Frank Hurt Secondary 2023-2024

The students at Frank Hurt are provided with opportunities to practice and demonstrate their Social and Emotional Learning skills on a daily basis across all curricular areas. Our students are taught to build their SEL skill set to thrive in situations when challenges are faced by introducing new tools and strategies for them to use. When students continuously add tools to their toolboxes, they are working towards building themselves up for higher levels of success. To track which tools are areas of strength and which are areas of growth, we tracked two cohorts of learners that include a wide range of learners and provide a fair and accurate representation of our school's population.

The curricular competencies we focused on are in the Social and Community Health category of the Physical and Health Education 9 curriculum :

• Creating strategies for promoting the health and well-being of the school and community

Through conversations and writing samples, our students engage in learning to discuss and identify the key components needed in creating an even more positive space for all of our learners. From there, they continue to engage in dialogue with their peers to discuss how those suggestions can become realities and what steps need to be taken to make those changes.

EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING

Our learners are developing and building on their SEL skills and capacities. In the focus area of looking at strategies and how to implement them in order to improve the health and well-being of our school and community, our students demonstrated an increase in their ability to:

• Create strategies for promoting the health and well-being of the school and community

Below are examples of our students’ classroom experiences as they relate to the curricular competency stated above.

Identifying an area of improvement and creating a strategy to make that improvement a reality

The learners in our cohorts were asked questions and engaged in dialogue to gauge whether or not they can identify an area that they feel could use improvement in our school community and culture. They were asked the same question at the beginning and the end of the semester. Through continuous dialogue and mentorship from their teacher, both cohorts showed significant improvement in the ways they identified an area they would like to focus on and strategies they could use to make those changes possible. Based off observations, conversations, and written documentation, the teacher of the two cohorts used  language from the provincial assessment scales to identify successes and remaining challenges. The two learning goals specifically focussed on were:

Students can identify an area they would like to see improvement and can provide strategies to make those improvements a reality.

Students can identify a specific contribution they can make that will make the Frank Hurt school and community a more positive and inclusive space for all members. 

The data suggests that there was definite improvement from the beginning of the semester to the end. It is important to note that at the beginning of the semester, there was a high percentage of students at the emerging proficiency and none by the end of the semester. This improvement is a direct result of the dialogue between the students and the teacher and through shared experiences throughout the semester. The students were able to understand where they would like to see positive changes take place in their community and were able to come up with a strategic plan to make those changes attainable.

The most profound improvement can be seen in the extending proficiency. This dramatic increase offers real insight as to how much deeper the students were able to get with their answers and strategies. The answers were more specific, more thought out, while being very practical and realistic. Some examples can be seen below:

Question: What do you feel is something that can be improved at Frank Hurt? Create a strategy that you feel would fix this.

“I feel that the trash on the floor needs to be improved. I could pick up trash for 10 minutes after school to the improve the school.”

Ranveer Khattra

“Implementing support services for students with diverse needs. This can involve providing learning materials in various formats.”

Ralph Hernandez

“Our school could be more inclusive and positive. We could have less arguments. Some strategies to avoid arguments/fights is not engaging or making it worse. If it becomes too bad and you need support, go to an adult in the building that you trust.”

Sachita Shrirajh

How can you improve your contribution to making Frank Hurt a more positive space for yourself and your peers?

“By being respectful and setting a good example for the younger grades and helping them with whatever problems they may have.”

Sameer Dhaliwal

“I could volunteer to help in events in the school to help everyone have a fun and positive time at Frank Hurt.”

Ranveer Khattra

“I think I can be more kind to people who need help or don’t understand something and help instead of walking by and not doing anything. I can also help by communicating better with them, this will help both of us feel more comfortable.”

Prabhjaap Malhi

“Engaging in a positive and inclusive environment by being respectful, kind, and supportive to others.”

Ralph Hernandez

“You can make friends with new people and help them get around the school. Throwing trash in the right bins and not throwing it on the floor would lead to a cleaner environment.”

Japleen Dhesi

“We can all learn to be more inclusive with each other and make us all feel more welcome and nobody feels left out.”

Aryan Rasuli

“I can improve Frank Hurt by creating a positive and welcoming environment for others and creating a safe space.”

Eysha Sindhu

“I can improve my contribution to make Frank Hurt a more positive space by treating everyone with kindness, being respectful, and not making our surroundings dirty.”

Richel Islam

“I could come into class with a more positive attitude. I can also cheer on my classsmates so they can reach their goals in terms of nutrition and/or athletic ability. Another way I can make Frank Hurt more positive is by talking to my peers more so I can get to know them better.”

Addison Shaw

“I can be more open/approachable. Instead of making dull, sulky faces, I could be more smiley. I could also be more mindful of my language.”

Sachita Shrirajh

One particular student showed tremendous growth in not only the way she answered the questions, but by her actions both in the cohort and outside in the Frank Hurt community. She was asked a specific set of questions and asked to share what this last year has meant to her.

