Health & Wellness: A Whole-School Approach

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When I became principal of Western Canada High School the percentage of grade 10 students rating the school as safe and caring was 88%.

It is an impressive stats inline with the provincial average. One of my objective was to raise that number through a series of initiatives:Hired a .5 psychologist

  • Increased counselling time by .5 FTE
  • Continued work of staff wellness committee
  • Created a student wellness club
  • Introduced gender neutral bathrooms
  • Introduced yoga classes
  • Introduced Math-15 Class
  • Introduced Math Camp for IB Students
  • Introduced yoga sessions prior to exams
  • Regular PD sessions for faculty with regards to mental health:
    • Of particular interest was the live performance of the Laramie Project followed by a panel on creating Safe Spaces in a school. The presentation was attended by the Faculty at Western Canada and by teachers from both school boards.
  • Introduction of a depression screening day (Oct 6th 2017)
  • Interactive activities by different student clubs to raise awareness:
    • Speak-out on Mental Illness;
    • Pride Week by Spectrum Club;
    • Safe Space program introduce by Spectrum Club.
  • Regular sessions in collaboration with AHS for parents:
    • -Nov 1, 2016: Coping with Stress
    • -Feb 9, 2017: Motivating the Unmotivated
    • -Sep 19, 2017: Nancy Mannix on the work of the Palix Foundation
  • Fitness Center available to students and staff
  • Study Space available
  • The impact of this strategy is starting to show in our survey results: On the accountability pillar survey, the percentage of students rating the school as safe and caring went to 92.2% in May 2017.  With our Learning Leader for Student Services, I did a presentation on the approach taken at the Moving Forward With High School Re-Design Conference:

WCHS Presentation 2017 MFWHSR