Time at School Engagement
🌀 Characteristics and Sample Goals
Student Engagement
Student participation and engagement is adopted as a core value and embedded within the norms and practices of the school community.
Students have a strong sense of ownership over processes and decisions in school that impact their lives.
There is on-going consultation (formal and informal) with students about their health and learning needs.
The school, teaching environments and services and programs within the school community reflect, represent, and are responsive to the diverse needs of youth.
There are planned opportunities for students to meaningfully engage, contribute and participate as change agents.
Students share responsibilities for implementation of Well-being actions.
Efforts are taken to involve younger children through applying age-appropriate engagement in building a healthy school community.
Schools report back to students on processes in which they have been consulted.
Schools gather diverse perspectives from the student population, effectively
Students know where to go to provide their input on the school community, and how to escalate concerns.
Our youth are engaged and feel empowered as active members of our school community.
Parents, Caregivers, and Families Engagement
Parents, caregivers, and families are meaningfully and appropriately involved in the life of the school community.
Families are kept informed and up to date with school related issues, efforts, and actions.
Parents and caregivers feel a sense of ownership and investment in enhancing school environments.
Families most affected by issues within the school community are actively engaged in dialogue and decision making about potential solutions.
The International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) is used to inform the appropriate level of participation of parents, caregivers, and families (inform, consult, involve, collaborate, or engage).
Staff Engagement
School staff are meaningfully and appropriately engaged in Well-being planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Level and intensity of engagement and participation is informed by the voice and needs of members of the school community.
Community Organizations and Municipalities Engagement
Community organizations and municipalities inform and lead change within the school community.
Expertise and resources available within the school community are coordinated and leveraged (I.e. parents as educators and guest speakers, students sharing skills, community members creating extracurricular opportunities)
Level and intensity of engagement and participation is informed by the voice and needs of members of the school community.
School staff are meaningfully and appropriately engaged in Well-being planning, implementation, and evaluation.
The IAP2 spectrum is used to inform appropriate level of participation of community organizations and municipalities (inform, consult, involve, collaborate, or engage).
🌀 Practices
Bring Learning Outside: Increase Land-Based Learning Opportunities
Child Nature Alliance of Canada (CNAC)’s online resource portal Thrive Outside now includes a Teacher’s Guidebook for bringing learning outside.
This resource includes a number of strategies, tips, and ideas, including how to meet your curriculum in the outdoors, document learning in play, proposing outdoor learning to your administration, and more.
Expand Active Smarter Kids
Active Smarter Kids (ASK) is a model for curriculum delivery that has been developed and researched in Norway.
Check out this 4 minute introduction video!ASK uses Physically Active Learning (PAL), which consists of fun(engaging) and active lessons that combine physical activity with academic content as part of instructional time. Not to be confused as a supplement to physical education.
Physically active lessons (PALS) are educational lessons that “aim to incorporate physical activities with a moderate-to-vigorous intensity into the teaching of academic lesson content and do not come with the cost of academic instruction time” (Creswell, Plano Clark, Gutmann, & Hanson, 2003). Lesson resources for teachers.
International research has demonstrated that PALS effectively increase students’ physical activity, while also positively affecting students’ time on task, academic achievement, and overall mood and sense of enjoyment of school.
Check out the project's YouTube Channel for example lessons and contact your School Health Promoter to set up professional development in your school.
Support Student-led Projects
Youth demonstrated their ability to identify unique and effective solutions to problems at school.
Whether they were connecting students through audiovisual projects, creating opportunities for risky play with skateboard clubs, or creating spaces to share culture and be vulnerable through a safe space wigwam, students have the skills and understanding to lead projects at your school.
By supporting students to understand what is going on at their school and then taking time to identify and prioritize solutions you can have great impact while empowering youth as change-makers.
These projects can be done with little to no budget, but can have great impact when funds are found to support them: Positive Noise grants, SAC funds, and SSP funds are great places to start
Work with students to bring their ideas to fruition through Positive Noise (Student Micro-grants)
Positive Noise Grants help empower students to make their schools healthier places! Students fill out an application for a grant of up to $200 to deliver a project in theirschool or community that helps others feel healthier & more connected.
Projects must benefit the whole school, and involve a group of students working together.
Connect with Alex Coley, your Youth Engagement Coordinator, to learn more.
Empower Student Voice
Students are more likely to engage and participate when they have agency and a sense of influence over what you are doing.
Create meaningful opportunities for student decision making. Intramurals, breakfast programs, extracurricular activities, and school leadership are all great places to engage students in decision making.
You can also find ways of doing this in your classroom, give your Youth Engagement Coordinator a call for more ideas.
Use Active Energizers in the Classroom
Energizers get your classroom or school moving.
They’re quick, fun ideas that are easy to implement throughout the day for a lively pick-me-up.
Ideas to get started that can be shared with your staff: http://www.appleschools.ca/energizers
Keep your school community informed
For students to be involved, they need to know what is going on. If you are starting new programs or taking steps to affect change in your school let them know what you are doing and tell them how they informed those decisions.
It is particularly important to communicate with students after you have engaged them. If you have asked students for their input or if they have participated in a program or project - let them know how things went. Share the results and tell them what your going to do next.
Highlight the successes of your community
Share and celebrate what is going on in your community. Encourage school community members to share their stories and encourage your students and staff to contribute to meaningful community development when opportunities arise.
Be a bridge between your students and their community. Encourage service and connection by promoting community events, services, and programs.
Support a student leadership team at your school
Engage a representative group of students through leadership opportunities in the school communities. By establishing a leadership team, students can be prepared and supported to offer guidance and advice when decisions arise and take action in response to the needs of the school community.
Engage the regional Youth Engagement Coordinator
Youth Engagement Coordinators (YECs) support youth engagement in SSRCE. They aim to amplify youth voice in school decision making by sharing resources with staff and administrators, making connections, supporting grant projects, and providing guidance on HSC initiatives.
Youth engagement coordinators (YECs) also help student groups assess the school health environment and select projects that address an identified need related to food, physical activity and/or mental health.
Learn more about funding and leadership opportunities here: https://sites.google.com/view/avrce-healthyschoolcommunities/uplift
Do you have a practice, program, or framework you are using successfully at your school to engage students, parents,
caregivers, families, and/or the community? Or one that you'd like to try?
Please let us know by submitting this Google form!