The spotlight was on Orangeville’s St. Peter Elementary School last week, thanks to the academic achievement of its students. School representatives accepted the Fraser Institute’s Garfield Weston Award of Excellence during an April 7 ceremony in Toronto.

“We’re quite proud of that,” school principal Carla Dziob-Smith says of the recognition. “It was a huge accomplishment, huge.”

The award, which came in the category of academic improvement, recognizes a steady increase in students’ standardized test results over the past few years. An analysis of province-wide test shows St. Peter school is among the top one-percentile (30 schools) in that category.

“The teachers, support staff and administrators of St. Peter school are pathfinders who continually find new ways to help their students achieve more in school. We are delighted to honour their hard work and achievement,” says Peter Cowley, director of school performance studies at the Fraser Institute. “Celebrating the accomplishments of these educators enables them to share their successes and inspire others.”

Since 2004, the St. Peter’s students have risen from an overall rating of 3.9 out of 10 to 6.9, based on reading, writing and math test results from grades 3 and 6.

“We were absolutely ecstatic when we received notification, a few months ago, that we had fallen into the top one per cent of the province,” says Dziob-Smith.

“Needless to say, there are a lot of factors that contribute to the success here at the school,” she adds. “The teachers have done a lot of work in terms of professional development and making sure the kids have a lot of the high-yield strategies and the best practices being put into place. We’ve had tremendous support from the parent community and the school council.”

Eight school representatives — Dziob-Smith, six staff members and the school council president — attended the fifth annual award ceremony, along side about 540 educators from across the province.

“Regardless of whether they finish as a winner, a runner-up, or a school of distinction, the school teams being honoured by the Weston Awards are among the very best in the entire province,” says Cowley. “This should be cause for a great deal of pride and celebration.”

To acknowledge the award, St. Peter school received a certificate, which will be put on display for all at the school, as well as visitors, to see. Dziob-Smith says she also plans to send copies of the certificate home with students.

St. Peter school was one of Dufferin county’s highest-ranking schools in the Fraser Institute Report Card on Ontario’s Elementary Schools, released last month. Of the province’s 2,778 schools, St. Peter tied for a ranking of 880.