I. General Information
School Name: Twain Sullivan Elementary School
School District: SD#54 Bulkley Valley
Inquiry Team Members: Mary Neto, Cindy Pottinger, Brittany Huson
Inquiry Team Contact Email: Mary.Neto@sd54.bc.ca
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: Indigenous Education Impact Initiative
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Intermediate (4-7)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language, Language Arts – Reading, Mathematics / Numeracy
Focus Addressed: Self-regulation, Other: Social emotional; sense of belonging
In one sentence, what is your focus for the 3-year cycle? Implementing the direct teaching of social skills and the creation of lunchtime social activity groups to build a sense of belonging and diverse social connections in the larger school community.
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Connections to Year 1:
We continued to scan using the 4 Key Questions.
Completed personal interviews to have student voice and to understand student perspectives.
When we completed our scanning, we focused on basic needs.
Are they hungry? We offer a breakfast, snack and lunch program. Students are able to ask for sandwiches throughout the day.
Are they tired? Students used the medical room or Indigenous support room to rest or nap if necessary.
What emotions are they feeling? (body language) Students would become angry and slam doors, cry, yell and throw things. Safety plans were necessary for some students.
How are they communicating? (verbal and non-verbal communication) Students would often ignore adults or answer a question with a sigh, scream or negative behaviour. Some students would seek out time alone or become above baseline/agitated.
Who are they socializing with? The students had a group of peers with similar socio-economic backgrounds. They were unfriendly to other students and kept to themselves. They were not open to having others join them or to join in with others.
What adults are they connected with? Limited. Some spent time with the Indigenous Support Worker. Some staff felt intimidated to redirect or interact with these students.
Are they regularly attending school? Generally, the students regularly attend.
Students’ family circumstances have negatively impacted attendance and school engagement (family loss, addiction, housing insecurity).
New Educator Professional Learning:
– Regulation work (Neurosequential Model – ParaChutes and Ladders) for teaching and support staff
– Outdoor Learning: Fall TEK Day – Indigenous Support Teacher collaborated with teachers on their learning session at Owen Lake
Taking Action:
Taking Action:
*Students and adults are more connected. Staff continue to feel safe and connected and this is shown in them stepping into leadership roles in the lunch clubs.
*Focus group students attend lunch clubs with peers outside of their close social network = authentic student social connection growing
– Personal schedules with adult support during unstructured play time and social emotional supports
– Modeling social skills by adults
– Lunch clubs with peers (drumming, basketball, sewing, music, chess) and expanded choice of clubs being offered has also resulted in school staff and students becoming familiar with more of the school community
– Introduced cultural perspectives (learning through modelling)
– Regular TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge) Whole School Days
– Visuals for learning
– Regulation resources (sensory room, sensory tools) and created a second Regulation Room to support regulation
– Purposeful relationship building
– Connecting families with community supports
– Communication with families (asking permission from parents before providing support, not assuming family’s needs)
– Checking our own biases
– Weekly cultural learning in each classroom by Indigenous Support Worker
– New male Indigenous Support Worker, supporting his learning and growth
– Brain aligned discipline
– Looping students in classes so that they have repeated years with the same teacher
– Grade Seven Transition: Individual and small group visits to the high school; student surveys tell us that they would like support with specific activities, so we took them to HSS.
– Grade Seven Passage Projects: All students in one class completed this. Trialing the student presentations of their projects this year, two students will present to an audience during the last week of school.
– Grade Three Transition to Twain Sullivan: Piloting one class visiting Twain each Wednesday, so that they can join a lunch club (belonging and social connection) and have lunch at HSS (where hot lunch is served).
Checking:
– We need to expect more from our students. It is not enough that the students are here; we need to have them in classrooms for learning.
– Monitoring students’ social emotional well-being and academic progress
– Piloting school wide Mental Health program – Open Parachute
– Purposeful relationship building with multiple adults at school
– Working with community partnerships/supports (Houston Link to Learning, Family Connections Centre, Friendship Centre)
– Checking data over time (Learning Updates, IEPs, interviews, student involvement in extra-curricular activities)
Reflections for Year 2:
Reflections and Advice:
– Checking our own unconscious biases and privilege
– Checking with families before providing supports rather than assuming it is needed
– Having high expectations for our learners
– Providing professional learning for all staff (teachers and support staff)
– As trust is developed and students share with us, we honour that trust and act where needed
– Aiming for systemic change, exploring this idea/goal
– Student circumstances (attendance, family status) impact school
– Systemic changes (funding, organization of responsibilities)
– Involving students in the process (ie. transition)
– The plan is always changing and evolving to fit students’ needs and it always will 🙂
Plans for Year 3:
Looking to the future:
– Transition plans for students going to high school and coming into Twain as grade fours – adding student interviews regarding transition to high school, so that their needs are being met, as well as interviewing grade fours in the fall of 2026.
– Grade Seven Passage Projects: All grade seven students complete this; student presentations of their project during the last week of school
– Grade Three Transition to Twain Sullivan: Piloting one class visiting Twain each Wednesday so that they can join a lunch club (belonging and social connection) and have lunch at HSS (where hot lunch is served)
– Continuous scanning to update action plans
– Updating data interviews to identify areas that are working and areas needing support and plans
– Involving students in their learning (Personal Responsibility- decision making)
– Including district core values (compassion, honesty, respect, responsibility and fairness) when modeling and teaching social skills more directly to the students we are tracking