As a staff and community at Blair, for the 2024-2025 school year, we continue to explore the questions: How might we support learners in developing an understanding of their identity?  How might a stronger sense of identity help to foster a sense of belonging at Blair, and thus strengthen our Community and support students with their learning?

Through school-wide learning experiences centred around a creating a sense of belonging and building community, we have identified that more work needs to be done around teaching acceptance and inclusion for all.  We will continue to engage in anti-racism work to support creating a positive school community and respect for individual identities. We incorporate First Peoples Principles of Learning and Indigenous Ways of Understanding into our teaching.  When students feel safe, valued, and connected, and are able to understand their own story and connect to others' stories, we believe that students will feel a greater sense of belonging and challenge themselves with their learning to achieve greater success with their education.

In our staff planning for our 2025-2026 school year, our staff believes it is important to continue working on and supporting our goals of building a safer and more inclusive learning environment for all of our community members.  We believe celebrating diversity and individual gifts and strengths will support our learners in their personal and academic achievements.

Next Steps:

• extend our extracurricular activities for more opportunities to support belonging, engagement and community building during non-instructional times
• support social interactions between students through direct teaching and modelling during less-structured activities
• continue to develop opportunities for students to explore fine arts activities that allow openness and creativity to flourish
• continue to directly teach and model our school district values around Identity, Inclusivity, and Belonging for all
• connect with and engage our broader Blair community in activities that support diversity and inclusivity values
• continue to focus on supporting the Wellness and Social Emotional Learning of our students through daily and school-wide focused activities
• directly teach and model appropriate uses of technology, including Digital Literacy and online safety
• focus on school-wide literacy strategies to support critical thinking skills
• support our literacy goals around the theme of "Story", including researching, sharing, and celebrating individuals' personal stories as a school community activity