Commitment to Success

The goal of the Western Québec School Board’s Commitment to Success Plan is to share, with all educational personnel, parents and communities, a common vision of our reality and challenges to generate concerted action around the orientations and objectives that impact student learning and success. The plan also provides an opportunity for all to understand the orientations, directions, and strategies the school board is undertaking to ensure educational success for all its students.

• Download a PDF of the 2023-2027 Commitment to Success Plan

On this page:

• Background
• Western Québec School Board Context
  • – Schools and Centres
  • – Programs and Services
  • – Community Learning Centres
  • – Framework for Success – Four Strategic Directions
    • – Directions
• Challenges
  • – COVID Impacts
  • – Demographics
  • – Socio-economic Factor
  • – Indigenous Learner Success
  • – Students with Special Needs
  • – Recruitment and Retention of Staff
• Ministry of Education Objectives
  • – Orientation 1 – Make Student Success a Priority of Quebec Society
  • – Orientation 2 – Make Vocational Training Truly Attractive
  • – Orientation 3 – Make Schools and Centres Welcoming Spaces
• Western Québec School Board Directions and Orientations
  • – Safety and Security
  • – Professional Responsibility and Management Accountability
  • – Focus on Pedagogy to Improve Teaching and Learning
• School Board Declaration Regarding the Level and Quality of Services Offered
• Complaints Procedure

We acknowledge that the lands upon which we live, learn and work are the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe peoples. We thank them for sharing these lands and commit, as an organization, as educators, and as individuals, to an ongoing relationship that recognizes and respects the lands, traditions, and culture of the Anishinaabe people.

Background

The Ministry of Education requires school boards to develop a Commitment to Success Plan. The Commitment to Success Plan includes the context of the school board, its educational services, the needs of schools and centres, the challenges it faces and its orientations, objectives, indicators, and targets.

Western Québec School Board Context

The Western Québec School Board comprises 25 schools and six adult education and vocational training centres across two administrative regions, 07 and 08. The board’s territory is large, covering more than 90,000 square kilometres and spread over 155 municipalities. Schools and centres are located throughout this territory with the largest located in the urban tract of Gatineau. The sheer size of our territory and the dispersion of the English-speaking population within that territory have required an organization of schools and centres to meet this challenge and ensure access to our clientele.
The school configuration is as follows: 13 elementary schools, 2 Junior high schools (secondary I and II), 2 secondary schools (secondary I to V), 2 senior secondary schools (secondary III to V), 1 kindergarten to secondary II school and 5 kindergartens to secondary V schools. WQSB operates four joint adult general education and vocational training centres, one adult general education centre and one vocational training centre. In addition, several of our schools now have full-time four-year-old Kindergartens.

Schools and Centres

Programs and Services

Programs and services offered by the Western Québec School Board include four-year-old kindergarten programs, enriched French academic programs, adult general education, vocational training, transition and induction programs, Work Oriented Training programs (WOTP), life skills programs, adult education distance education services, customized training services, recognition of acquired competencies services and daycare services. WQSB offers a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities in sports, cultural, character building, and community-oriented activities along with a variety of student-centered services offered in our schools and centres.

Community Learning Centres

The Western Québec School Board has four Community Learning Centres (CLC) that are integral to the following schools: St. Michael’s High School, St. John’s Elementary School, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Elementary School, and Eardley Elementary School. Each CLC has a community development agent whose role is to facilitate community partnerships, service-based learning and contribute and enrich student life. Funding for the CLCs is provided through the Entente Canada-Québec.

Framework for Success – Four Strategic Directions

To ensure student success, Western Québec is building a framework for success to ensure its schools and centres are viable, sustainable, and provide the same quality of opportunity for all. At the same time, Western Québec is committed to increasing graduation and qualification rates in all sectors and closing the achievement gap (reducing the disparity between the performance of groups of students) for all students.

Our core purpose has been articulated in the Policy on Educational Success. In it, the then Minister of Education Sebastien Proulx, states “the government is working to ensure that everyone can achieve their full potential.” He goes on to say that “success means providing everyone with the opportunity to display their talents at any stage of life.”

