Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Multi-Year Action Plan: 2023–27

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION MULTI-YEAR ACTION PLAN: 2023–27

DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION AT BRANKSOME HALL: OUR SHARED PRIORITIES

Annually, Branksome Hall sets out school-wide and department-specific priorities to help advance our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) strategy at the school and in our classrooms. School leaders choose actions that enable systemic change, increase awareness and enrich our programming. Our DEI priorities are not the reflection of one person, but rather a shared effort by our community.

In consulting numerous community members, including our board members, employees, parents, students and alums, we learned of areas where our community wanted to see growth. With a steadfast dedication to equity, we remain committed to fostering a culture where everyone feels a sense of community and is inspired to shape a better world. From the 2023 DEI Audit and Action Plan recommendations, departments engaged in a six-month process of reflection, prioritization and action to ensure the priorities below are resourced for the years to come.

Our DEI priorities are a systemic and staged approach to growth at our school, and allow us to see change in

multiple areas simultaneously. Through ongoing education, training and collaboration across the school, we are working to increase DEI awareness, develop a culture of accountability and allyship, build employee and student capacity, strengthen our feedback loop and measure our progress. We believe that focusing on these areas has the potential to benefit everyone in our community and build a strong sense of advocacy within our school, where employees and students have the skills and awareness necessary to be champions of inclusion and belonging.

As we continue on our journey, we hold on to the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion, and we invite you to join us because together, we can create a more just, equitable and inclusive community. We thank our students, who teach us daily what belonging looks like and the parents, employees and alums who continue to share experiences that direct our priorities which will continue to make Branksome Hall a leading, globally minded school and a more inclusive, diverse and equitable place for all.

ACTION PLAN LEGEND

The actions listed on the next pages will be developed and established over four years. The colours below indicate the timeline for each action. 2023

2024

GOAL 1

Increase DEI awareness, understanding and action for all constituent groups through leadership, governance, communications, enrolment management and human resources practices.

Human Resources

Employee Communications: In collaboration with the Communications department, establish a plan for and approach to the communication of new and updated policies and practices, including hiring, compensation and change management.

Employee Retention and Development: School leaders and the Centre for Strategic Leadership will focus on inclusive retention, growth and talent development of minoritized community members through employee feedback and growth plans. This is part of a larger project that focuses on all staff feedback and growth, as well as strategies for retention such as staying interviews and leadership development through the Centre for Strategic Leadership.

Student Experience and Family Engagement

Family Codes of Conduct: As part of our annual review of our school codes of conduct, we ensured alignment with behavioural expectations for respect, civility and responsible citizenship and clarified our value that Branksome Hall is a supportive, diverse and inclusive school community. Parent/ guardian and student codes of conduct have been included as part of our registration packages.

Gender Inclusion Guidelines for Boarding Students: We will be developing inclusion guidelines that integrate best practices and research on gender support in girls’ schools. Aligned with our Canadian Association of Independent School (CAIS) accreditation requirements, these guidelines will create a formalized and transparent approach to how we support individuals across the gender spectrum.

Enrolment Management

Revamp and Enhance Enrolment Processes: Develop reimagined JK, SK, Grades 1–3 admissions assessments and parent engagement opportunities. In 2023, additions to the program included a Grade 7 Experiential Visit that enables Grade 7 applicants to truly experience our IB approach and resulted in a full Grade 7 enrolment in September.

BIPOC Family and Student Recruitment and Transition Programs: Establish our recruitment and retention strategy for BIPOC families through all phases of the recruitment, enrolment and onboarding processes. We will work with school leaders to establish strong communities of care for families and students.

Develop the Branksome Hall Experience Strategy: Enhanced recruitment opportunities and clear admission requirements resulted in a larger applicant pool with increased diversity. We will continue to explore how to incorporate translated materials and resources.

Communications and Community Engagement

Event Playbook and DEI Best Practices: Our playbook is intended to support the planning process for school administrators organizing smaller, on-campus events for students and parents, and to offer important considerations on event planning with a DEI lens.

Website Accessibility and Translation Project: Develop and implement a new site with translation capabilities to ensure current and prospective families/guardians can access site information in multiple languages.

Inclusive Style and Brand Guides: Guidelines to facilitate consistency, clarity and transparency in school communications and marketing materials. Designed to support employees in communications around gender, race, ethnicity and more.

