Strengthening Schools Through Kindness, Connection and Community

By Pepper Parr

March 31^st, 2025

BURLINGTON, ON

Strengthening Schools Through Kindness, Connection and Community will explore the HDSB’s commitment to Kindness, Connection and Community, as outlined in the 2024-2028 Multi-Year Strategic Plan, and how it is being brought to life in schools and workspaces through meaningful actions.

Panelists will discuss how centring a culture of kindness in learning and working environments supports student and staff success and well-being, creating a genuine sense of belonging and the conditions for students to thrive.

Amy Collard, Chair of the Halton District School Board.

Joining the session as panelists will be Amy Collard, Chair of the HDSB, representation from HDSB students and staff, as well as Dr. John-Tyler Binfet, PhD, Professor of Education at the University of British Columbia. Together, the panel will explore how kindness, connection and community strengthen schools. Dr. Binfet will share insights on how students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 conceptualize kindness in learning environments and how they define and enact kindness to themselves and others.

Monday, April 7 from 6 – 7 p.m.

This will be a virtual event with the livestream linked on the HDSB website (hdsb.ca).

Registration is not required.

Curtis Ennis, Director of Education for the Halton District School Board.

Curtis Ennis, Director of Education for the Halton District School Board explains the program this way:   “This session presents an exciting opportunity to dive deeper into how centring a culture of Kindness, Connection and Community plays an integral role in strengthening our schools and workspaces.”

“By modeling empathy and respect in our daily actions, and striving to create learning and working spaces where everyone feels a genuine sense of belonging, we create a supportive environment and strengthen relationships among students, staff, families and the broader community. We look forward to coming together to discuss how these efforts help ensure that everyone in the HDSB community feels valued, supported and empowered to succeed.”

The 2024-2028 Multi-Year Strategic Plan sets direction and prioritizes the collective actions of all students, staff, families and community members. This plan ensures our efforts as an organization are aligned and coordinated to support more than 67,000 students, 11,000 staff and the broader HDSB community. The six commitments identified in this four-year plan intersect and overlap to ensure that we take a cohesive approach to fulfilling its objectives.

To this one has to add: Kindness, Connection and Community are important – very important but not at the expense of students graduating that cannot write a paragraph and cannot do simple math without their cell phone.  Knowing something about the history of Canada and the importance of voting.

All one has to do is look south to get a sense of what a lousy education results in.  We can avoid that and be kind, connected and participant in the community we live in.

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