Community in School, School in Community: A Case Study.

Intentionally building community within a school and developing a school’s interconnectedness within the local community opens both challenges and opportunities to the concept of ‘school community’. The presentation will explore how the St. Paul’s School community seeks to ‘do things differently’ rather than ‘doing different things’. The two separate but complementary full time roles of the community development worker and the cultural development worker, their practice frameworks and principles, contribute new perspectives within the education context. Since establishment in 2006, St. Paul’s School Community Partnerships has gradually and intentionally integrated within the daily life of the school community.

Today, as an embedded program, Community Partnerships is an integral component of a whole school focus on strengthsbased practice, seeking to build shared, sustainable community of difference. The holistic approach seeks to collaboratively build a positive learning environment and welcoming learning community, which incorporates: A shared school leadership model; Building a shared, sustainable community of difference; Cultural development within a learning context; A Behaviour Learning model combined with School-wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS); Various strategies and programs for resilience and coping skills development and Staff support and peer mentoring strategies. The St. Paul’s school community seeks to work with disconnection, by developing community, belonging, and shared ownership. Through discovering and highlighting the unique stories, strengths, cultures, resources, insights and experiences that exist individually and collectively, people have permission, voice, and power to address social isolation and injustices, and confidently engage as valued members in their community.