Equity - for us is about closing the gap and doing what we can to ensure that ALL our students succeed. In order to close the gap though, we have to pay attention to “What the gap is and why it exists?”, “Who is most affected?” “How are we supporting those affected?” In doing so, we rely on the work of George Dei from OISE, University of Toronto. In his book, Reconstructing Dropout, he talked about students remembering incidents of being marginalized from as early as their primary years. This is often a difficult issue to explore and can be quite an emotional one. Still, just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean we shouldn’t explore. If we are committed to ALL our students, it’s up to us to find ways to ensure that ALL our students can succeed. Structures can sometimes support some more than others. Our role as educators is to keep our eyes open and to keep finding ways to see how we can serve all to achieve their highest potential. This means that we cannot adopt a “cookie cutter” approach where “one size fits all”. Instead we will have to tailor our approach to support our students the way they need it. This has to be a collaborative process, one in which we depend on each other- students, staff and families to help us learn and understand the best ways to support each other and our students so they can be successful. In order to do this, as a staff, we have one of our lead teachers – Mrs. Wendy Wright responsible for Equity and Inclusivity. If ever you have any questions you can approach any of us. This quest to “close the gap” is an ongoing one to which we are all committed!