Restructuring how we address inclusion and diversity each month through our monthly "focus" planning groups was a goal coming into this year. Building up events that we already recognize and some new such as The Day of Truth & Reconciliation, have allowed us to, not only teach the concepts of these important events and bring our school community together, but it has allowed us to go "deeper" into our thinking as we focus on our themes. 

We are seeing results already. Our ability to now get back to things like Assemblies, Family Teams and Buddy Classes, are connecting our students in ways we have not been able to do in a few years. But with our added themes and foci, it allows us as a staff to enrich our students that much more, help them connect to the school community in a more meaningful way, and help them understand that our diversity makes us richer and stronger.

The next questions to discuss as a staff would be, "How do we know we are making a difference in terms of increasing students' sense of belonging at school?"  What barriers to belonging exist for people in society/in our school?