What do you think of when you hear Frank Hurt?

When I hear Frank Hurt, I think of it as a place full of diversity with many differences and cultures but that’s what makes each individual here unique! People can be themselves and meet many amazing people in their high school career and can learn many things from peers and our amazing teachers/admin/staff. Frank Hurt is a place where you can build so many connections. It’s inclusive, for example, all the programs/clubs we have such as, Team, Castle, Next Up, Empowering Hornets, Math Ninjas and more! These lead to meeting so many people and having fun while doing what interests you. You can also find great resources here to help you as best as they can and can possibly help you improve on something that you’re not the strongest at.

What do you feel is the most important thing that needs to be improved at Frank Hurt?

The most important thing I think needs to be improved at Frank Hurt is the respect and care for the environment, also the littering. There are many places for proper disposal all around but garbage still ends up on the ground. Lastly, something I dont think is recognized enough is the appreciation for our admin/teachers/staff. These many amazing individuals just want the best for us and take time out of their day to do things around the school. Someone who does that is Ms. Mann. She did an amazing job assisting my basketball coach and taking time out of her day to schedule our games, arrange taxis, and to build so many beautiful connections with so many wonderful people around at Frank Hurt. So, for that last reason being we should improve the appreciation for the littlest things that people go out of their way to do when it isn’t their job to do but yet volunteer to contribute to the school.

How can this improvement be made into a reality?

From these statements I think a reality can be made and to do so is very simple. Firstly, to stop the littering what we can do is we can encourage our school community to be more responsible and learn to be more respectful of what is ours as well. Secondly, I think what needs to be changed is the appreciation and respect for our teachers/staff/admins and what we can do to make us as students seem more appreciative is very simple. We can look at different perspectives and try to imagine ourselves in their positions and try to realize that it’d be so hard teaching 50+ kids a day and even when they’re not in the mood to do anything they still come to work to provide us with the education we know today. Some teachers go out of school hours or during to organize sports teams/clubs and even some teachers such as Ms. Kaur went out of her day to provide us with math booklets that she used her own money for to give to us so we can learn in a more organized manner.

How has your image of Frank Hurt changed over the past year? What has contributed to that change?

My image of Frank Hurt over the past year has changed drastically and what I mean is that I realized that this school is so great and all I needed to do was find the right people and get them to guide me in the right direction with teachers/staffs assistance. I realized that this school has an amazingly friendly and talented environment full of outstanding people who can help you become who you truly are and can help you better yourself while you can also try to better others too. My image of this school has improved a lot since last year and I really do see why and how it has thanks to my fellow peers and teachers/staff. Last year was not a great look for me because I made many poor choices and became someone who I wasn’t, teachers used to have to constantly remind me to pay attention to what I am doing but this year however things have changed for me a lot. I have been getting lots of compliments by both current teachers and previous ones for the improvements I have made academically. Not only that but I have stayed out of trouble this year and became a very good student with my grades so far and I am very proud of my improvement.

MOVING FORWARD

As we continue with this work, we will build on it in the following ways.

We will continue to challenge our students to critically look at our school and community and identify areas where improvements can be made. When the students are the advocates of change, we can see real advancements take shape. When the individuals who define the Frank Hurt community rise up and make positive changes, it becomes infectious. Students can go deeper into their strategies for improvement, can make detailed timelines, and can work on proposing bigger projects to admin. When students start to explore with their peers and start to really be creative in their way of thinking, it will allow for more ideas to emerge and more challenges to be overcome. Only when we have a community of critical thinkers who are willing to make positive changes can we see the benefits of our work. The important thing to note is that there is no finish line, with changing times, changing demands, and changing needs, we can always work to make things better, and with the help of our students and their voices, we can make those changes meaningful.

To have our students leave as Hornets ready to tackle the world after graduation, during their time at Frank Hurt, we will emphasize community, connection, and social emotional learning. In conjunction to our cohorts participating, in our student learning goal, we will be working with our entire student population to complete core competency self-assessments to make our student learning goal a cross-curricular and school-wide initiative.

In addition to emphasizing community, connection, and social emotional learning, through fostering an environment where students are challenged to grow, our Frank Hurt community continues to:

• Improve student learning opportunities in student learning outcomes in literacy, numeracy and critical thinking skills
• Support and develop programs and resources designed to maximize all students' learning potential and meet the diverse needs of our student population
• Develop student attitudes and activities which enhance school safety, pride, spirit, appreciation for culture and diversity and personal and social responsibility
• Improve interactions communication and involvement of students, parents, staff and the community
• Develop programs and resources designed to maximize avenues of student learning, enhance student transition between high school and post-secondary learning and provide a basis for post-graduation success

We are committed to being a diverse, inclusive community of visionary learners which fosters respect and passion for lifelong learning.