Healthy School Culture

Trillium Waldorf School is committed to providing a safe environment for students to learn and grow into healthy, responsible people. The Three Streams of Student Support provide a structure for this environment and enable us to better assist students who are having difficulties educationally, socially, or behaviourally.

This work is based on Kim John Payne’s approach to student development and support and pulls heavily from the ideas of restorative justice and social-emotional intelligence.  We began a four-year training process in the fall of 2017 with Mr. Payne, MEd., which includes annual training and monthly support calls.  

The three streams include Learning and Therapeutic Care, Social Care, and Behavioural Care. For more information about the approach in general, please see “Our Healthy School Culture” booklet (link). For specific questions, please approach Care Coordinator, Arlene Kamo (link).

In the 2020-21 School Year, our Student Code of Conduct was updated to reflect the Healthy School Culture approach that we have been working with over the last few years, to allow all members of our community a clear picture of discipline and guidance at our school.

Establishing an appropriate code of conduct for students as a means to maintain order and discipline is a necessary factor in any school. However, unlike public schools, independent schools are not subject to the statutory procedures governing suspension and expulsion of students contained in section 23 of the Education Act. Rather, the source of independent schools’ power to discipline, suspend, or expel their students, rests in, and is subject to, the terms and conditions of the contract of instruction.

The Core Values of the Healthy School Culture Approach 

We are
kind

We are
safe

We are
respectful

We are
responsible

Our Core Values are consistent with our curriculum and our collaborative work with each other, and are simple enough to be understood by a young child, yet, contain all the issues with which an eighth grader might wrestle. It informs our guidelines for working with the children and their interactions with one another. Teachers use the Core Values throughout the grades to build the students’ awareness of appropriate conduct. Our Student Code of Conduct is a policy that overlays the Healthy School Culture Approach, and is used to inform our response, and to support the needs of a given situation. There are four levels of dynamics which help to determine the response level for the child(ren) involved:

For more information please see the full Student Code of Conduct (link) policy.

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