Healthy, Safe and Caring Schools
UPDate November 2016
Why Social and Emotional Skills?
Committee for Children and Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning co-sponsored a successful briefing on "Why Social and Emotional Learning and Employability Skills Should be Prioritized in Education." Read more here SEL Builds a Stronger Workforce
Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning
Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) just launched their redesigned and updated website. It includes new content and videos, helpful tools and resources. Research and SEL In Action, and the Partner Districts pages offer rich insights into what's happening in the field, including videos with superintendents and leaders in every district.
Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre
The Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre is a provincial centre that provides mental health and substance use information, resources, help with system navigation, and peer support to children, youth and their families from across BC.
All services are free of charge, and they can reached at
1-800-665-1822 keltycentre@cw.bc.ca or in person at BC Children’s Hospital.
Helping Teens De-Stress
Do you work with stressed out teens? Greater Good: the Science of a Meaningful Life recently published two strategies for helping teens de-stress: developing a growth-mindset and cultivating self-compassion. How might you bring these strategies into the work you do with teenagers?
Island Sexual Health Teen Workshop
SD 61 Gender Identity Policy
In September 2016, the Greater Victoria school district adopted a new gender identity policy that allows students to choose to play on boys or girls sports teams and calls for one gender-neutral bathroom at each school.
Could Gay-Straight Alliances Reduce Bullying?
Even though all students are at risk, bullying does not target or affect all students equally: Some students are not only more likely to be bullied, but are also more likely to be negatively impacted by it. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students are approximately 91 percent more likely to be bullied than their heterosexual peers. Read more
Click on Poster to Enlarge
Monthly support group for parents and families of trans and gender diverse children and youth.
Click on Poster to Enlarge
Click on Poster to Enlarge
Supporting LGBTQ Students
McCreary Centre Society recently released a report and infographic poster highlighting how LGBTQ support programs in schools can significantly reduce suicide attempts, binge drinking and other health risk behaviours among both straight and sexual minority students.
First Nations Knowledge on the School Ground
First People's Principles of Learning
Residential School Comic Book and Teacher’s Guide
Schools continue to add the history of the residential school to their curriculum. The Healthy Aboriginal’s Lost Innocence is a fictional story based on real-life experiences of survivors. You can preview the resource along with the teacher’s guide, which is a free download.
Active and Safe Routes To School
Students from Braefoot, Cedar Hill, Cloverdale, Doncaster, Lansdowne, Mount Doug, Sir James Douglas, South Park and Willows will be encouraged and supported to walk, bike, bus or roll their way to school more often through the CRD’s Active and Safe Routes to School
This is a community-based initiative that promotes the use of active transportation for the daily trip to and from school.
Leisure Involvement for Everyone
Saanich Parks and Recreation has designed a L.I.F.E. (Leisure Involvement For Everyone) application specifically for middle and high school teachers, counselors, or administration. They hope that you will find the form easy to fill out on behalf of the students. L.I.F.E. applicants receive 52 complimentary drop-in admissions that can be used at all Greater Victoria Municipal Recreation Centres and discounts on other program offerings. Click here for application form.
Decline in Play Increase in Stress?
Reynolds Selected as Third Greenest School in Canada!
Going green has become a natural part of the curriculum for staff and students at Reynolds Secondary. And now that commitment to the environment has paid off, with Reynolds being selected as the third greenest school in Canada! The competition was sponsored by the Canada Green Building Council and Canada Coalition for Green Schools. Read more
Cool Tools For A Warming World
Future Delta 2.0 is a climate change video game designed for educators, students and youth groups to provide a fun learning experience while building awareness of local climate change impacts and solutions. The place-based video game shows what could happen to the community of Delta, BC based on climate change Cool tools for a warming world: Future Delta 2.0
Your School can Participate in the BC Green Games!
The BC Green Games program offers classes and green teams free field trips, just for participating. They host over-night sleepovers, teen-camps, travel subsidy prizes and even a school mural prize. Participation is simple, teams simply create a short photo essay or a video that explains the environmental projects that are happening at your school and submit it by March 1, 2017.
Social Media Helps Teens Cope with Anxiety, Depression and Self Harm
It is easy to focus on the negatives of social media in the lives of teens today. Whether cyberbullying, sexting, electronic dating violence, digital reputation drama are categorized as moments of youthful indiscretion or instances of intentional harm towards others, they do happen. And we are left to help those teens pick up the pieces and, ideally, find a redemptive silver lining in it all.
MediaSmarts
MediaSmarts creates hundreds of free resources in English and French for educators to use in their classrooms. It provides detailed information on media education for each province, media education organizations and media education curricular outcomes, by grade, with links to supporting MediaSmarts resources.
Funding Opportunities
Breakfast Club of Canada Ongoing
Computers for Schools BC Ongoing
McCreary Youth Action Grant Ongoing
Parasport Jumpstart Fund Ongoing
Good Sports Equipment Grant Ongoing
Swim to Survive School Grant Program Ongoing
KidSport BC Program Ongoing
RBC Children's Mental Health Project Fund Ongoing
For more grant opportunities visit the Healthy, Safe and Caring Schools website
Wellness for Educators
Presented by Stephanie Curran and Lisa Baylis
This workshop will bring tools and strategies around mindfulness, gratitude, compassion, kindness and connection to participants in order to help them create wellness habits for themselves, and within their schools. By assisting participants to train their brain for the positive, it builds a ripple effect of well-being throughout their school setting, enabling a culture of resiliency, self-regulation and awareness for all learners. Click on link to register https://wellness-for-educators.eventbrite.com
Thursday, Nov 17, 2016, 04:00 PM
S J Willis Educational Centre
Healthy, Safe and Caring Schools
This Update is intended for information purposes. Inclusion in the Update does not necessarily imply endorsement or recommendation by the District or the Healthy, Safe and Caring Schools Program. It is the readers’ responsibility to determine the suitability of the resource for their specific purposes.
Marnice Jones
Greater Victoria School District
Coordinator Healthy, Safe and Caring Schools
Learning Support
Email: mjones@sd61.bc.ca
Website: https://healthyschools.sd61.bc.ca/
Phone: 250-475-4223
Twitter: @4Rcommunity