Each year our staff reflects on the work we have undertaken to advance our own understanding and that of our students around Truth and Reconciliation. This year our commitment was to honour the stories, songs, culture, history, languages and ways of knowing of Indigenous Communities by engaging with each other and our community. The book, Be a Good Ancestor by Gabrielle Prince and Leona Prince, guided our learning. Students saw that this text was about learning and growing, and caring for ourselves, each other and the land. Each classroom engaged with the text in multiple ways, multiple times throughout the year, and in multiple subject areas. Students completed art projects, written reflections, connections to science and 2-eyed seeing. A culminating project for division 2 was creating a school-wide musical performance based on Be A Good Ancestor, which provided a place for all students to share their talents and come together with families.
We are making a new commitment for the upcoming school year.
In recognition of National Indigenous Peoples Day, and in alignment with the CBE Education Plan, Connaught School acknowledges and supports the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) Calls to Action, and makes the following commitment to action for the 2024-2025 school year: Commit to learning about and through Indigenous knowledges focused on building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect (focus on renewing respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples)