I. General Information
School Name: Charles Hays Secondary School
School District: SD#52 Prince Rupert
Inquiry Team Members: Raegan Sawka: raegan.sawka@sd52.bc.ca
Carla Rourke: carla.rourke@sd52.bc.ca
Jeremy Janz: jeremy.janz@sd52.bc.ca
Cora Barak: cora.barak@sd52.bc.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: Raegan.sawka@sd52.bc.ca
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: Indigenous Education Impact Initiative
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Secondary (8-12)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Applied Design, skills & Technology, Arts Education, Career Education, Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Reading, Language Arts – Writing, Mathematics / Numeracy, Physical & Health Education, Social Studies
Focus Addressed: Local Indigenous Knowledges, Core competencies (for example, thinking, communication, personal and social), Land, Nature or Place-based learning, Other: Connection, Confidence, Leadership, Identity, Student Voice, Engagement, and Attendance
In one sentence, what is your focus for the 3-year cycle? How are we facilitating student confidence, sense of belonging, leadership, voice, and positive personal identity at CHSS?
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Connections to Year 1: We engaged in a process of broadening our focus to rescan with a wider lens. Our hunch based on the Year 1 scanning phase was that the processes by which we were engaging CHSS learners in growing confidence, leadership, voice, and positive personal identity, was more complex and multifaceted than we’d originally realized. We developed a new approach to interviewing students, through trusted peers and established staff connections, to generate a deeper understanding of student perspectives. Were we making a difference in these areas? If so, how? If not, why not?
New Educator Professional Learning: After the May 2025 NOIIE symposium, and through follow up discussions with our inquiry coach and the NOIIE leadership team, we developed a broader framework for taking action on our question. We received valuable guidance and insights on how we could more meaningfully craft our interview process. We invited a focus group of 25% of our educational team at CHSS to refine our questions and approach. The professional discussions and reflections yielded new insights and additional questions. We realized that the process of conducting in-depth empathy interviews itself was an action towards helping students feel heard and seen. The process communicated a sincere interest in their perspectives and suggestions for positive change in our school community.
Taking Action: In the fall, after our team met a few times, we realized we wanted to engage student leadership through our peer-tutoring program to be active participants in the inquiry process this year. The core inquiry group had expanded to about 25% of our educational staff taking a hands-on role. We presented at a staff meeting to give a status update of the project and share overall goals for the year. We shared the 5-min video CHSS created during the previous transitions inquiry on the cohort model as a jumping off point to explore how we are building these types of high-expectation relationships across clubs, teams, curricular and extra-curricular opportunities. From January to March, the core inquiry group and our peer tutor student leaders conducted 200+ in-depth interviews with learners grades 9-12. We paid specific attention to gathering the most diverse viewpoints as possible. These interviews represented feedback from 33% of our student population. In the spring, two of the inquiry leaders, Carla and Raegan, shared the analyzed results with all of the CHSS staff. Educators were invited to review the raw data (recording sheets) as well. Together we generated key themes and reflected on what those results mean for next steps. Staff generated questions, wonders, and potential action steps for Year 3. Overall, there was celebration of the aspects that validated some of our current efforts and a genuine curiosity about what could be improved upon.
Reflections for Year 2: We’ve reiterated a key insight from our two previous 3-year inquiry projects – student voice matters. In the process of building relationships, connection, and a sense of belonging, we need to understand how our school-community is being experienced from diverse perspectives of our learners. We are identifying where needs are being met and the range of opportunities to allow for that. We have a better grasp on the gaps for students to feel they belong and have purpose within our environment. Trusted adult relationships are integral, as well as different kinds of supportive spaces and genuine opportunities to see their interests and backgrounds reflected in the school activities (in-class, school-wide, extracurricular) are needed.
Plans for Year 3: Based on the comprehensive feedback and analysis the following goals were set by staff for next steps to explore:
- More direct/focused opportunities for grade/cohort in-school events. Grade level community building.
- Building even more culturally/interest-based credit courses (make more explicit connections within existing courses).
- Looking at food programs in classes in addition to invitations for breakfast in the common area / more food consistency throughout the day.
- Further develop our local Indigenous harvesting and processing opportunities (e.g. cedar, berries, seaweed, salmon, halibut, shellfish, and more).
Next questions: Student focus groups to target “What interest-based activities would you like to see?”