The Western Québec School Board is engaged and determined to realize those stated objectives. Each of our four strategic directions and system alignment goals are focused to ensure that all our decisions are based on individual student achievement.

WQSB Directions

Safety and Security
To provide a healthy and safe environment for students and staff to maximize student achievement.

Professional Responsibility – Management and Accountability
To maximize the use of all resources to support teaching and learning.

Focus on Pedagogy to Improve Teaching and Learning
To continually improve the quality of instructions so that students have the best possible opportunities to learn and achieve to their potential.

Professional Learning, Feedback, and Growth
To ensure that all employees have on-going opportunities to improve so that students’ educational experience continues to improve year after year.

Our Alignment
We strive to ensure that all improvement plans, resources, and communications are aligned to the Ministry of Education directions and WQSB goals

It is through these strategic directions and the organization and delivery of services centered on a knowledge management system that Western Québec has set its objectives, strategies, and actions.

Challenges

COVID Impacts

The COVID 19 pandemic brought major disruption and impact to the 2019 to 2021 school years. Educational services were disrupted for periods of time and student life was very different with social distancing, class “bubbles”, masks, online classes, virtual celebrations and few extracurricular activities. School, centre, and board staff adapted quickly and adeptly to changing situations and learning delivery. They took on many different roles to ensure student needs were served under challenging conditions. While we have returned to a more normal year in 2022-2023, the impact of the pandemic on student learning, social-emotional and mental health is evident in our schools and centres. Despite staff shortages and limited access to outside services the focus of our schools and centres remains on the success and well-being of our students.

While not all directly influential on student achievement, other factors impact the board’s ability to make the most efficient and effective use of its resources. The overarching issues that continue to confront the WQSB include distance and dispersion (impacts the organization of schools and centres to ensure accessibility), socio-economic factors (impacts student achievement), recruitment and retention of qualified staff in our rural schools and centres (impacts the quality of teaching and learning, and service availability).

Demographics

The Western Québec School Board youth sector demographics have continued in an upward trend moving from 7298 in 2017-2018 to 7816 in 2022-2023 (based on September 30 enrollment). If we include the four-year old kindergarten numbers our youth sector population in 2022-2023 is 8011. This increase is consistent across both rural and urban sectors of the board. Demographic projections indicate that Western Québec’s student population will increase from 2022-2023 to 2026-2027. Enrollment is stable or growing in most schools although in some of our rural schools, challenges still exist in delivering the Basic School Regulation (BSR) offerings to students. Three of these schools have fewer than 80 students at the secondary level. In all cases, additional staffing is assigned to ensure the continued delivery of quality teaching and learning.

The growth in our urban area (primarily the Gatineau corridor) has created its own set of challenges, specifically overcrowding in some schools. This has required a change in the use of space to accommodate the student numbers (library and cafeteria space converted into classrooms) and requests to the ministry for the construction of additional space.

Due to the nature of the offering (variable entry and exit), it is difficult to track demographic changes in Adult Education and Vocational Training but in general, there has been a decline in rural centres and stability in urban centres. The decline in the rural centres makes it challenging to offer viable programs, especially vocational training.

To continue to provide English-language adult and vocational training, resource allocation must be adjusted to accommodate smaller numbers.

Socio-economic Factor

Western Québec has a significant portion (12 of 25) of its schools that are 8, 9 or 10 on the Ministère de l’éducation Indice de milieu socio-économique scale. It is important to note that on the scale a kindergarten to secondary V school is assigned a ranking for both primary and secondary separately. Schools are classified on a range of 1 to 10, with 1 being considered the least socio-economically disadvantaged and 10 being the most socioeconomically disadvantaged. Several factors contribute to the classification including family income and mother’s level of education.  These schools are designated as New Approaches New Solutions (NANS) schools and they focus on specific orientations to contribute to student success. These include three kindergarten to secondary V schools ranked 8, 9, or 10 and eight elementary schools ranked 8, 9, or 10, and one secondary school ranked 8, 9, or 10. In addition, one school designated as a 7. While the MEQ does not designate Adult Education centres on the socio-economic ranking scale, it is important to note that 3 of the centres are located in the same geographic areas as schools ranked as 8, 9 or 10.  A significant portion of the population of learners in these centres are not in employment nor do they possess an initial diploma.

