Blog Posts

This year the students in the Aboriginal Education program welcomed elders Donna Wright and Ann-Marie Smith to South Nelson to share the drum making process. This was an extra special project because it was 3 years in the making. We had hoped to make the drums in the spring of 2020, so we were so excited and honoured to be able to finally make the drums. Students spent the day stretching, tying, and weaving the drums together.

Mental health is described as one’s emotional, physiological, and social well being. At Kootenay River Secondary we are beginning to take the mental health of the student and staff body incredibly seriously. To create awareness, the Aboriginal Education Program has taken steps towards mending students' mental state and overall well being; we have noticed the staff and especially the students struggling.

April is a great time to reconnect with one another after spring break, and to reengage with our individual and collective purpose: to support and realize the success of each of our learners as we begin the final three months of the 2022-2023 school year. 

In that spirit of engagement, I am excited to share results from our strategic plan engagement process in this month's superintendent's report. 

Highlights of the process include: 

WEG Community School is located in the middle of the Village of Slocan surrounded by mountains, forests, a lake and a river.  The land never ceases to inspire, and neither do the students.  Here are a couple of activities from the winter months.  

Please see the links below for the #sd8abed Indigenous Run Walk Wheel program. The links below will be updated weekly with run walk wheel tips and information, as well as reflections on reconciliation.

Week one

Week two

In JVH Elementary Aboriginal Education, since Christmas we have been working on learning about the Inuit and the 13 Grandmother moons. Each class created a different interpretation of the Wolf Moon. We are also learning about the Inuit.  The Primary students through stories and discussion created Inukshuks and igloos. In the Intermediate, we learned about life in the far north, created Inukshuk pictures and did some soap carvings. The students went through the Inuit year with types of food eaten and hunted during each season.

A sense of community, an ability to embrace kindness towards oneself and toward others and feeling the joy of physical movement – these are three themes that you will see in this March report. These are also important elements for each child to excel in school and in life. 

In the work of Indigenization and Reconciliation there are many intersecting aspects that we all work within and therefore, we need to continue to build up our understanding, together. The District Aboriginal Team is committed and dedicated to working within these many intersections, including diversity, equity, anti-racism, inclusion, and SOGI Awareness.

As we continue to learn of more unmarked graves at the sites of former Residential Schools, we wanted to share resources with schools and families that might help with learning more and sharing this information with students. 

Be gentle, walk with kindness, look after each other. 

Please reach out to the District Aboriginal Education team for ideas or support. We are here.