The Equity Committee supports and enacts the deeply important work towards diversity, equity, inclusion and justice at Trillium Waldorf School.
We’d like to share an update on the structure of our Equity Committee. In previous years, this committee included faculty/staff, board members, and parents, along with a faculty hub for internal matters. Moving forward, this work will continue through our Faculty Equity Hub, which will continue to focus primarily on internal projects, and through our Parent Council Equity Liaison, who will help to bring an equity lens to all Parent Council activities. We hope this new structure will allow not only for a deeper focus within the hub but also for the heart of this work to ripple through everything we do as a community.
Let’s continue our learning — joining together in these heartfelt strivings, ultimately, toward a better world.
Parent Council Equity Liaison:
Jenni Garvie, Grade 5 parent
Faculty Equity Hub:
Arlene Kamo, Educational Support
Laura Hacker, Grade 5 Teacher & Grades Pedagogical Chair
Annie Corbin, Enrolment & Marketing Coordinator
The following are some of the guiding documents related to Equity work at TrWS:
Equity Committee Book Recommendations
As part of our work, the Equity Committees occasionally makes book recommendations. This first set of book recommendations is on the theme of gender diversity, including trans and non-binary gender identities. The Committee have read all the books listed below and recommend them without hesitation. Click below to see the list of recommended books.
Healthy School Culture
TrWS has also been enacting the Healthy School Culture initiative to support inclusion in the culture of TrWS. 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. Please visit the Healthy School Culture webpage for more information.
Tuition Adjustment Program (TAP)
Trillium Waldorf School believes in the ideal that Waldorf education should be accessible to all families who wish it for its own values, regardless of their economic status, as expressed in one of our guiding principles above. We demonstrate our commitment to this ideal through our Tuition Adjustment Program (TAP), which exists to ensure that the acceptance of a child into our school does not depend solely on the financial resources of the child’s family. Please visit the Tuition Adjustment Program webpage for more information.
Tuition Waivers for Indigenous Families
Trillium Waldorf School began offering Tuition Waivers for Indigenous Families in September 2023 as an act of reconciliation. We are compelled to this initiative to practice our values: we are kind, we are safe, we are respectful, and we are responsible, and to take a stand for equity, justice, and inclusion in education. This initiative is a small and important step to rectify some of the great wrongs of our nation, starting here at home, inside the walls of our great school. For more information, please see the Tuition Waiver for Indigenous Families information available on our Admissions page (link) or book an inquiry call below.