Our staff core value, “Serving and caring for each other, our community, our world, and ourself” really stems from our mission statement “To nurture, educate, and inspire in Christ-centred learning and serving.”
Creating and maintaining a safe and nurturing environment in our school and in each classroom is of utmost importance to us as a staff. We know that this is needed not only for students to develop and grow socially and emotionally, but also it makes it possible for students to flourish academically.
We model for our students how to care for others and also how we need to also care for ourselves (self-care). Activities such as sharing circles and cooperative games foster and maintain a caring environment as we learn more about others and see more clearly how best we can show them care. Our reading buddies program and also having colour teams which mix and match older and younger students also helps develop this on a more school-wide level.
Our use of restorative practices emphasizes care for others and care for self as we all learn from mistakes and poor choices made and also how that learning can lead to a better future for all of us.
Serving others is an act of demonstrating a deep care for others and we do that both in small ways each and every day and also through service projects – both those done within the school and those done in the surrounding community. Whether it is students visiting seniors at Chartwell, or bagging toilet paper for Hope House, or collecting food for the Guelph Food Bank, or delivering valentines to community helpers such as firefighters, police, and those working in city hall, we seek opportunities to serve not just our own community but also those around us.
On that note, if you know of a possible service opportunity for us, please reach out, we’d love to consider it.