Welcome to Checkered Flags

We all want our children and youth to thrive! Working together towards that goal is key to optimizing our effectiveness. Throughout the Checkered Flags Guidebook, the terms “children and youth” and “student” are used appropriate to the context. The terms “child,” “children,” “youth,” and “students” refer to school-age children.

This Guidebook is intended to help us develop the shared expertise and mutual understanding that generate informed and efficient decision making. It provides practical strategies to positively impact children and youth, and reinforces “UPSTREAM” thinking and wellness. It is also a heads-up resource for those responsible for children’s well-being.

Schools play a vital part in providing the positive experiences and opportunities that children and youth need to grow into confident, capable, caring, and healthy people. Schools are also in the unique position of making certain that the difficulties and challenges that children face are recognized promptly and treated appropriately. Just as physical illness can affect a student’s performance and ability to concentrate, so too can a personal or family situation, relationship problem, lack of connectedness/inclusion, or mental health issue.

Mental health is about maintaining a positive level of personal and social functioning. It is more than the absence of mental health difficulties. For children, this means getting along with others, participating in social activities, meeting educational expectations, feeling a sense of belonging and safety, having a voice and feeling valued, and having a positive level of self-esteem and confidence.

Research indicates that in a classroom of 30 students, about five or six students will be facing a mental health problem, and three or four of them will have a problem that interferes with their daily life. (Ontario Child Health Study, 1985, Waddell and Shepperd, 2002) Research also indicates that supportive adults can have a significant impact on the wellness of children and youth, and that fostering home-school-community partnerships is essential.

Effective partnerships are characterized by mutual respect and acknowledgement of the particular expertise that each participant brings to the partnership. To understand and respond to children, we need to take advantage of these sources of valuable information:

• Children bring their hopes and their worries, their experiences and their insights to the planning process. When we listen to them and work with their views, we are more likely to maintain their commitment. Children need to be included in planning and collaboration in a way that is respectful of their developmental age and protects their well-being.
• Parents and caregivers—the first “teachers” in a child’s life—bring with them a deep understanding of their child’s whole life experience and of what makes them unique. They understand intimately how a child’s temperament, preferences, history, strengths, and worries inform who that child is. Engaging parents and drawing on their insights and experiences are vital to crafting the best response for the child. School teams meet with parents and students often, formally and informally, and these meetings are essential opportunities for school teams to reach out to parents as partners.
• Educators see our community’s children 30 hours every week, 200 days every year. They see and support their strengths and notice when things are going well, and when they are not going well, for their students. Educators have an ideal vantage to view and assess students’ social and learning competencies.
• Community partners represent a diverse range of services, from children’s mental health to child protection, from health services to social services. Each can offer professionally informed insights and provide appropriate adjunct services to facilitate social and school success.

• It will assist in determining when to ask questions and to seek out help
• It will help you find out “Where To Go For Help. ***REMEMBER – Calling 211 will give you a trained person to help you find what you are looking for.***
• It will give you basic information and “Actions Strategies: What We Can Do Now” These Actions Strategies are shown under 4 headings: