After thoughtful reflection and engaging discussions with students, staff, and families, Whiteside actively seeks fresh strategies to assist students in resolving conflicts peacefully.

This year, we are aiming to broaden our horizons and construct a comprehensive, school-wide social responsibility framework that can effectively steer the conduct and ethos of our Wolfpack.

At the onset of this academic year, we organized leadership conferences for our intermediate students, involving approximately 185 students. During these gatherings, we prompted them to outline the traits of a positive Whiteside Wolf. Subsequently, we inquired about the values that our Wolfpack should adopt to foster a positive, supportive, and nurturing environment. Collaboratively, our students identified numerous values that hold significance for both them and our institution. To facilitate a shared language that is easily accessible, our students devised diverse Whiteside acronyms that enable us to HOWL!

H - Honest, Helpful, Happy

O - Open-minded, Optimistic

W - Welcoming, Wise

L - Love of learning, Leadership.

In addition to students, Whiteside teachers, Educational Assistants (EAs), and office staff also engaged in reflections on the values of our school and the most effective ways to support the social and emotional needs of our students. These discussions led us to acknowledge that our prior social-responsibility framework had waned in utility and was scarcely remembered by students and a handful of staff members. Recently, we unearthed evidence of this good work and intend to incorporate it into the process of revamping our new initiatives.  Our recent Student Learning Survey data revealed that over 30% of our grade 4 and 7 students surveyed felt they were not learning "how to solve problems in peaceful ways".  

As we commence our HOWL journey, we are delving into the available data to assist us in refining and focusing our framework.