How are we doing?

We have completed the scan of our students using the 3 questions that were outlined in the previous post. Each class adapted the questions to fit the grade level that they teach. They had the option to have students write their responses or work together as a group for our youngest learners.

Question #1 What does STARR mean?

Most of our students know what STARR stands for. We make sure that we are focusing on one of the words each month in our morning announcements. Classroom teachers are emphasizing the term and the meaning behind each term. We use this matrix when we are helping our students to problem solve.

Question #2 Can you name two or more adults at school who believe you will be successful?

Upon review of the data from our schoolwide survey, it is evident that students feel connected to at least 2 adults in the school. Where we think that we can do better is connecting them to “less familiar” adults. For example, they were able to choose their classroom teacher, past classroom teacher and perhaps their resource teachers, principal or vice-principal. With the incredible growth that Brighouse has experienced in the past year as well as some residual feelings of isolation from the pandemic this will need to be a school focus to reconnect.

Question 3: PROBLEM SOLVING

Many of the responses our students had around “what do you do if you have a problem” involved telling an adult and asking the adult for help. Although we are happy that students feel comfortable coming to us, it has become evident that they may lack the necessary skills to first attempt to solve their problems independently.

Such as, being able to assess the size of problem, limited vocabulary to communicate their feelings, as well as the resilience to ignore small problems. Our next steps will be to build their capacity to independently deal with problems in the classroom and outside during play time.

As a staff we will delve into the collected data in order to move our community along. This information will be presented at staff meetings and through our professional development days. As a collective we will work towards building capacity and connection in our students. We have already begun this process by implementing social thinking groups in several of our classes.