Values In Action

A new schoolwide focus has youngsters at Willow Glen Public School learning to appreciate and practise positive attributes that are certain to enhance their own lives and benefit the way they relate to others.

Each month the school introduces a different value to be celebrated and put into action. It becomes a feature of the “Thought for the Day” during PA announcements each morning and is integrated into classroom activitie.

The emphasis on character development speaks to the students both as individuals (reminding them of the importance of cherishing family and friends, respecting the staff and the school environment, and supporting one another at work and at play) and as a student body (encouraging them to be sensitive to the needs of others in the community).

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with six grade five student leaders – Grace Fennelly, Devonte Grant, Tyler Moretto, Izzie Robinson, Amanda Seeger and Tulsi Vyas – as they talked about the values initiative in general, and the community outreach aspect in particular.

The program fits well into the school’s system of cross-graded, extra-curricular grouping: the student population is divided into nine student “families” – Believers, Blue Jays, Incredibles, Monkeys, Pythons, Raptors, Scorpions, Simpsons and Snowy Owls – with balanced representation from grades 1 to 5.

A two-period block of time is set aside every month to allow each family to get together with its appointed staff leader. This year it’s all about values and the community outreach idea: the first session was spent brainstorming action plans for fundraising and acts of kindness and discussing deserving beneficiaries of the children’s efforts; each subsequent session has the students working on that month’s charitable project.

October’s value was Social Responsibility, and, after listening to a moving presentation by a representative of the Eden Community Food Bank, it was decided that the students would direct their efforts towards helping that worthy cause. They set about doing chores at home and in the community in return for donations of non-perishable food items or money that they could then spend on missions to the neighbourhood grocery store.

November’s value was Caring, and the visit of a guest speaker from Credit Valley Hospital was enough to inspire a whole new venture: a cookies-and-lemonade-for-a-loonie sale last Friday lunchtime drew great business and raised lots of money for the local health care centre.

December’s value is Generosity, and the kids will be busy creating holiday season greeting cards to be hand-delivered to residents of a nearby home for seniors.

Values and community outreach are obviously very meaningful for the students: the grade five leaders speak of the team spirit and sense of belonging in the student family system, of the importance of being able to encourage and mentor younger schoolmates, and of the satisfaction they get from working together to make a difference in someone else’s life.

Making a difference is clearly a guiding principle at Willow Glen: other charitable campaigns during the school year include Sleeping Children Around the World, UNICEF, Jump Rope for Heart, MS Read-A-Thon and the Terry Fox Run…all living proof of the power of values in action.