Blog Posts

At Margaret Stenersen Elementary School, there is a big and beautiful tree that some people want to cut down. The tree is a cedar and I LOVE IT!!! It is peaceful and I do not want it cut down. There are lots of trees at our school but this is the biggest. You are going to break our school’s heart. So many students play there. It is an old-growth tree and it holds all the school’s secrets. - Arija J., Grade 4

At Kandal, we are committed to strengthening our family partnerships in our school community. It’s no secret the more parents are involved in their children’s lives, both at home and school, the more they will be in the ‘know’ about how best to support their children. To this end, our kindergarten and grade 1 teachers and our English Language Learners (ELL) teachers initiated the “Parents as Partners” program.

Keeping the district’s focus on equity in mind, the Dr. Thomas A. Swift Elementary school community has taken on a small project of our own. Together with a couple of other elementary schools, we are using picture books to dive into topics of diversity and equity.

In our school district's four-year strategic plan, we have targeted improved early learning as a means of impacting student success. At Mathxwí Elementary, all primary classrooms have committed their year to explore practical ways to improve early literacy learning.

Noticing a shift in literacy instruction across the district? Wonder what is going on in the classroom down the hall?  

The Abbotsford School District's Early Years learning team has been working to ensure that as many children and families have access to early learning support throughout our community. The following services and programs are currently available:

Harlem arrived at my school in September 2021 with a G4 file as thick as my fist. It stated that he had been in foster care for 11 years, rarely attended school, and could become violent if he became frustrated. He had been in foster care since birth and had been mainly homeschooled by his foster parents who did not value public school or his culture. When I first met him, it became apparent that we were not dealing with a violent or mean child but a soft-spoken, gentle, and curious boy.

Even though Canada recently observed the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts (ASIA) North Poplar campus began their journey of Truth and Reconciliation years ago by listening, collaborating, and acting. I, myself - Wenonah Justin (she/her) from the Pukaist community, a member of Cook's Ferry of the Nlaka'pamux Nation, and Cree ancestry - am one of the Indigenous Support Workers at the school that guides all that come across my path with Indigenous knowledge.