June 25th, 2021

Silverheights’ Outdoor Learning Rock Garden

Dear Silverheights community, I want to take a moment to introduce you to a wonderful leadership initiative that was put forth by one of our students, Callie Petznick. About a month ago, Callie approached Mr. Stere and I about her desire to do something that could honour the remains of the children found in the Residential school in Kamloops, BC right here in our school. Her original plan was to place painted rocks somewhere in the school, and invite other students to do the same, in order to give our school community an opportunity to process the news as well as to show empathy, and compassion towards the struggles of the different Indigenous communities across this land we now call Canada.

Callie presented her idea to our school’s Equity Committee, and we posed a few questions and challenges to her, which helped us further develop the proposal with a lot more careful intention and purpose. Shortly after Callie’s idea was put forth, the Muslim community also suffered a huge collective trauma and loss and it was important for us as a community to think of all children who were hurting in our school, and what we could do as educators to support our students in pedagogically appropriate ways.

Callie’s original painted rocks idea grew under the guidance of our Equity Team, and it became important that the initiative put forth, was one of clear action and engagement. She decided to use one of our gardens as an outdoor learning space, where all the children in our school community can learn primarily about the truth of our history, in pedagogically sound and age appropriate ways. She chose the front garden where we already had some larger rocks, and a beautiful tree, to become our outdoor learning space where students will learn about Truth, Reconciliation, and as it is stated in many different languages by our main door, Peace.

We are encouraging all teachers in our building to use this outdoor learning space next year to read stories and have meaningful discussions about difficult topics in a context that is also respectful of the land. We are also encouraging each class to continue to add rocks to the garden next year, with messages of remembrance and belonging. This activity is in full alignment with an activity proposed by the Reconciliation Canada website and it was also discussed with several stakeholders, such as educators, and Indigenous people in our community.

I want to also take the opportunity to thank the Petznick family, for their dedication and care. They were here outside of school hours weeding and mulching the front garden, which shows just how much parental involvement matters in our schools. We hope that you will see the value of this space as one more place in our school that can support your child’s learning in authentic ways.

With much gratitude to Callie and her leadership, who has brought many grown-ups together to think carefully about how we can all move forward in a more mindful way,

Sincerely

Carolina Miranda, VP