Vision to Goal Setting
What is our Vision for Learning?
Our Vision
The education journeys of the students who attend Mountainside are rarely linear and many have faced barriers to success within the traditional model of the school system. We see one of our primary roles here at the school to be reigniting and reengaging students on their educational and life journeys.
Our Goals
Through consultation with students, parents, staff and community partners, we have decided on the following key focus areas that will form our goals for the coming year at Mountainside.
- To develop and implement meaningful daily practices that embody the goals of Truth, Healing and Reconciliation for the success of all students and especially for Indigenous youth at Mountainside so everyone feels safe, held, seen, and lifted up.
- To increase students’ active engagement in learning by bolstering our inclusive and welcoming environment and by innovating our instruction.
Planning & Implementation
What is our Action Plan?
Our Planning Team
School planning is not a singular meeting at Mountainside but a continual process that involves ongoing dialogs that take place in numerous contexts and with a wide variety of school stakeholders.
Mountainside staff have been invited to participate in the development of school directions and goals. Our collaborative group is composed of CUPE, NVTA, and school administration staff. Mountainside staff continually reflect and review current interventions and programs, seek new opportunities for growth, and develop/implement/evaluate goals and change processes and structures.
Mountainside also has an active Parent Advisory Council that creates a space where parents can offer feedback about the goals, student needs, and the functioning of our school programs.
This year we have also worked with students and community partners to gather input and allow time and space for their thoughts, concerns and passions to shape the goals that we are working towards. Everyone in the Mountainside community has opportunities for involvement in the creation of our school goals and we will continue to monitor and adjust them based on the success of our initiatives and the changing needs of our students.
Implementation
Ensuring that our actions align with our goals and values is a continual focus at Mountainside. Implementation of our goals has required continual dialog, collaborative discussions and problem solving. Staff, students, and community members have worked together to unpack our goals in an effort to identify sequential steps and achievable short-term objectives that we can continue to work towards.
The journey towards implementation of our goal to develop and implement regular meaningful practices that embody the goals of Truth, Healing and Reconciliation involves exposing difficult truths, reflecting on our biases, and examining systems and structures through intentional and targeted opportunities.
The goal of increasing the engagement of students through maintaining an inclusive and welcoming environment and growing our innovative instructional practices also involves ongoing self reflection and action. Staff at the school recognize that many of the students who arrive at Mountainside are already struggling with a history of disengagement with the traditional model of the school system. We see one of our primary roles here at the school to be reigniting and reengaging students on their educational and life journeys.
Through consultation and collaboration with students, parents, and staff we decided to try to focus on the following objectives to increase the engagement of students and key stakeholders:
- Engage in whole staff collaboration and learning opportunities focussed on indigenous pedagogies, unconscious bias and systemic racism
- Develop learning opportunities that spark passion, create a sense of accomplishment, and build feelings of pride and self-esteem in students
- Support students to find ways to contribute and make positive changes to their community
Monitor Evaluate & Adapt
What are our Indicators of Progress?
It is important for any plan to be able to demonstrate if the things you hoped would work, are working. As such, we have designed numerous tools to use as baseline and progress indicators of our goals.
For the goal of developing and implementing regular meaningful practices that embody the goals of Truth, Healing and Reconciliation, we plan to measure progress using the following tools:
- Calculating and comparing the number of Indigenous focussed learning opportunities such as special events, speakers, facilitators, and school trips.
- Surveying students and key stakeholders especially those that are apart of our Indigenous communities
- Calculating and comparing the number of Indigenous focused courses and the number of Indigenous focused classroom resources
- Anecdotal evidence from students, teachers, PAC, and community partners
For the goal of increasing the engagement of students through maintaining an inclusive and welcoming environment and growing our innovative instructional practices, we plan to measure progress by analyzing the following data:
- Course completion data
- Attendance data
- Student surveys (both local and district wide)
- Anecdotal evidence from students, teachers, PAC, and community partners
Communicating Progress
How do we Communicate our Progress?
Throughout the process of developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating goals we plan to communicate progress in the following ways:
- Ongoing agenda items at staff and PAC meetings
- Sharing at assemblies and in Self Efficacy classes
- Updating the school plan website