Through a school and staff scan that took place at the end of the 2021-2022 school year, it was recognized that there was a need to dig deeper into Social Emotional Learning at William Bridge Elementary.  Especially as our community was coming out of the Pandemic, strong thoughts, feelings and behaviours associated with high anxiety were observed and identified amongst our students, staff and families.  

To launch this school wide focus, Marnie Flores (our school counsellor) and Evelynn Ionnidis (a district area counsellor) were invited to share the EASE (Everyday Anxiety Strategies for Educators) program with our staff.  EASE is a collection of evidence-informed anxiety prevention and resilience-building resources for use with students in grades K to 7.  They use cognitive behavioural strategies to address the thoughts, feelings and behaviours associated with anxiety.  From this session, teachers and staff used different lessons to address the various needs that have arisen in their individual classrooms.  

School-wide, EASE was introduced within the context of a focus of developing positive social emotional behaviour using the GRRR school wide language.  EASE addresses identifying feelings, self-regulation and anxiety awareness/prevention strategies.  The desire was to emphasize skills taught from the EASE lessons and tie it to our school's Social Responsibility goals and "GRRR" and have a whole school focus on a particular skill like self regulation or problem solving. 

As this Pro-D Day progressed amongst our mostly new staff and administration, it was realized that the acronym GRRR held little meaning.  What is GRRR?  What does it stand for?  Do we need a change?  How can we create a framework that reinforces positive social emotional behaviour for our students?