In June of 2019, we used the "Spirals of Inquiry" questions to scan our intermediate students to get their feedback about their learning and sense of connection with adults in our school community.  One focus for the 2018-2019 schoool year was to develop a greater connection within our school community.  So the questions we asked our students from grades 4-7 were:

1.  At Kingswood school, we talk a lot about kindness, and being respectful, safe, and responsible.  Do you think all students demonstrate kindness, respect, safety and responsible behaviours to each other and to adults?  How about when students are not being supervised by and adult?

2.  Can you name two adults at Kingswood school who believe that you will be a success in life?  How do you know that?

3.  Where are you going with your learning?  What are you learning?  What are the big ideas you are exploring?  Why is this important?

4.  How are you doing in your learning?  What would you like to tell others about how you are doing with your learning?  How do you know how you're doing?

5.  Where to next?  Tell what the next piece of learning is for you.  What do you need to do get better at this?

In terms of connecting within the school community, we looked closely at question number 2.  

We had 96 responses from our students in grades 4 through 7.  We found that 11 out of 96 of our students in grades 4 through 7 could not name two adults at school who they felt believed in them to be successful in life.  85 of the students who completed the survey could name 2 or more adults who they felt believed in them, and that they felt connected to.  What was heartening is that this showed a marked improvement, when compared with the MDI data from January/February 2019.  In the MDI survey, 68 percent of our grade 7 students could name 2 or more important adults at school, and only 52 percent of our grade 4 students could name 2 or more important adults at school.  Our June 2019 scan of our grades 4-7 students showed that 88 percent felt connected with two or more adults at school, which is a marked improvement.  The other things that stood out in our June 2019 scan is the wide range of adults at school that our students felt connected with.  Not only were their classroom teachers mentioned, but several of our students also mentioned feeling a connection to non-enrolling staff (Resource/ELL, Helping Teacher, Teacher-Librarian, Noon Hour Supervisors, Education Assistants, retired teachers, as well as coaches).  Though we strive to connect with all of our students, and seek to improve upon the percentage of children who feel that they have adults at school who believe in them, we must also recognize the improvement in this focus!  Kingswood is definitely a connected community, and we continue to build upon this sense of belonging for everyone in our school!