Schools ranked 7, 8, 9 or 10 benefit from the New Approaches, New Solutions (NANS) measure provided by the Ministry to increase student success. In addition, NANS schools now benefit from additional resources to provide support in early literacy and numeracy, support for students with special needs, and additional support in academic subjects at the high school level. Our NANS schools have made significant progress in student achievement. Although many of the cohorts are small, results on the MEQ and board objectives in our NANS schools continue to show improvement. This is evident in the success on the uniform exams at secondary IV and V levels. There is also progress, although slower, in the core subjects of French Second Language (FSL), English Language Arts (ELA), and Math at the elementary level.  At the board level, we have focused on providing additional support in the core subject areas as well as programs targeted to improve the quality of teaching and learning. At the school level, schools have developed and embedded strategies that focus on both prevention and intervention for identified groups of students.

Indigenous Learner Success

The Western Québec School Board has a significant Indigenous student population (approximately 12%). Much of the Western Québec School Board is on un-ceded Algonquin land and there are 10 Indigenous communities in the region in which Western Québec provides educational services through its schools and centres. Some Western Québec schools and centres have significant First Nation, Metis, and Inuit student populations (40 to 78%).

Canadian and Québec educational statistics indicate a significant gap in the success rates of Indigenous learners in comparison to non-Indigenous learners. This is an area of focus for the board and Western Québec continues to develop and deliver a culturally relevant curriculum and an Indigenous pedagogy approach where possible. The board has engaged several community members and elders to work in developing resources, provide staff training, and support to students. In addition, Western Québec has established key partnerships with Native Friendship Centres in both Val d’Or and Maniwaki and works closely with several Indigenous community partners.

WQSB has adopted a core approach for Indigenous learner success and support. Our approaches focus on three key areas: 

1. Cultural awareness and visibility
2. Culturally Responsive Curriculum and Indigenous Pedagogy
3. Bridging cultures/knowledge

In addition, we have a centralized approach for use of the MEQ Indigenous success grant (15063) in our schools and centres with Indigenous students. The focus of additional assistance is language of instruction, French second language, certifying subjects in secondary, engagement and retention. Success and progress is tracked and monitored on a term basis in all schools and centres benefiting from the additional support.   The board supports the receiving schools through a network that brings together school/centre teams 2 to 3 times a year. Each network session includes research-based professional development for staff (administrators, support staff and teachers).

The WQSB also has an ad hoc advisory committee on indigenous education. This is a key partnership with Indigenous communities, parents, and educators.

The purpose of the ad hoc advisory committee is to provide opportunities for dialogue, collaboration, and partnerships to support Indigenous learner success.

The role of the committee is to:

• Actively engage in relationship building, communication, collaboration, and action with Indigenous communities and organizations to raise cultural awareness and support student success.
• Actively engage in the process of reconciliation through the calls to action contained in both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Public Inquiry Commission on relations between Indigenous Peoples and certain public services in Québec: listening, reconciliation, and progress and implementing these where they intersect with the mandate (Instruct, Socialize and Qualify) of the Western Quebec School Board under the Education Act.
• Pursue opportunities to engage in practices that support reconciliation.

Several schools and centres also have partnerships and advisory groups composed of key individuals (Parents, elders, educators) focused on the different aspects of the WQSB core approach.

Students with Special Needs

The population of students with special needs in Western Quebec Schools has continued to increase over the last years, with a slight decline during the 20-21 school year when online learning and COVID exemptions were a factor in enrollment rates.  Currently, 29.7% of WQSB students have an active Individualized Education Plan.  Most students with special needs are integrated into regular classrooms, with the exception of our specialized, enclosed settings:  The Haven (McDowell), Aylmer Centre (Lord Aylmer), Transition Class (Eardley), Chelsea Centre (Chelsea Elementary), and South Hull Centre (South Hull).  These enclosed settings meet the specialized needs of students with more complex developmental, intellectual, and/or physical needs.

