Honouring the dignity of every person, we care for and support the well-being of all.
Our commitment to Be Well helped focus our actions on supporting our students and staff’s physical and mental wellness.
Helping our Educators Support Student Mental Health
Last year, we focused on relationships and skill-building to support student mental health. We wanted to ensure our educators had the tools to support their students. Our educators (teachers, early childhood educators, and educational assistants) received training on trauma-informed schools. Learning how adverse childhood experiences could affect some students’ behaviour and performances gives educators a greater understanding of the students they are working with.
In addition to this training, we continued our work on mental health promotion, focusing on evidence-based strategies in all elementary and high schools. As in past years, social and emotional learning strategies continued to be promoted system-wide.
Cultivating a Culture of Play
We always seek creative ways to support our student’s academic achievement and mental health. Play can provide benefits in both these areas. It helps with relationship development and social interaction, diffuses frustration, enables well-being, sparks creativity, and generates engagement and focus. Providing playful learning opportunities improves our students’ cognitive, social, and emotional well-being. Through play, children learn about the world around them and learn the skills they need for study, work, and relationships.
In 2021-22, we provided educators in 20 schools with professional learning to support them in fostering a playful learning environment. Last year, we added that support to 16 more schools, provided similar professional development for 23 principals, and held a session for educational assistants. Ten Play Ambassadors were established to support their colleagues in their schools, and we provided individualized programming to 28 other educators. We now have a growing network of educators across all grade levels in our elementary schools who have adopted a culture of play to leverage learning and improve student engagement, well-being, and academic success.
Continuing the Indigenous Education Journey
Our Indigenous Education team continues to grow as we work to implement our Indigenous Education framework throughout our Board. In our elementary schools, the Indigenous Education team developed complete education packages for kindergarten and junior grade teachers to support them in implementing Indigenous content throughout their classes. Lesson plans for land acknowledgment instruction at the kindergarten, primary, and junior levels were provided, and several schools carried out blanket exercises. Indigenous Student Associations were established in our high schools, and the team continued providing one-to-one and group support for high school students. Last year, they also focused on creating more French language resources so that students in our French Immersion program could benefit from Indigenous content.
Taking Action on Truth and Reconciliation
As part of our commitment to Truth and Reconciliation, we asked our schools to identify a goal related to the Calls to Action for Truth and Reconciliation and build it into their School Improvement and Equity Plan (SIEP). Our Indigenous Education staff worked with school teams to support their selected goals. Some of the goals included:
- Developing and sharing student Land Acknowledgements,
- Looking at the Grandfather teachings and linking them to gospel values,
- Working with community partners and Indigenous Elders and artists to provide Deep Learning opportunities for staff and students,
- Providing opportunities for Indigenous culture in the classroom and school communities,
- Building educator capacity by integrating Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into classrooms and
- Displaying Indigenous artwork and poetry throughout the school.
Incorporating these goals into the SIEP helps us to ensure that our students will graduate with an understanding of the true history of Indigenous communities and an appreciation for Indigenous perspectives.
Keeping our Students Safe
Since September 2021, our Board has had a policy requiring all teaching staff to complete the Commit to Kids Training created by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. Last year, we strengthened that commitment and purchased training licences for all new staff who work directly or indirectly with students, including office administrators, caretakers, chaplaincy leaders, educational assistants, and early childhood educators. We also launched an online reporting tool that immediately sends reports to a Principal/supervisor, school superintendent, and Human Resources Superintendent for follow-up. All staff were trained on using the tool before the start of the 2022-23 school year.