About Our School Name
The Northern Lights form above the magnetic poles in the Northern (aurora borealis) and Southern (aurora australis) hemispheres, leading to a display of vibrant colours. Some Indigenous peoples believed that the lights indicated the location of manabai’wok (giants) who were the spirits of great hunters and fishermen. Some believed the lights were the spirits of the animals they hunted; while others believed they were the spirits of their people.
Vision and Mission
Our Vision is a school community where all children feel loved, respected and encouraged to develop to their fullest potential.
Our Mission is to provide high-quality learning experiences in a respectful, collaborative environment that builds the skills and mindset for life-long learning, independence, and resilience. Learning will be explored through the lenses of Social and Emotional Learning and Land-Based Environmental Education.
We will aim to provide the safe, welcoming and inclusive atmosphere required to create a sense of belonging where all children from diverse family and cultural backgrounds are acknowledged and respected. Our vision and mission statements will act as a guiding north star as we aim to make decisions that live up to these statements and help our students become bright, dancing lights like those of the aurora.
Our Philosophy
Through our approach to educating students, we strive to plan learning opportunities that:
- promote positive relationship building across the school population
- allow student leaders to support school initiatives
- include a variety of citizenship-building activities and opportunities to support others locally, nationally and globally in the future
- help children understand they are always capable of accepting, honouring and valuing the existence of all humans - including themselves
- leverage the natural innocence and acceptance of children into expansive, shared experiences where learning frames connections rather than divisive distinctions between people
- foster dialogue, exchange of ideas and promote empathy for all
- provide a consistent language of positive conflict resolution where our problems challenge us to think differently, exercise empathy and seek the best possible resolutions for everyone, not just a privileged few
- help children learn to share their ideas and experiences comfortably and to accept, listen to and honour the ideas and experiences being shared with them as well
- teach children to honour all cultures and communities and share the essential skills, strategies and resources needed to live successfully side-by-side in a world that can successfully sustain all human life (regardless of where we were born, our culture, gender, age, occupation, education or ability)
