At the heart of Surrey Schools is a district-wide shared vision for learning – Learning by Design – where we prepare our learners for a world in which they think creatively and critically, communicate skillfully, and demonstrate care for self and others.
Learning by Design has three core aspects – Learning, Structures, and Tools – that support innovation in our schools.
Principles of Learning by Design
Learning by Design empowers our teachers to design learning conditions that are student-centred, inquiry-focused, engaging, and steeped in real-world experiences. It is focused on embracing technologies, innovation, and connecting learning to local and global communities.
Learning by Design enables our students to access learning according to their passions, curiosities, and needs.
Learning by Design encourages innovation in learning spaces where our teachers, support staff, and students inquire, imagine, design, think critically, reflect and learn together.
District Priority Practices
A key aspect of Learning by Design is a commitment to supporting ongoing professional learning through research, innovation, and collaboration. We do this in part by supporting inquiry-focused school planning with a view to identifying one or more areas for focus aligned with our four interrelated Priority Practices:
Communicating student learning (CSL) is interwoven with curriculum design, formative assessment, instructional strategies, and social and emotional learning. CSL is a process by which teachers can provide a continuous window into student learning. Students, teachers, and parents design together, meaningful samples and evidence of student learning over time to demonstrate progress aligned with learning standards.