Belonging Series: Power of Inclusion

Today’s parent forum was the final session of our series looking at Belonging. 

This week's session explored the concept of belonging through the idea of inclusion and learning diversity.  The session was led by Kristel Solomon and Kristen Pelletier, educational consultants, who have been working with us throughout the week.  

The session began by exploring both the successes and challenges that parents have experienced in the support that their children have received and that information is being used to strengthen the school’s journey toward inclusion.  It was good to celebrate many successes and things that we can be proud of as a community as well as look at where we can grow and strengthen our systems of support.

Kristel and Kristen unpacked the idea of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support and how it is designed to support the learning of all students.  Kristel shared a different illustration of the support system - where all students should receive tier 1 levels of support, some students might receive short-term tier 2 services that can help students address areas of growth and a few students may receive tier 3 services or support that require more intensive and focused support.

The second part of the session explored how our beliefs and values impact our attention, intention and actions.  Parents explored this idea by unpacking their own values and beliefs and how these might support or conflict those of the school or other families.  For example the value of family might conflict with the value of community in terms of how you spend or dedicate your time.   Or loyalty might conflict with honesty when you feel you need to protect someone but you also want to maintain your integrity.  This discussion helped parents explore some of the nuances of building belonging and inclusion through understanding both personal and shared values in a diverse community.

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