Principals Message

Welcome Back for the 2023-2024 School Year at École Parkside School

Summer is a blessing in my life.  I enjoy the warm sunny days, the early morning walks across our field and starting my day as slow or busy as I like.  Summer helps me pause and reflect on what matters in being a principal of grade 7 & 8 students. 

At Parkside, we are surrounded with students who bring life, energy and excitement into the building.  This energy marks a positive way to begin a school year as we get to know our new students and welcome back those who are familiar.

One of the reasons I love being the principal of students in junior high is the energy and vibrancy they have for life.  The possibilities of learning and growing as a Parkside school community brings me energy and happiness. 

Students this age, remind me every day of the passion for life, for fun, for friendships and learning. 

Adolescence is a time of emotional growth, physical change and social involvement.  It can be a challenging time in a person’s life.  Our students are exploring their individual identity and starting their journey to adulthood.  They want to be known, unique and at the same time not seen as different from others.  It is such an opposing tension in their lives.

So much time in an adolescent’s life is spent sorting what is important, what is interesting and what is “boring.”   They try out different ways of interacting with others to solidify how they want to be known in their community.  They explore all of this with incredible passion and high levels of emotion.  These high levels of emotion are sometimes the contributing factor to challenges in their relationships with others. 

Our partnerships between school and home, across our classrooms and within our school are essential to creating a fun, inclusive and learning centered community. 

Ultimately, I want our students and our staff to be safe, healthy, learning and happy.  This can happen if we work together from a place of care, openness and trust. 

If we (staff and parents) are collectively consistent in our messages to our students, we will help our students see and know how to navigate relationships in respectful and responsible ways.  

Every action and choice we make as adults in a teen’s life teaches them about what we value and what we expect in our relationships with others.

I want our students at Parkside to know we value:

1.S 1. Seeking challenge. 

We accept and strive to meet high expectations in our learning, in our communication and in our relationships.

2.2 2. Learning from our mistakes. 

We will fail and make mistakes.  These are the moments where we have something to learn. 

3. T 3. Trusting the process and the people. 

Being open and coachable will help us support each other and ensure we grow in our academics, our social skills and our emotional well-being. 

Please remember our actions and our words (as parents and as staff members) teach our students what it means to live by these values (seek challenge, learn from failure, and trust the process). 

Please work with us to send a consistent message of working together.  Let’s ensue we listen with our hearts and show kindness and compassion for each other.  Let’s ensure we hold high expectations for our students and we remember that everything we do teaches our students something about what we value.  Let’s show them we value hard work, learning, and trust in each other.

Leanne Braun

 


Border Land School Division

Border Land School Division acknowledges that the communities and schools located within Border Land School Division sit on Treaty 1 and Treaty 3 land, the original lands of the Anishinaabe peoples and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Border Land School Division respects the treaties that were made on these treaty areas and we dedicate ourselves to moving forward in partnership with our Indigenous communities in a spirit of truth, reconciliation and collaboration.