The school parents mean when they ask for a non-woke school
Parents phone and ask for a non-woke school, or a conservative one, or a school that respects parental rights. Here's what we do, written as policy.
A label means five different things to five different parents and can't be checked. A policy can. This isn't about how a family votes, either. It's about what does and doesn't get taught to a seven-year-old.
What happens in the classroom
One flag flies here, and it's the Canadian one. The day starts with the whole school singing O Canada. Gender and sexuality are subjects for parents, not teachers. If it ever comes up, a student is directed to talk it over with their parents.
Politics stays out of lessons entirely, in every direction. When a question has two sides, students learn to make the case for both, which is how a person learns to think rather than what to conclude.
The part that makes the rest believable
Parents can read every unit before it's taught, and the curriculum stays open all year to any family in the school. You never have to wonder what was covered while you were at work, and you never have to trust a stranger's summary of it.
That's the part that makes the rest of it checkable. Anybody can tell you what they believe; the material is the evidence.
Parental rights
What matters is what a parent can see, and what they can refuse.
You can read every unit before it's taught. You can ask what's coming in any subject at any point in the year and get a written answer, because it's already written. If something is scheduled that you would rather handle at home, you will know months ahead. And when you disagree with us, you're talking to the people who make the decision.
Gender ideology
It isn't taught at any grade. There's no curriculum unit on gender identity, no classroom materials on it, and no adult here treating it as their business to shape what a child concludes about it.
A child who asks is sent home with the question. Every time, from every teacher, in the same words. A child is never told they were wrong to ask, and they are never given an adult's answer to an adult's question.
Who can enrol
Any family who wants this for their child is welcome to apply. We're describing what we teach, not who we'll teach, and those are different things.
In practice the families here hold a wide range of views. What they have in common is wanting their children taught to think rather than told what to conclude, which turns out to be a much broader group than the phone calls suggest.
Questions about What we stand for
Do you teach gender ideology?
No, at any grade. There's no unit on it and no materials for it, and the question goes home to their parents.
Do you do land acknowledgements?
No. We don't open the day with one. History is taught as history, in its own lessons, with the material published to families in advance like everything else.
Is this a religious school?
No. There's no religious instruction and no denominational affiliation. Families of every faith and none are welcome, and what we teach doesn't change depending on which are in the room.
Would my family be welcome if we don't think of ourselves as conservative?
Yes, and plenty don't think of themselves that way. What the families here have in common is wanting politics kept out of a Grade 2 classroom. That's a much broader view than the label suggests, and it has nothing to do with which party anybody votes for.