Mental health, faith, and learning during a pandemic are some of the items the Prince Albert Catholic School Division looked at while beginning work on their part of the Interim Provincial Education Plan.
The Catholic School Board received an update on the division’s progress during their regular meeting on Monday.
The board approved in principal the Level 2 Priority Action Plan engagement following an update from Director of Education Lorel Trumier and superintendent Charity Dmyruk.
“We are excited that there is some feedback with our stakeholders that is going to occur, but the board did approve in principle our four main areas that we would put as a priority in the action plan as we resume to what we know is a bit more normal process for teaching and learning in our school division,” Trumier said.
The board previously endorsed the interim plan’s Level 2 priority actions as a short-term response to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning.
The three primary areas are reading, learning response and mental health and wellbeing. The school division has added faith as a fourth main area to the plan.
“We are going to focus obviously on our curricular areas—reading, writing and math—and learning response even through the pandemic implications,” Trumier said. “Mental health and wellbeing is one of those areas that we really want to strengthen and support our children in their learning capacity.”
The draft that was approved by the board is similar to those in the 2021-2022 plan. The long-term plan will now be developed in the 2022-2023 school year. Feedback for that plan is still ongoing.
Trumier also provided an update on the interim plan extension, which came about because of the pandemic.
“It is important that we are always aligned with the provincial education plan and right now they have extended the interim plan, so we will align with that,” Trumier said. “It is what we have been working toward as we set up our strategic areas for action.”
Trumier highlighted the faith aspect as one of the major focuses of the Level 2 priorities which was added as a local priority.
“Of course the major difference is we have a large local priority which is our Catholic faith and providing the opportunity for our faith to permeate all that we do in our schools,” she said.
An important division milestone will play a big role in the faith aspect. The school division celebrates its 135th anniversary next year.
“We were a school division prior to the province being named a province,” Trumier said. “It was still the Northwest Territories at the time, so next year as we proceed through our planning, we want to also celebrate the opportunity for Catholic education in our community.”
The timeline for completion and final approval is dependent on budget deliberations and finalization of the Level 2 priority action plan.
“We have had so much strength and support from our families. Coming out of COVID I can’t think of a better thing for us to focus on as a renewal of our faith commitment and as we work through that transitionary stage of reengagement in so many things we are doing,” Trumier said.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