GOAL 2

Develop an organizational culture that encourages advocacy, anti-racism and anti-discrimination and values the lived experiences of community members.

Human Resources

Salary Review for Staff Positions: Human Resources has established and communicated a new salary administration plan for staff that integrates internal and external equity with updated job descriptions, job evaluation and salary bands. The salary administration program is now integrated into our ongoing practices.

Employee Recruitment and Selection Strategy: In partnership with the Communications department, a newly designed web page reflects our focus on attracting talent and applicants from minority communities. Human Resources is also developing a comprehensive strategy that reviews the employee recruitment and selection processes from outreach, resume screening, interviews and offers.

New Employee Orientation and Onboarding: In partnership with school leaders, Human Resources implemented a comprehensive orientation for new employees that includes DEI and well-being focused programming. Program components include organization structure and strategy, review of department practices and introductions of key DEI-related policies.

Communications and Community Engagement

Inclusive Communications and DEI Policies: Develop and implement guidelines for the community on videos, photo permissions, social media and accessibility policies that align with DEI principles.

GOAL 3

Build employee capacity and leadership through continued learning opportunities to foster classroom and school operational practices that are rooted in anti-racism and anti-discrimination education.

Student Experience and Family Engagement

Professional Learning for School Counsellors and Social Workers: In alignment with our commitment to offering strong support for Black, Indigenous and other equity-deserving students and families, Branksome Hall is working with our counselling and social workers on best practices, skills development and awareness on how to address student concerns, experiences with racism and other forms of discrimination.

Human Resources

Professional Learning: Implementing special learning to foster continued skill development that will enable Human Resources to further develop inclusive practices and leadership capacity in the areas of hiring and retention.

Develop an ‘On-Demand’ Professional Learning and Training Program: Create an institutional program that includes gender expression, Indigenous culture and partnerships, human rights and more. It will be available to current and incoming employees.

Advancement, Communications and Community Engagement

Professional Learning: Provide opportunities for professional learning that foster skill development, intercultural understanding, and develop inclusive practices and leadership capacity in the areas of intercultural communication, DEIfocused marketing and communications, as well as strong community relationships.

Alum Network and Mentorship Program: Beginning with our young entrepreneurs program, we will build an alum network and mentorship program to include diverse representation of alums so that they can connect with current students.

GOAL 4

Build student capacity for advocacy, dialogue and anti-racism leadership across the school.

Student Experience

Grades 7–12 Well-Being Program: Expand our programming for Grades 7–12 students, which includes education and dialogue focused on help-seeking and self-advocacy. Topics and approaches will include looking at key adolescent psychosocial issues and healthy coping skills.

DEI Curriculum Review from JK–Grade 12: Review and integrate curriculum that supports affirming development in identity, diversity, community and action; anti-discrimination, anti-racism education and allyship curriculum, LGBTQ2S+ History and Education, and Identity Development in our Middle Years Programme.

Boarding and Day Integration Experiences: The Boarding leadership team, Boarding Advisors and student experience administrators are building a range of programs and offerings that invite day students into the Boarding experience through affinity group spaces, faculty-led after-school programming, celebratory and cultural dinners, and weekend programming.

Anti-Black Racism and Anti-Discrimination Student Support: Continue to encourage and provide material support to student affinity, alliance and advocacy groups and give them space to connect and build.

Upstanding Skills Program JK–Grade 12: Development, adoption and delivery of programming that gives students the capacity to prevent or mitigate harm to others, while also encouraging awareness around the importance of diversity and respecting others.

GOAL 5

Develop metrics, collect data and report findings that inform DEI priorities.

Enrolment Management

Student Application Reviews: Voluntary demographic data collection and department analysis is collected as part of applications to review annual admissions profiles of incoming students after selection processes are complete. In the years to come, the Admissions team will explore developing a program in which this data could impact and enhance our processes from selection to enrolment to orientation.

Human Resources

Annual Strategic Reporting on DEI: Milestones and progress on our five goals is committed annually through our strategic reports, newsletters and the DEI section of the website.

Surveys on Engagement and Inclusion: Surveys on our school values, student school climate engagement surveys, parent engagement surveys as well as alum surveys.