Seemingly overnight, our school community, like all others in BC, Canada and across the world were faced with a global pandemic. While news of the increasing spread of COVID-19 was coming out of other parts of the world, when our students departed for a two-week spring break on March 13, 2020 we told them that we looked forward to seeing them again on March 30. A few days later, the Ministry of Education and the Provincial Health Officer announced the immediate cancellation of all in-class learning. A novel coronavirus required us to reimagine how we teach and learn. Without the opportunty to meet with classes every other day, teachers were forced to pivot to new ways of planning, preparing and teaching remotely. The significant decrease in student interactions required teachers to rethink what was most important for students to learn. This new reality clarified our focus on the big ideas and key curricular and core competencies. Students could no longer gather with their teachers and classmates, their teammates, fellow club members and friends, and for our seniors, the pandemic resulted in the loss of important culminating graduation ceremonies and celebrations.

A world health crisis heightened the relevance of helping all students become caring, responsible, reflective and resilient young people who can think and communicate effectively. Every day, Dr. Bonnie Henry modeled kindness and caring leadership as we adapted to new ways of communicating and thinking both creatively and critically about our world. Students had to take more responsibility for engaging in their learning on digital platforms and with more time spent at home, we all became more reflective about our values and our hopes. Perhaps more than anything, we learned that being resilient is not just a word on a poster, indeed, it is a quiet inner strength that allows us to face even global challenges, and continue to move forward with optimism and hope.

At our Video Valedictory ceremony, it was heartening when our departing principal and both our class historians and valedictorian spoke about what it means to develop key attributes, and that despite the disappointments and hardship caused by the pandemic, in many ways, our students have become better, more communicative, responsible, caring, reflective, thoughtful and resilient versions of themselves.

We invite you to click on the Youtube link below and listen to the speeches in the first 15 minutes of our Video Valedictory to get a sense of how the Richmond Secondary School Learner Profile is becoming much more than words on a poster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKEN5LzGgtY&feature=youtu.be