At Woodward, our focus has been on social emotional learning and supporting a feeling of connection in our learning community.  We will continue to promote 'Woodward Connects' as we head toward a new school year.  Our survey in March 2024 asked students the following additional questions:

1. Can you name two adults in the building who care about you and believe in you?

2. How do you know?

3. What makes you feel most connected at Woodward?

4. When you are learning, what makes you feel most happy?

5. When you are learning, when might you feel most unhappy?

As a staff, we drew out main themes from the last two questions in particular.  What helps our students to feel joy and happiness at school?  What problems/concerns/other take away from feeling happy at school?  Friendships was a big theme, particularly in the primary grades.  Feeling unsure in the learning, and particularly in the areas of literacy and numeracy skills, was another main theme. 

From the data pulled from the survey results, students were telling us that they need confidence-building strategies in order to feel that they can get through their challenges and work towards greater success.  As a staff, we decided that a focus or inquiry around developing a Growth Mindset (versus a fixed mindset), particularly in the area of Literacy, through the coming school year would be a supporting 'next step' in our school story journey.