September of each school year brings with it new teachers, new students and new energy. It was important that we started the year by reviewing our school story and reframing our focus. The first professional development day was an opportunity to gather as a group and examine the elements of the Core Competency that we had chosen to guide our growth as a school. With our school context in mind, we worked to create common understandings and begin goal setting for the year.

We confirmed that we had collected enough data at the end of the 2021/2022 school year that the following would still be the areas for development in our school community:

Under the sub-competency of Positive Personal and Cultural Identity:

• Understanding relationships and cultural contexts
• Recognizing personal values and choices 
• Identifying personal strengths and abilities

We concluded that the following would be our plan of action for the school year:

1. Include these competencies in all areas of our teaching

2. Have students regularly self reflect in these areas

3. Use these competencies to guide all school activities

4. Overtly connect our activities to these competencies in community communications

5. Reflect on our growth/needs in monthly staff meetings