I. General Information
School Name: Similkameen Elementary Secondary School
School District: SD#53 Okanagan Similkameen
Inquiry Team Members: Katie Anderson: kanderso@sd53.bc.ca; Stacey Smith: ssmith@sd53.bc.ca; Jessica Stelkia: jstelkia@sd53.bc.ca; Nicole Thom: nthom@sd53.bc.ca; Brianna Whitney: bwhitney@sd53.bc.ca; Stacy Zakall: szakall@sd53.bc.ca; Kelly Brunton: kbrunton@sd53.bc.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: ssmith@sd53.bc.ca
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: Indigenous Education Impact Initiative
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Intermediate (4-7), Secondary (8-12)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Not applicable
Focus Addressed: Other: Student wellbeing
In one sentence, what is your focus for the 3-year cycle? Student well-being. This year there will be a focus on pedagogy and the impact on student well-being: How do our classroom practices intentionally build a sense of well-being for every student?
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Connections to Year 1: When we began Year 1, we really thought that our focus (and our main concern for students) would be on belonging. We scanned, using the MDI, YDI, Student Learning Survey, Adolescent Health Survey, an in-house Student Survey and Forum, attendance reports, and observations. What we actually found were five areas of curiosity (engagement, belonging, safety, attendance, and self-regulation) and realized we had to re-scan more intentionally, without our biases in place. We re-scanned and used 1:1 student conversations, empathy interviews, cogens, and larger group student voice to uncover a thru-line which pointed towards student well-being, which became our focus.
Data from students who self-identified as Indigenous showed the following correlation between mental health concerns and attendance:
“The most common reasons students miss school, other than illness, are related to mental and emotional health (21.21%) and physical health (19.70%), followed by personal motivation and desire to rest (13.64%) and family issues (12.12%). Appointments, extra-curricular activities, and social environment (such as issues with teachers or bullying) also contribute to the reasons for absence, but to a lesser degree.” (November 2024 Indigenous Student Survey Data)
Data from students who self-identified as Indigenous showed that several key trends and common themes emerged in how students feel about their school experience.
When students were asked “Do you like school? Why or Why Not?” The responses show a general division between those who enjoy the social aspects of school and those who feel overwhelmed, disengaged, or unsupported. Many students express a desire for more personalized, supportive environments and a balance between academic and emotional well-being. (November 2024 Indigenous Student Survey Data)
New Educator Professional Learning:
Once our team went through ‘the hunch’, they decided that the areas where they could have the biggest impact were: communication, social-emotional learning, self-regulation, and connection. Staff split into one of those groups to undertake professional learning, which included:
– The Disengaged Teen by Rebecca Winthrop and Jenny Anderson
– The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
– The Executive Function Podcast
– The Third Path: A Relationship-Based Approach to Student Well-Being and Achievement
– Recommendations for fostering educational resilience in the classroom – article
– Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies by Jo Chrona
– Meetings with LSIB and USIB knowledge keepers and education liaisons
– Articles related to our focus are shared in the Weekly Update
– Ripple Effects of Resiliency by Monique Gray Smith
– Podcast: S2E5: Jo Chrona: “Unlearning, Relearning – A Path Toward Truth and Reconciliation”
– Groups took on professional learning and conducted book-group-style learning and sharing out to the larger staff.
– Culture, Cooking, and Conversation – an initiative started by our Indigenous advocates alongside our Healthy Schools Coordinator, Jenny Martin, took place 4 times throughout the year in our garden. Our students and staff were invited out to the garden to help cook and prepare a small feast while visiting with a local knowledge-keeper and learning on the land.
– Participation in local feasts and cultural activities (Deer Feast and Siya Festival) and professional development opportunities, like visiting and learning about the significance of local traditional land-based sites, like kɬlil̕xʷ (Spotted Lake).
The most helpful and significant learning was ongoing professional learning opportunities on Indigenous histories, cultures, and pedagogies. Team members who engaged in such development were more confident and effective in supporting Indigenous learners.
Taking Action: The action our team decided to take was small, individualized actions within their groups. Some of the initiatives that team members undertook included planning and executing a Wilderness Career Fair, a gratitude wall on the Elementary side, giving student voice and choice in terms of assessment in class, asking for a student exit ticket at the end of the week that asks, “What went well this week? What was tricky? How can I help”, creating a Life Skills group, writing ‘Big Buddy’ Letters, and creating a mural for Red Dress Day. What we found after taking on these actions, however, was that we didn’t know if we were making much progress because data was difficult to collect. These actions, although meaningful, were difficult to progress-check. So, we went back to the spiral and decided that we should focus on one of our areas of curiosity together and take one common action in order to try to make a greater impact. We chose communication and connection and undertook an action focused on Parent Connection. The team decided that building a stronger connection between home and the school would be an impactful action. Each member chose 2-3 students who they did not know well yet, or students that were displaying some of the indicators of facing challenges connected to their emotional well-being.
The team made a plan and took action by intentionally communicating with these students’ families and with the students, such as check-ins, to share good news, or to ask families about their child/children. Communication was intentionally meant to be two-way as often as possible, but this was challenging and not always successful. The team reached out to families at the beginning of each term and at the end in the form of progress reports, which included an option for a parent response.
Examples of questions they asked families and guardians:
• Do you have any suggestions about how to best connect with your child?
• What are you seeing at home?
• How can we help to get to know your child more?
• We are just getting to know your child, what do I need to know?
• Do you remember a time when they loved school? What did that look like?
• What’s important to your family that we could bring into the school?
Examples of questions we asked our students:
• What’s working for you so far?
• What’s been challenging?
• What’s been your favourite part?
• What would you like to see taught in class that isn’t?
• What are your strengths and stretches?
• How can I help?
We have noticed changes in some of our indicators of poor wellbeing; students are making connections, asking for help more often, and know that we are working as a team with their families to support them. Families overwhelmingly responded positively to having us print and send home reports (which were previously online) as this was a barrier for many families to see their child’s progress and to interact with the school.
Reflections for Year 2: We have learned that we still have a lot of room to grow, but that we are making inroads towards greater student wellbeing. We have broadened and grown our communication and connection with not only our students and their families, but with our local community and Indigenous bands as we have been working hard to collaborate with community members to support tailored cultural and individual wellbeing supports for our Indigenous students. We have also increased access to Indigenous mentors, elders, and community partnerships in the school. We are continuing to work on the development of holistic, student-driven learning environments that prioritize relationships, identity, and well-being. Finally, we have learned the power and significance of student voice and will continue to listen.
Mental health accommodations tailored to cultural and individual needs.
Plans for Year 3: Our inquiry on student wellbeing is leading us to our other areas of curiosity and we will be focusing more on how we can impact wellness in our classrooms and specific areas of the school by being responsive: “How do our classroom practices intentionally build a sense of wellbeing for our Indigenous students?”