Submitted by Chair Amanda Amaral
February 14, 2024
February moves us into the next phase of our strategic planning process. The writing team will commence their work in a few weeks; this is where the strategic plan begins to move into an action plan. I offer gratitude in advance for the parents, community volunteers and staff representatives that are dedicating their time, creativity and passion to this important work. The board is looking forward to your contributions to the strategic planning process and to the plan itself. Your work will be important in supporting us to action our values.
As we focus our minds to reflect on our new values; this month we will reflect on our value of belonging. Belonging is a new value for the school district and marks a shift in how and where we focus our attention and resourced.
Belonging:
Fostering inclusion and well-being through meaningful, compassionate, respectful connections with ourselves, each other and the land.
When people feel they belong the individual and the organization both benefit. Belonging unlocks trust, when there is a strong sense of belonging it creates room for creative collaboration and the possibilities of what can be accomplished are nearly limitless. Our value of belonging specifically mentions the land. This is a unique understanding of the definition of belonging and speaks to the culture of our district and the Sunshine Coast geography. Belonging creates a natural desire for environmental stewardship. When we belong to one another and the land we create a reciprocal relationship that expands beyond the boundaries of our district. We learn and grow from what we share together in our learning community and on the land where we live, learn and collaborate with one another.
In the coming years, as we move through our strategic plan, we will explore how we create belonging together. We will see the impact belonging has on what we do and how we do it. We will witness how our belonging changes our lands and our lands change us. We will have stories of how belonging made the difference and how belonging was the difference. These stories will be powerful tools to build a school district with a strong sense of belongings amongst our learners, staff and community; each retelling of these stories building up our sense of belonging.
So how do you know you belong? What do you feel when you belong? What is the relationship between the learner, the school district and the land when they belong to one another? What will belonging unlock for us?
Amanda Amaral
Chair