Our Focus:

Between 2021 – 2023, our school focus for our students and school community focused on learning and implementing the Zones of Regulation.  Through the hard work of staff and parents, we are now able to successfully use Zones language with our children.  There is still maintenance work that continues.  This includes but is not limited to: educating new staff about the Zones of Regulation program and its use in our school, reviewing Zones at the beginning of each term with our students, sending our fridge magnets home to with all of our new students for their families, using Zones language in all settings in our school and referring students to that information to help them understand their emotions and reactions.

Tomsett has an excellent school community.  Despite our recent growth, we pride ourselves on having a small school feel.  For years, the school community has remained quite stable.  Recently, we are welcomed more families from various places in the world, with different beliefs and cultures. 

In our scanning work with our students in early May 2023, we discovered that this richness of diversity has had some accompanying  both strengths and stretches for our community including:

• Our school community includes our families who speak 26 different languages 
• Our school community has traditions and cultural understandings from many different countries 
• Our school community is made up of a wide range socio-economic means 
• Our school community is learning about how to work together in a kind and respectful way as is expected in our District’s Code of Conduct
• Our school community is learning about the barriers that may exist for members of our community to see themselves represented, to have equal access and to belong

In response, our staff has embarked on a quest, beginning in September of 2024, to help educate and change our community by deep-diving into Diversity / Equity / Inclusion (DEI).  We are fortunate to have a staff who recognize the importance of this work, especially given the global landscape in which we find ourselves and that our children will inherit.  In addition, we are also fortunate to be working with Baren Tsui, District Consultant who is a pioneer and well-respected educator in DEI.

As we embark, we have a couple of very important things to consider.  These things include:

• Small steps often... always learning? 
• Listen – what are our kids saying?  What is the community saying?
• Work to understand before being understood
• Embrace different points of view 
• Bring others into the discussion and be transparent.  Transparency helps to build trust and acceptance
• Celebrate the successes – no matter how big / how small

Our Focus Questions are around Identity, Belonging and Connection 

What does it mean to come to school as your whole authentic self? 

What does belonging feel like, look like sound like for our students and for our community?