Being Community
Being Community starts with an inclusive Catholic educational community. We seek to be positive community members and develop relationships among all stakeholders. Our many partnerships (both locally and globally) provide our students with the opportunity to develop diverse worldviews and perspectives in order to address political, ecological, social, and economic issues that are crucial to living in a contemporary, connected, interdependent, and sustainable world. Through the Catholic lens, students develop an appreciation for the diversity of people, perspectives, and the ability to envision and work toward a better and more sustainable future for all.
Goal
We will listen and ensure diverse voices are heard in order to accompany through relationship.
Guiding Questions
- What learning is taking place in your community? How are you listening effectively to ensure that there is continued growth?
- How can we, as learners, critically assess and interpret our response to new knowledge? What reflective practices are you engaging in to relate to the new learning?
- How do you process and comprehend the learning in a way that makes it meaningful and relevant? Who can support our learners in making sense of the information and connecting it with the existing knowledge and experiences?
- What actions or next steps can we take to extend the learning?
Essential Practices to Create a Culture of Belonging
Through the lens of the cross, the learning environment must be a place that inspires hope, invitation, and promotes an inclusive and safe environment.
Examples Of Actions
- Participate in synodal sharing, vocation stories and celebrating diverse charisms.
- Using communal prayer at meetings, opening exercises, assemblies and community events. Pastoral Plan
- Building relationship based, responsive environment that have intentional connection (family, community, parish, creation).
- Students can identify a caring adult.
- Participate in sharing circle, restorative practices, Medicine Wheel Pedagogy
- Continued work with equity, intersectionality and understanding barriers
- Using student census data to create safe inclusive spaces. PVNC Student Census
Design environments to reflect the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Deep Learning and the Third Path
Examples Of Actions
- Creating spaces that reflect a sense of belonging, of community of engagement and of safety
- Use of the UDL Guidelines
Reflection as a tool to inform ongoing learning processes
Examples Of Actions
- Take time to consider how we feel about the new learning: surveys, exit cards, a question jar, open door/accessibility, learning journals, conversations
Promote a deeper understanding of new learning to contribute to personal growth.
Examples Of Actions
- Attending SRTs, PD sessions, transition meetings, intake meetings, etc.
- Engaging in AFL practices
- Sharing vocational stories
- Understanding of Tiers
Engage in pedagogies or approaches to foster a community of growth and resilience, nurturing relationships. Embracing in a holistic perspective, reflecting the 360-degree view of the Medicine Wheel, in our actions and responses
Examples Of Actions
- Inviting central staff into schools
- Nurturing outside community partnerships
- Engaging in targeted professional development
- Intentional connection: invite participation of family members/guardians/care providers
Strategic Priorities
Inspiring Faith
Inspiring Faith to strengthen the foundation of Christ inour Catholic schools and spark a call to service in thegreater community.
Strategic Goals:
- We will enhance connections between the home,school, parish and community in order to provide outreach and see the face of God in each person we serve.
- We will find unity in the body of Christ and see God in the natural environment through Liturgy and the Mass.
- We will use various resources including Auditing our Catholic Schools and A Pastor’s Journal to identify ways that we can continue to be the Christ light for others and build community through symbols, words and actions
Valuing Relationships
Valuing Relationships to empower our students and staff as we work together to realize the great promise of Catholic Education.
Strategic Goals:
- We will create an environment in all workplaces that has at its core “the art of accompaniment,” keeping Jesus at the centre of our community as we model ministry, acceptance and love.
- We will foster a sense of respect for the unique expertise and strengths of each individual,acknowledging and celebrating the efforts of our students and staff and working to ensure they feel valued, empowered and supported.
- We will demonstrate servant leadership by creating inclusive learning and work environments grounded in gratitude and empathy for the work that we do and the people we serve.
Nurturing Mental Health & Well-being
Nurturing Mental Health & Well-being to create healthy environments in which we work, learn and teach,understanding that we have to be well in order to learn,to teach, to lead, to support and to fulfill the demands of each of our roles.
Strategic Goals:
- We will engage in professional development for creating healthy interpersonal relationships/partnerships, workspaces and classrooms.
- We will enhance collaborative efforts across our organization directed at working as a cohesive team to bring about ideal work and learning environments.
- We will strive to be open, humble, and receptive to opportunities for learning and personal growth that build our individual knowledge.
Providing Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Providing Excellence in Teaching and Learning to maximize student engagement through effective assessment practices, deep inquiry learning, student voice and choice.
Strategic Goals:
- We will teach students to think critically, ask questions and communicate their thinking.
- We will continue to support deep inquiry learning and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to ensure all students can achieve success.
- We will focus on student strengths and identify areas for growth using assessment for, as and of learning
Ensuring Equity
Ensuring Equity to create a culture of belonging that promotes spiritual, emotional, mental and physical safety through advocacy and aspiring allyship.
Strategic Goals:
- We will provide staff with the necessary space and time to engage in reflective dialogue, identify personal learning goals and engage in learning through an equity lens.
- We will review curriculum resources through a culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy lens to critically evaluate the resources we use to ensure materials represent diverse perspectives.
- We will use the Student Census Survey Data and Equity Continuum Resource (OISE) to inform our Catholic Board and School Improvement goals on an annual basis.
Expanding Technology
Expanding Technology to enable staff and students to apply, analyze, evaluate and create their thinking and learning in creative and innovative ways while encouraging staff and students to develop new ways of using technology.
Strategic Goals:
- We will provide all students with appropriate technology and implement a balanced inquiry-based model of online and in-person learning so that students can clearly make their thinking visible and use technology where most impactful.
- We will facilitate ongoing learning and increase the confidence of educators and students with up-to-date, real-world applications and technologies that meet industry standards and will support our students well into the future.
- We will ensure students and staff are provided with a growing repository of applications, programs and learning opportunities that meet safety and privacy requirements as they competently employ technology to demonstrate their thinking and learning.
Protecting the Environment
Protecting the Environment to create greater ecological sustainability in all of the Board’s educational, strategic,and corporate practices and to act on the urgency expressed in Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment Laudato Si’.
Strategic Goals:
- We will prioritize environmental education learning expectations in all schools by providing the necessary staff training to build capacity among teachers and leaders, ensuring that environmental topics in the current K-12 curriculum documents be taught and assessed for all students.
- We will strive to certify all schools in an environmental stewardship program.
- We will develop short and long-term environmental plans for the Board, creating a multi-disciplinary resource committee on the environment and reporting to the Board of Trustees twice per year to assess the progress being made toward the established goals.
Maximizing Resources
Maximizing Resources to maintain public trust and ensure a fiscally responsible Catholic school system founded on equity, transparency, accountability, risk management and sustainable priorities.
Strategic Goals:
- We will ensure efficient and equitable allocation of staff and regularly review all teaching and learning resources in our schools so that our staff and students have the best possible support.
- We will maintain effective corporate risk management practices and search for opportunities to improve operational efficiencies.
- We will enhance our engagement in authentic and transparent consultation on the use of resources with stakeholder groups.