When we ask students to stay curious, take intellectual risks, and embrace challenges, the most compelling lesson comes from walking that journey alongside them.
During today’s Professional Development Day, our educators step into the student seat. Across dozens of specialized conferences running throughout BC, UA Staff immersed themselves in learning a wide variety of topics, including in-class digital literacy and AI, advanced mathematics instruction, hands-on STEM inquiry, neurodiversity and executive functioning, and creative arts.
For your children, this means their classrooms are led by dynamic practitioners who bring fresh, evidence-based practices directly back to their desks on Monday morning. Staff truly come back from their day of learning, sharing excited anecdotes, retelling what they learned to their colleagues, implementing new ideas for projects, sharing the desire to create initiatives and overall improve teaching and learning at UA.
More importantly, when teachers test new ideas, consult specialists, network with like-minded subject-area experts, and continually refine their craft, they embody active, ongoing curiosity in real time. They demonstrate to our students that growth isn’t an assignment completed at graduation, but an empowering habit of mind.
By investing in our educators’ ongoing growth and ensuring high-quality professional development, we directly elevate the experience of every UA Student. Last month, when UA had its ministry inspections, the feedback we received from inspectors was that our team “goes above and beyond”, and commended us for our “ kids’-centred program.” This commitment we have to UA’s educators ensures that every student is met with inspired, modern, and individualized learning as we continue to ‘educate for tomorrow’. Through staff professional development, we embody the same perspective that Confucius, Al-Biruni, Michelangelo, and others shared: Ancora imparo (I’m still learning).
Together in learning,
Ms. Ball, Director of Teaching & Learning