Ridgeway Elementary

Vision For Learning

At Ridgeway, we strive to provide a safe, caring, engaging, and inclusive learning environment for all learners. We do this with a focus on recognizing and valuing the diversity of the school community and that every member of that community has a place and a story. We recognize that, in order for a student to experience success, they must feel safe, both physically and emotionally, as well as valued for being themselves. We also recognize that every student has a responsibility for contributing to our learning environment in ensuring that others feel safe and valued.

Our Guiding Values

Ridgeway R.O.C.K.S has been a guiding value statement at Ridgeway for a number of years. It is a set of values that we guide our behaviour and actions by to ensure that all members of our school community feel valued, connected, and safe.

R –Respect for everyone at all times

O –Ownership of our own actions

C –Cooperation with others

K –Kindness shown to and for everyone

S –Safety by and for everyone

The Growth of Ridgeway and Where We’ve Been

Ridgeway and the community have experienced significant growth in the past several  years. As a result, the student population has increased from approximately 450 students to approximately 600 students in the 2021/22 school year. The increase in student population has also meant an increase in the total number of staff from approximately 40 to over 65. Our school is situated over two sites, our main building and our modular building.

In 2018-2019, we began our first steps:

• Staff watched the movie Resilience, which explored childhood trauma and its effect on a child’s ability to regulate and demonstrate readiness for learning.
• Ridgeway Code of Conduct was revised to embed values of problem solving

In 2020-2021, we reflected on our progress so far and began adapting our goals to reflect that progress and our next steps:

• The 2020/21 School Planning Team consisted of diverse representation from Ridgeway staff including representation from Primary, Intermediate, and Non-enrolling teachers as well as members of CUPE and administrators
• The team sought feedback from the larger staff to reflect on our goal and determine our next steps
• Over several months, the team worked to revamp our school goal with specific objectives to reflect the progress we have made and the direction we want to go
• We began the work of developing a shared understanding of “deep learning” and are moving towards the implementation of a school-wide SEL program

In 2021-22, our next steps will include:

• The School Plan Team will work with staff to develop ways to monitor our progress and identify specific strategies to achieve our objectives
• Opportunities for the whole school community to participate and have voice into updating our shared vision statement
• Continuing to explore deep learning as a staff
• Explore research-based school-wide SEL program to enhance well-bent and mental health literacy
• Implement the Seven Grandfather Teachings to support shared language and SEL for all

School Goal

To foster an environment that values deep learning and social-emotional well-being for all community members.