Making newcomers feel included at École Bellevue School

We pride ourselves in promoting safe, caring, and inclusive schools that respect diversity and foster a sense of belonging. At École Bellevue School in Beaumont, staff are working hard to promote a sense of belonging and inclusion for all, including recent immigrants and refugee families settling in the rapidly-growing community.

“Our popular Diversity Wall is one of the most visible symbols of welcome and inclusion you will see in our school,” said Principal Jennifer El Khatib. “A while ago we had asked our newcomer school families to provide feedback on how they say hello in their own languages. We received a lot of feedback and from that we created a Wordle that we proudly display in our front entrance.”

According to El Khatib, the students and staff love the Diversity Wall and the Heritage Week festivities, as participation rates are very high. “Students are bringing things to add to the diversity wall because they feel encouraged to share, and they want to share, as lots of their peers are doing it.”

The community involvement did not stop there. Getting students involved in many kinds of celebrations all year long; anything that is important to their families, or something that they know about – teachers and administrators ask the students and community members to make school announcements to share interesting facts about holidays like Diwali, Ramadan, Hanukkah, and more.

“We try to make things as student generated as possible,” said Principal El Khatib. “For example, we had our grade fives approach us earlier in the school year with an idea to host a Heritage Week event. We agreed, and the amount of planning the students did for the event with their teacher was incredible, and the last week before Christmas we hosted the school’s first Heritage Week, with different activities every day, including a colourful parade that included the whole school.”

This successful event inspired our students, who want to share more with the school community. “There is a growing South Asian community in Beaumont, and one of our grade five students wrote a letter to me, requesting to hold an assembly to showcase traditional South Asian dances,” said El Khatib. “She has been practicing with her classmates and friends, and we look forward to doing this in the near future.”

Check out the video highlights of their dance performance.