Care Team

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The Northgate High School Care Team is made up of a group of Northgate staff members who are dedicated to improving the mental, physical, and emotional well-being of students at Northgate. The Care Team meets weekly to respond to student needs and/or review student situations.  Created in 2010, the Care Team includes a Vice Principal, the School Counselors, the Social Work Specialist, the School Nurse, and the School Psychologist.

The Process

When a student is referred to the Care Team, our team completes the following five steps:

1. Review the Care Team referral submitted about the student.
   A referral can be submitted by anyone and should be referred by using the Google Referral Form below. It usually provides information about why the referrer was concerned. For example, a teacher might refer a student to our Care Team using the referral form and write, "(Student's name) has began showing up to class late and has not been engaging in class like they were first semester. Their grades have also dipped, so I'm concerned something is going on that is impacting their behavior and grades."

2. Review the student's "cumulative" file.
   This is a file containing their general school information that typically contains grades, attendance, discipline, standardized assessment reports and other information from a student's educational career. 

3. Discuss what is known about the student and determine the next best action to take.
   This could be anything from arranging for a Student Support Team meeting (this is a meeting with the student to gather more info), to scheduling a 504 meeting (this is a meeting to determine if the student has a disability or impairment that is impacting their life and school activities), to calling the student out of class for a one on one conversation with a school counselor or the social work specialist (this is done when their are immediate concerns about the student's emotional or mental well-being).

4. Provide the intervention to support the student.
   Again, this intervention could be one of many types of interventions, from a Vice Principal holding a 504 meeting, the school nurse following up on concussion symptoms, a school counselor or social work specialist meeting one-on-one with a student about their emotional needs, or a school counselor meeting with the student and parents about academics or post-secondary planning. 

5. Follow up and review.
   ​At each Care Team meeting, the team reviews previously handled student situations to determine if there needs to be more follow up or further intervention. The team determines which cases are closed and what information - if any - can be shared with critical stakeholders. The follow up and review process is meant to ensure that actual resolution occurs for each student, or that a meaningful plan is created to help lead to the wanted resolution.