Submitted by Chair Amanda Amaral
November 12, 2025
Belonging: Through meaningful, compassionate, and respectful connections with ourselves, each other, and the land.
As we move through November, our reflections turn toward Remembrance Day and Indigenous Veterans Day. These are moments that invite us to pause, remember, and come together in gratitude. We honour all who have served, and we especially recognize the First Peoples, Métis, and Inuit veterans whose service and leadership have too often gone unacknowledged. Their deep commitment to protecting both land and community reminds us that belonging is rooted in relationship to place, to one another, and to shared purpose.
This month also brings many opportunities within our district to strengthen professional belonging and shared learning. On November 10, our professional development day offers sessions focused on flexible and experiential learning, cultural resources and pedagogy, and crisis prevention strategies. These opportunities support our collective growth and nurture deeper connections to Indigenous knowledge and community.
Later in the month, the DPAC evening hosted by the Board will bring together parents, principals, and trustees for shared conversation. This is an important opportunity to listen, learn, and celebrate the partnerships that sustain our district’s sense of belonging through compassionate systems. Now in its third year, this gathering has become a much-anticipated evening of connection and collaboration.
We will close the month with the BCSTA Academy, where trustees and senior district leaders from across the province come together to grow, reflect, and connect around our shared commitment to public education. This event strengthens belonging grounded in our collective value of public education.
Together, these moments demonstrate how the Board and district live out our value of belonging. Whether through remembrance, professional learning, or community dialogue, we are reminded of what it means to foster inclusion and well-being through meaningful, compassionate, and respectful connections with ourselves, each other, and the land.
As we move forward this month, may we continue to honour the many ways belonging takes shape, through listening, learning, and the ongoing work of relationship.
Amanda Amaral
Chair