This past month has been a flurry of physical, intellectual, social and emotional learning in our six families of schools as students engaged in activities that stretched their skills, and exercised their understanding, leading us toward our upcoming spring break from March 18 to April 1.
School athletic teams honed their physical literacy, teamwork, and sense of fair play by participating in volleyball and basketball tournaments across the district. Salmo Secondary hosted eight volleyball teams from Revelstoke to Cranbrook in a brand new invitational tournament supported by their community and PAC. Hume Elementary hosted a district volleyball tournament for nine elementary schools across SD8, and Kootenay River Secondary Senior Boys’ basketball team placed first in the Kootenay Zone tournament, qualifying them for the B.C. High School Provincial Championships from March 6-9.
At Mount Sentinel Secondary, the school chess club held its first ever tournament, providing students with a venue to exercise logic and strategy while they challenged themselves and one another and made new friends. Read-a-thons took place at Erickson Elementary and Adam Robertson Elementary with a combined 250,000 minutes read!
In addition to mental and physical feats on the game board, between book covers and on the court, this past February students immersed themselves in deeper learning about how to create a caring and inclusive learning culture and what it means to celebrate one’s own and others’ cultural identities in our school communities.
Winlaw Elementary students participated in a three-day anti-racism workshop during Black History Month and engaged with Indigenous teachings and traditional activities outdoors. On February 28, every school and department across our district marked Pink Shirt Day and recommitted collectively to filling our schools with caring, acceptance, respect and belonging for all.
In the spirit of active and compassionate learning, I invite you to enjoy this report.
Warmly,
Trish