Sharing Our School Story 

Our Context- James McKinney Elementary School is a wonderful school with a diverse learning community situated on the unceded, ancestral, and traditional territories of hǝn̓q̓ǝmin̓ǝm̓ speaking people.  

James McKinney is an elementary school that has 411 students, including both a Montessori Program and a Neighbourhood Program.  The staff at McKinney are a dedicated group of educators who care tremendously for the growth and development of children, and work collaboratively to ensure the success of all learners. We are also proud of our strong connections to families, and our hardworking and dedicated PAC. 

At McKinney, Eagles SOAR. This means we understand and use the SOAR acronym: 

S - Safe: We make safe choices.  

O - Ownership: We take ownership of our attitude and actions.  

A - Accepting: We accept and value each other.  

R - Respect: We respect ourselves, each other, and our environment. 

Our Focus

Over the past couple of years, McKinney has focused on students’ ability to communicate what they are learning, sharing the big ideas behind what they are working on in class.  After a thoughtful discussion with the entire staff, we have decided to switch our focus for the 2024-25 school year to SEL (Social Emotional Learning). Students have shown much growth in their ability to communicate what they are learning (and why it is important); however, we noticed that there is a need to grow students’ capacity in the Personal and Social core competency and SEL knowledge. SEL will be our focus for the 2024-25 school year, so that all learners can: 

• Build their personal awareness and personal responsibility 

• Appreciate their personal and cultural identity 

• Build their social awareness and social responsibility 

Our Actions

1. Let's explicitly teach SOAR, SEL skills, have SOAR assembllies, buddy lessons, etc.  

2. We will engage in self-reflection: asking students about their SOAR knowledge, self-regulation habits, and SEL strategies they utilize.  We will use literacy activities to anchor our SEL knowledge and grow our Personal and Social competencies as we engage in the reading of picture books and texts with SEL themes. 

3. Collect Data: School-wide surveys, class-wide reading activities and note-taking of student responses, as well as 1-to-1 walk-and-talks with staff and a focus group of students.