Vision to Goal Setting
What is our Vision for Learning?
What is our vision for learning?
The Ross Road school community of students, staff members and families work together to create and sustain an environment that encompasses and promotes our vision.
Vision
The School Community of Ross Road strives to support potential for all that values diversity and is built in a safe and caring environment.
At Ross Road we value…
Ross Road is welcoming, caring and inclusive. We foster a culture of engaged learners and critical thinkers, who are responsible and respectful. As a school community we promote a sense of belonging for all.
Goals
To create a culture of kindness and inclusivity in the Ross Road school community through the intentional and systematic teaching of social emotional learning skills.
To create a culture inclusive of Indigenous worldview by intentionally and purposefully integrating Indigenous content, knowledge and worldviews.
We acknowledge that in order to achieve success with these goal we need to:
- grow the social emotional competencies of all leaners
- make consistent and ongoing efforts to promote and support inclusion as it relates to equity, anti-racism and diversity
- include the First Peoples Principles of Learning and Indigenous worldview
Planning & Implementation
What is our Action Plan?
We made it our priority to emphasize social emotional learning and equity for all.
We continued implementation of our school-wide Second Step program. This included weekly Principal’s announcements and communications to families. Teachers explored the themes of Kindness & Inclusivity with students through their focus on acquiring and applying the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. As a staff we committed to support the intentional teaching of pro-social behaviours for all leaners.
We made a commitment to continue prioritizing the First Peoples Principles of Learning in all aspects of our day. Our Indigenous Ed team collaborated and continued to support staff in embedding Indigenous content and knowledge and to show Ross Road’s commitment to TRC 63 ii:
“sharing information and best practices on teaching curriculum related to residential schools and Aboriginal history.”
We are in the process of exploring equity and working towards a common understanding of the importance of representation and respect for all. As a staff we have broached important concepts on how to intentionally create safe spaces in our school for all members of our community to thrive.
School Planning Team Members
Administrators, teachers, support staff, parents and students.
Monitor Evaluate & Adapt
What are our Indicators of Progress?
Indicators of progress
We continuously examine how our School Plan informs and reflects our values and our practice, by identifying and deepening the alignment between our goals, our decisions and our actions. We continue to consider the connection between our School Plan and our practice in the following areas:
- Professional development and collaboration activities
- Learning resources and budget choices
- Indigenous Ways of Knowing
- Equity based learning and practices
- Curriculum and instruction
- Communication and engagement of our school community
- Communication with families
Next steps
- Continue to teach the Second Step program school-wide
- Continue to prioritize professional development around social-emotional learning and the First Peoples Principles of Learning & the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action
- Continue to engage in professional development opportunities about prioritizing equity in our teaching practices
- Creation of new goals for upcoming years
Communicating Progress
How do we Communicate our Progress?
Goal: To foster a culture of kindness and inclusivity in the Ross Road school community.
- Second Step in primary classrooms and Open Parachute in Intermediate classrooms
- Intentional teaching of pro-social behaviours
- Acknowledgement, Inquiry, and honouring important dates
- School Based Indigenous Ed Team
- Student driven SOGI Club: We R’ Us
- School Clubs (Chess club, Book Club, Enviro club, Choir, Ultimate, Robotics)
- Athletics
- Restorative justice focus
- Trauma-informed practice
- Use of Zones of regulation
- Classroom meetings
- Assemblies and Announcements
- School Wide Activities
Goal: To intentionally and purposefully integrate Indigenous content, knowledge, and worldviews.
Daily acknowledgement of the traditional and unceeded territory of the Skwxwú7mesh Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation.
Students in intermediate grades submitted personalized acknowledgements to be read as announcements.
Worked closely for part of the year with Sydney Doucet, a District Indigenous Educator to authentically implement Indigenous ways into our weekly practice.
Participated in an Orange shirt day assembly lead by grade 7s. Students were introduced to the 7 grandfather teachings and their meanings.
We continue to learn about Indigenous Ways of Knowing and First Peoples Principles of Learning across the curriculum and focus on the TRC Calls to Action.
We care for salmon eggs until they are ready to be released in our neighbourhood creek. A First Nations educator shares the history of salmon with students from an Indigenous perspective and shares stories of salmon from the local Squamish and Tseil-Watuuth Nations.
Members of the School Based Indigenous Ed team created a flyer with information and lessons which teachers can use in classrooms.
Students explore Indigenous knowledge, history, and culture from educators from the Cheakamus Centre.
During the 2023-2024 academic year, our school maintained the same enthusiasm, innovation, and commitment to communal growth as last school year. We remained dedicated to upholding our core values, vision, and goals while we began the process of creating a new school plan.
All stakeholders, including staff, parents, and students, participated in an appreciative inquiry process. This facilitated social engagement, allowed us to identify existing strengths and explore areas for growth.
Prior to engaging with the inquiry questions, we wanted to establish a common understanding of the school’s history and traditions. We didn’t want to dismiss the story of Ross Road, we wanted to write the next chapter.
Once those were established, the main questions that led our inquiry were:
1.) What do you value at Ross Road?
2.) What can we work on at Ross Road to make it a better place to learn?
During staff meetings, staff members were divided into groups to discuss what they value at Ross Road. After collecting this data, they reviewed the thoughts of other groups to build a collective understanding. We created a visual word cloud to refer to as we carried on with the process towards making a vision and goals.
Our next step was to bring in student voices. Teachers worked with students to brainstorm and to answer our two questions. Students then went into their buddy classes to engage in the same dialogue with younger students. Then parents/guardians shared their thoughts on the same two questions during a PAC meeting.
As the school planning team collected data and shared with stakeholders, we began the next step of creating a vision statement. Through continued discussions and round table dialogue our mission statement and vision for learning was created.
Ross Road’s new Mission Statement and Vision is:
Mission Statement
To foster an inclusive school community where everyone is valued and supported to realize their fullest potential as individuals and as a collective.
Vision for Learning
As a school community, we embrace the following principles and values:
Respectful Community: We encourage the qualities of compassion, collaboration, and engagement in a safe and caring environment where everyone belongs.
Lifelong Learning: We recognize that we are all learners, continuously growing through reflective practice to develop an understanding of ourselves, others, and the world.
Diversity and Inclusion: We celebrate and respect the unique identities of all members of the community, championing an environment of inclusion.
Social Emotional Learning (SEL): We learn self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills and social awareness to nurture character and emotional wellbeing alongside academic growth.
Truth and Reconciliation: We acknowledge and honour the rich history, language, and culture of the Skwxwú7mesh and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations in whose territory Ross Road is situated. We include the local worldviews and perspectives to strengthen learning for all.
Creativity and Critical Thinking: We foster creativity, innovation, and critical thinking, empowering students to solve complex problems.
Environmental Stewardship: We actively promote and participate in conservation efforts and sustainable practices while acting in a responsible manner to protect the natural environment.
In the upcoming 2024-2025 academic year, we look forward to building on our new mission statement and vision for learning. We will work together to establish new school goals that we will collectively work towards.