.
Hence, all those involved in the planning process should know the criteria, targets and
assumptions as well as the constraints in considering the competing priorities.

Program Budgeting

1. Traditional budgets are prepared in which the income and expenditure are
classified by items as listed in the audited accounts. Program budgeting attempts to link
all the resources needed to support a particular program, such as an individual subject.

2. The principal features of program budgeting are that it relates to objectives and
outputs, and emphasizes the future and choice. In the school context, program
 budgeting reflects an educational plan. It attempts to enable the school to identify
its goals and to channel the resources into the individual programs that meet its goals.

3. While every school year has its own priorities and program structure, the following
programs should be included in the school budget:

a. Programs related to the improvement of literacy skills like, reading and writing
b. Support services for students to cope with their diverse interests and needs
c. Staff training and development programs
d. Home-school-community programs

Budgeting Process

1. Formal procedures are adopted for preparing the budget, for monitoring the use of
resources and for ensuring that all financial and non-financial information is available at
appropriate times.

2. The key procedures are the following:

a. identification of school goals;

b. determination of policies and priorities;
c. identification of program budgets;
d. estimation of resources needed;
e. estimation of resources available;
f. examination of expenditure trends/ past performance;
g. allocation of resources, including provision for contingency;
h. approval of school budget;
i. informing staff with financial responsibilities of their program budgets approved
and any constraints imposed;
j. monitoring of the school budget;
k. review and amendment of the budget; and
m. evaluation and report.

3. A summary budget should be prepared which comprises the summaries of all

anticipated receipts and payments required for the operation of each program
budget.

4. The expenditure should be monitored against the approved budget by the relevant
staff member in-charge of the program throughout the year.

5. Appropriate action should be taken during the year to deal with variations between
actual and budgeted income and expenditure.