Belmont Secondary School

2023-2024

The second year of our learning plan has allowed us to delve deeper into our goals, with a focus on engagement and student voice and choice. 

Some of our highlights include:

• Co-hosting an ICA/SD62 Multicultural Family Evening, in which our Belmont students and staff took an active role in planning, night of leadership, and participation. 
• A second year of our Student Equity retreat, with both returning and new students participating.
• Students and staff creating a permanent Welcome sign display, containing many of the languages spoken by students in our school.
• Continuing to grow our Indigenous courses - the upcoming year will include English First Peoples 10 - and support department collaboration around expanding their Indigenous Education connections. An example of this is a collaboration between Contemporary Indigenous Studies and Food Studies teachers. 
• Staff have created a pronoun sheet and have shared many resources through the staff weekly email.
• Staff will be attending a School Planning Day session with Dr. Jennifer Katz, focusing on building connections/relationships and UDL. 

The voices of our Graduating students this year also captured the experiences that Belmont is offering to increase a sense of belonging and increasing opportunities for students to explore their own identity and more deeply understand their own worldview and the worldview of others:

Newcomer graduating student:

“Empathy is a perfect word that describes my amazing years at Belmont, Empathy- to me is a powerful word that means the ability to understand and cheer for the feelings of others, which is exactly what I learned studying at Belmont. For instance, our school soccer team represented and promoted the idea of positive support. Furthermore, the diversity of Belmont was reflected in our team as we not only had students born in Canada but also from Afghanistan, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Eritrea, Peru, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Although we came from different places, we were brought together by our love of soccer. And every player’s empathy allowed us to build a strong connection with each other and this strength resulted in not only having a fabulous season but also winning the Shield Cup.

I also found empathy inside Belmont. In many of my classes, when preparing for assignments and tests, I always felt supported. Sometimes that support came from my classmates. And sometimes it came from other teachers–who would often spend their lunch hour or provide time after school to answer my questions and guide me through the challenging work. And those of you that really know me, I ask a lot of questions.”

International Student Program graduate:

“We have learned and grown a lot since we first arrived here. For me, I feel like my biggest lesson was to go out of my comfort zone. 2 years ago, I was struggling with the language barrier like many of you probably faced. I had no idea what my teachers or classmates were saying to me and sometimes I could not express myself in the way I wanted. However, I had wonderful people around me and they encouraged and motivated me to learn more. I pushed myself to explore and communicate more and here I am, making a speech in front of you guys. All of these years in Belmont helped me to improve myself and made me who I am today. So I am really grateful for this opportunity to have lovely friends, teachers, and community members with me here.”

Indigenous Valedictorian for 2024:

“Over the past four years, I have undergone a transformation—a transformation that has been shaped by the lessons learned both inside and outside the classroom. With each passing day, I have gained a deeper understanding of myself, my values, and my place in the world.

One of the most significant aspects of this journey has been my exploration of my own culture and family background. Through projects like the capstone, I have had the opportunity to delve into indigenous culture and heritage, discovering truths about myself and my identity that I never knew about. This school has provided me with the space and resources to connect with my roots, to honor my heritage, and to forge a deeper bond with my family. “ 

Related Student Learning Survey data:

Is school a place where you feel like you belong?

For Gr 10s, 11s and 12s, approximately 80% said sometimes to all the time.

At school, have you experienced discrimination on the basis of your sexual orientation or gender identity?

For Gr 10s, 11s, and 12s, 80% responded with never to almost never. 

At your school, how many adults do you feel care about you?

For Gr 10s, 11s, 12s, only approximately 5% of students said that they felt no adults cared for them.

2022-2023

The first year of our learning plan reflected collecting data to guide us in our work and to indicate progress. In terms of increasing a sense of belonging by diversifying representation and increasing opportunities for students to explore their own identity and more deeply understand their own worldview and the worldview of others, the following actions took place: 

• We now have a Red Dress hanging in a central location in the school. There was a beautiful drumming recognition ceremony in the centre of the school on May 5 (Red Dress Day). 

• Students have been involved in gatherings that have allowed them to explore and celebrate their identities. These have included: A retreat at the friendship centre on November 30th; an identity retreat at Camosun College that involved over 40 students; a cultural week during which students shared food, stories, arts and games from their cultural backgrounds, and a number of classes and student groups attended the Indigenous Peoples Day celebration at Royal Roads.  

• We moved from zero Indigenous-focused courses to offering 5 English and Socials Indigenous-focused courses. In 2023/24, this will grow to 17 Indigenous-focused English and Socials courses. Eight teachers engaged with Transforming Curriculum workshops regarding First Peoples learning. 

• Many staff also included learning about personal identity in their lessons. 

• Students were directly involved in Equity Team meetings. 

• All staff participated in a workshop led by Jo Heslip focused on Equity. Approximately half of the staff engaged in workshops with Indigenous role models.  

• All staff received a shirt showing the Belmont crest coupled with Metis artwork designed by a grade 12 Indigenous student, highlighting both an important identity in our community and student voice as central to our work. 

• The Belmont Librarian completed a diversity and equity audit on library collection – aiming to revitalize fiction and non-fiction for 2023/24 to be inclusive of all students. 

• Black History Month was visible and recognized throughout the school; Teacher Librarian and Equity Lead shared resources with staff, and department leaders engaged in a discussion about how to best approach learning about Black History Month. 

• Staff engaged in discussion about pronoun use in staff meetings. One staff member created and presented a guide for colleagues on this topic. Staff name tags for events are now encouraged to include pronouns and not use an honorific. 

While there is still room for growth, our equity survey shows: 

• Students have experiencing territorial acknowledgements ‘always’ (classrooms/events) has increased to 40% (2023) from 29% (2022). Many classes took on the project of guiding students to write personalized acknowledgements. PVP and Department Leaders have begun to model personalized acknowledgements in meetings – the number of staff involved grew through the year.  

• Students always experiencing role models visiting their classes has increased to 14% (2023) from 7% (2022) 

• Students always seeing their culture in their classroom has increased to 18% (2023) from 16% (2022). 

• Students ‘always’ experiencing racism has dropped from 5% (2022) to 1% (2023). 

Our Student Learning Survey data is not yet available. 

Attendance data, Student Learning Survey (belonging, representation, learning environments), Student and Family Equity Surveys (representation in school community and learning environments), School Sourced Data (belonging, representation)