Betty Huff Elementary 22-23
OUR CONTEXT
Our School
Betty Huff Elementary is a dynamic school where students are engaged in learning that is focused on Literacy, Numeracy, and Social-Emotional Learning. Our vision is for every student to feel connected and be able to reach their full potential. The school motto is “Taking care of ourselves, taking care of others, and taking care of this place”. At Betty Huff Elementary, students and staff celebrate diversity and foster equity and inclusion of all.
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Students are recognized with “Harley’s Heroes” tickets for showing respect for themselves, others, and the school. Every week, there is a draw for a Harley’s Heroes Three Things t-shirts. Students and staff wear their shirts proudly every Thursday.
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OUR LEARNERS
Social-Emotional Learning
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which all children learn the skills and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, achieve personal and collective goals, build empathy towards others, make responsible and caring decisions, and to establish and maintain healthy relationships. SEL skills allow students to engage successfully with learning opportunities that foster communication and collaboration across all curriculum areas. SEL is embedded in all areas of the curriculum.
Below are examples highlighting our students’ strengths as they demonstrate SEL skills in a variety of learning experiences.
Our learners engage actively as listeners, viewers, and readers to develop an understanding of self, identity, and community.
Students celebrated the joy of reading through a series of common, shared literacy activities during Literacy Week. In the above photos, intermediate and primary students buddy-read together during the “Camp Read” event in the Gym.
Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential, and relational. Through outdoor education, our learners develop connectedness, reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place.
Students went on a field trip to Minnekhada Regional Park. With a hike to the top of High-Knoll, students had the opportunity to explore the Pitt-Addington Marsh and Pitt River. By learning about the lands that make up our communities, students are able to develop a relationship and sense of connectedness to these places. By participating in learning experiences outdoors, students can become lifelong environmental stewards.
"Intermediate teacher:
"Being outside has really developed our overall team building skills. Connecting with nature, using resources from the land, and breathing in the fresh air has taught us not to sweat the small stuff and enjoy being present in the company of each other."
Our learners develop social awareness and responsibility to create environments that are welcoming and inclusive communities, where students feel safe and have a sense of belonging.
The SEL Games Day was an all day, community building event where students participated in a variety of activities that celebrated our growth in the SEL skills. Students participated in tasks that involved problem solving, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking. In the above pictures, students in grade seven work on untangling “The Human Knot” and grade six students work together on solving the “Grass is Lava” teamwork challenge.
Our learners experience their chosen forms of creative expression as an important part of their identity.
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Students participate in a music classes all year and performed in a Spring concert. The concert showcased the musical talents of our Kindergarten to grade four classes. Our students enjoy performing in front of a live audience.
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Over 40 students are regularly-involved in an extra-curricular theatre program through the Betty Huff Theatre Company. They are all Betty Huff students and the Theatre program (run by four staff members) involves two productions per year with almost daily practices beginning in early September through to April. While not only a commitment to excellence, the program establishes (early-on) the value and expectation of commitment.
"Grade 6 student:
"I think theatre changed my life drastically. I just love being in the production each and every year. You should keep doing theatre each year because it gives a real chance for people to express themselves in front of people and everyone enjoys it every time! Ever since I joined theatre, I now like to open up and express myself more to people.”
"Grade 4 student:
"Theatre helped me gain confidence, and learn new things, and theatre can help students who don't have much confidence gain that, and it could get students to work with each other.”
Remembrance Day
Our Annual Remembrance Day assembly is structured with student art work all over the entire gym, student MCs, and an engaging learning experience paying homage to our fallen soldiers, including Peace Keepers and Indigenous Veterans. We have a music performance "Waving Flag," inspired by K'Naan, a Somali-Canadian.
Our learners participate in sports and physical activity to help gain the knowledge and skills they need to be safe, active, healthy citizens throughout their lives.
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Athletes in grades five, six, and seven participated on school soccer, volleyball, basketball, and football teams. We also had over sixty students in grades three to seven develop track and field skills and compete at a mini-track meet with four other schools. Our students won their playday in soccer in September 2023, winning every game and only having one single goal scored against them.
"Grade 6 student:
"Being on a team helped me learn that you can accomplish more working together as a team than when you are by yourself."
Strong communities are the result of being connected to family and community and working towards common goals. Our learners understand that family and community relationships can be a source of support and guidance when solving problems and making decisions.
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Indigenous knowledge and perspectives are integrated through all areas of learning. The intent is to integrate Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in authentic and meaningful ways. The goal is to promote a growing understanding of Indigenous peoples in B.C. and develop educated citizens that reflect on and support reconciliation.
OUR FOCUS
Relationship Skills
Social Emotional Learning is embedded in all areas of the curriculum. The focus for the students was on building Relationship Skills to ensure students developed the abilities to establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups across all subject areas.
