Philosophies of Education

“We teach who we are.” - Parker Palmer

In June 2013 as a staff we began to work to identify “why we were doing what we were doing” – really, we were speaking about what brought us to our profession as educators and to our school. That led to us individually articulating our Philosophies of Education and putting it up outside our classrooms and offices. We had the opportunity to articulate this in anyway that we wanted. It was our hope that by making this both explicit and transparent, we could build stronger relationships and accountability with our students, community and with each other. As we walked through the building and had conversations with each other, what was very apparent was that we were all very different individuals who shared many facets of a common vision. The philosophies were as diverse as they were insightful into the many reasons and beliefs held by all our staff.  

As we moved to our second year, we looked again at how we could try to articulate this in 6 word essays. We could only use six words that made a statement. This again, was another challenge to which the staff arose. As you walk through our school, take a look as we make plain something that people don’t always see or know – what brought us to our profession.

At Aldergrove PS these philosophies have all been brought together in our new tagline: inviting community; igniting learning and inspiring leaders. If you want to see a school that is committed to change the world one child at a time, come visit us :)