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Dr. Lawrence St Leger

What really works in promoting health in schools?

From recent commissions which sought answers to this question. Dr. St Leger shares how schools can use this evidence to add value to their initiatives.

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School Connectedness PDF Print E-mail

Example #1

"Healthy Schools are characterized by healthy relationships and connections.  Relationships in middle school are of the utmost importance to students, staff and families.  The understanding of relationships begins with an understanding of who we are.  With that base established, we can progress to understanding the factors that influence who we are.  Our team introduced a study of characters in literature circles to grade 7 students, using a variety of powerful strategies.  Using a scoring tool that described identity, students explored the beliefs and attitudes, knowledge and skills, relationships and experience that influence their sense of self.

The foundation for the units is for students to understand themselves in order to understand relationships with other people.  It is our hope that we will expand the unit into a broader and deeper context with grade 8 and 9 students in the following year.  We feel that the richness of the learning experience deserves much attention and as many learning outcomes are satisfied in this unit, considerable time and focus can be directed towards this goal."

Mount Prevost Middle School, School District 79 Cowichan Valley
School Question:  Will students learn about their identity by analyzing characters in literature circles and other strategies and through direct reference to the Identify scoring tool adapted from the Healthy Relationship Performance Standards?
To learn more about this inquiry visit Middle School Case Study Reports

Example #2

"We wished to measure our success on school connectedness under the banner of Me to We, utimately what our school could do to better the world around us.  We used the phrase, Under the banner of Me to We...the title of the the Kielburger brothers book by the same name.

When developing our scoring tool, for growth with our students, we found that some of our activities were developed, planned, and carried out by staff with students participating based on taking time out of our timetable for whole school activities with the hope of fostering connectedness.  We also found that some activities/clubs/events were developed entirely by students, focusing on global issues and community involvment, ultimately what our Me to We philospophy was striving for, the goal of connectedness with our school through service to others.  After looking at many of our items, we asked students to help develop a spectrum of Me to We, with school planned and organzied events through to group and events that showed exceptional leadership and advocacy skills."

Frances Kelsey Secondary, School District 79 Cowichan Valley
School Question: By working under the banner of Me to We can we continue to develop a positive school culture and generate growth in student school connectedness?
To learn more about this inquiry visit Secondary School Case Study Reports