The SEL competencies we focused on in relation to relationship skills included:
- Communicating effectively
- Developing healthy relationships
To determine how specific instructional strategies can support growth in relationship skills, we focussed on three cohorts of learners that included students across grade levels. The students were representative of the larger school population.
Below are examples of students’ classroom experiences with developing relationship skills.
Communicating Effectively
Our learners work collectively to negotiate respectfully to share ideas, resources, and space to complete collaborative problems. Our learners seek to distribute leadership, listen actively, and acknowledge contributions from others.
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DELETE: Working in groups, students develop and practice collaborative problem-solving through Applied Design, Skills, and Technology (ADST) challenges. After reading the book, Up the Creek, students discussed the issues faced by the characters in the story and then worked on designing and building a boat that could survive a trip down a raging river with rapids. Students used set criteria to design and test the structures they built.
Developing Healthy Relationships
Students understand that their relationships and their cultural context help shape who they are.
Students explore the many different countries and cultures from which our students’ families come. By learning about their own cultural roots and the cultural roots of others around them, these students are developing cultural competency through personal and social awareness. When students understand and develop a positive personal and cultural identity, they become confident individuals that contribute to the well-being of their family, community, and society.
Students recognize their personal responsibility for their happiness and have strategies that help them find peace in challenging situations.
Students across the grades are instructed and supported in using problem solving strategies to help resolve conflicts constructively. WITS and the Zones of Regulation are two resources that students have been introduced to help build the relationship skills needed to help solve conflicts between students.
OUR NEXT STEPS
Our Next Steps
Betty Huff Elementary students are building SEL skills across all curriculum areas. Over the year, students demonstrated growth in developing their relationship skills and abilities to:
- Communicate effectively
- Develop healthy relationships
Communicating Effectively - Evidence of Growth
Communicating helps bridge students’ learning, their personal and social identities, and the world in which they interact.
Students have participated in daily morning meetings each day. The skills learned and practiced during morning meetings over the year have helped our younger students improve in their Oral Language proficiency. Through morning meetings, students are learning how to engage actively as listeners and viewers to connect to personal knowledge and experiences, and asking and answering meaningful questions. Students also exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding, taking turns in offering ideas related to the topic and engaging in conversations with peers and adults.
"Primary student:
"Morning meetings help me learn about my friends and we practice listening respectfully."
Primary teacher:
"Morning meetings help my students transition into the school day and allows them to recognize and monitor how they are feeling. The time we spend together has allowed us to build a community of respect and an appreciation of differences. It has allowed my students to build confidence and step out of their comfort zones, as each student voice is valued and heard. At the beginning of the school year, we had many social problems, but over time student relationships have been strengthened by talking through any issues and setting a positive tone for learning. During a busy day, it has allowed me the time to teach important social and emotional skills that lead to success.”
Effective communication has helped students improve achievement in English Language Arts. In regards to engaging actively as listeners and viewers, 25% of learners were developing, and 70% of learners were proficient in our primary cohort. Our primary cohort also made gains in being able to exchange ideas and perspectives to be able to build shared understanding with 15% developing their abilities, and 80% proficient in their abilities.
Developing Healthy Relationships - Evidence of Growth
Our learners engage in informal and structured relationships in which they listen, contribute, develop understanding, and learn to consider diverse perspectives.
In Physical and Health Education, students brainstorm ideas about what makes a healthy relationship. Students then created posters to share their insights with the school community.
"Intermediate student:
"Knowing what makes a healthy relationship helps me choose friends that help me and are kind to me."
Moving Forward
Our school community is stronger and more connected due to our students’ progress in building relationship skills. Students have been successful communicators and group collaborators based on the skills they have learned and practiced. These skills assist students in performing better across all subjects. As we continue to keep SEL at the centre of teaching and learning, we will continue to build on our progress by focusing on self-awareness and self-regulation.
Self-Awareness
The abilities to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values, and how they influence behaviour across contexts, including:
- Integrating personal and social identities
- Identifying one’s emotions
- Having a growth mindset
Self-Regulation
The abilities to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviours effectively in different situations and to achieve goals and aspirations including:
- Identifying and using stress management strategies
- Exhibiting self-discipline and self-motivation
- Setting personal and collective goals
Students will continue to work on these areas through implicit learning opportunities embedded in the lesson designs and supported interactions between staff and students. Staff will also provide explicit instruction of these SEL skills through the school-wide use of educational resources designed for SEL instruction.
Surrey Schools
Formed in 1906, the Surrey School District currently has the largest student enrolment in British Columbia and is one of the few growing districts in the province. It is governed by a publicly elected board of seven trustees.
The district serves the cities of Surrey and White Rock and the rural area of Barnston Island.