The Centres are board-facilitated programs where students from a variety of schools receive access to these services.  In addition to these enclosed settings, the Western Quebec School Board has three Nurturing Support Centres where social, emotional, behavioral, and adaptive support is the focus.  NSCs are located at Buckingham Elementary, Hadley/Philemon Wright High School, and St. Michael’s High School.  The approach in these Centres is developmental, trauma-informed, and attachment-based.  Our vast territory poses a challenge in the equitable delivery of service, however, recent use of telepractice and online platforms has permitted increased access to professional and consultative services.  The recruitment of qualified staff continues to pose a particular challenge in access to English-speaking Professionals.  Our rural and northern schools have difficulty in the recruitment and retention of qualified staff (Professionals, teachers, and support staff).  With the changing trajectories, offers of delivery and access to outside health and social services, students and families encounter difficulties in access to bilingual and timely support and services outside of our school board, resulting in higher demands within the school board.  Mental Health and well-being are a priority at Western Quebec School Board and has been a notable factor in the educational and social success of students.  Our adult education and vocational centres continue to experience similar realities regarding special needs, mental health, well-being, and access to bilingual and timely services.

Recruitment and Retention of Staff

The Western Québec School Board employs more than 1,500 people in several categories of employment, most of them working directly with students. Recruiting and retaining qualified personnel is a significant challenge, notably in the teaching and professional fields. The challenge we have in recruiting and retaining qualified teaching staff is across all subjects but is even more evident in specialized areas such as French, Math, Science and Special Education. The labour shortage in education and supporting professional services (health and social services) is a reality province wide that continues to have significant impact on our schools and centres.  As part of the recruiting and retention strategy, specific emphasis must be dedicated to attracting a diverse staff.

Ministry of Education Objectives

The tables below outline the Ministry of Education Objectives and indicators deployed to the school board and required to be reported on annually by the school board.

Orientation 1 – Make Student Success a Priority of Quebec Society

Orientation 2 – Make Vocational Training Truly Attractive

Orientation 3 – Make Schools and Centres Welcoming Spaces

Western Québec School Board Directions and Orientations

The tables below outline the Western Quebec School Board objectives, indicators, and strategies.  Each objective will be managed by the appropriate department (s) and will have targets developed through year 1.

Safety and Security

To provide a healthy and safe environment for students and staff to maximize student achievement

Professional Responsibility and Management Accountability

To maximize the use of all resources to support teaching and learning

Focus on Pedagogy to Improve Teaching and Learning

To continually improve the quality of instruction so that students have the best possible opportunities to learn and achieve to their potential.

To ensure the successful implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the commitment to success plan, the Western Québec School Board will develop action plans and provide support for both the MEQ-mandated objectives and the board objectives. Progress on the plan will be communicated to the system and stakeholders in the annual report.

School Board Declaration Regarding the Level and Quality of Services Offered

The Western Québec School Board provides educational programming to learners from the age of four to eighty! Our services include 4-year-old kindergartens in approved socio-economic disadvantaged schools, passe-partout and regular 5-year-old kindergartens as well as elementary and secondary education. Our Adult Education and Vocational Training Centres offer adult general education leading to secondary studies diplomas, pre-requisites for further education, and ministry authorized vocational training programs. Western Québec also provides reference, referral and support, and counseling services to adults in its regions as well as customized training and business services.

The Western Québec School Board is committed to student success by providing quality opportunities to all and an equitable distribution of resources. Our framework for success, the four directions, reinforces our core purpose and commitment to all students achieving their full potential.
Each of our four strategic directions and system alignment goals are focused on ensuring that all of our decisions are based on individual student achievement. As such, the Western Québec School Board declares the following:

• The Western Québec School Board is a knowledge-managed organization committed to individual student achievement and each student achieving to full potential.
• The Western Québec school board provides a safe and secure learning environment for students and staff.
• The Western Québec School Board is committed to the highest quality of teaching and learning.
• The Western Québec School Board is committed to providing all its students access to services that support learning success.
• The Western Québec school board cultivates staff learning and growth in a culture of best practices.
• The Western Québec School Board has a formal complaint and resolution process.

Complaints Procedure

Since August 2023, Law 9 outlines the procedures for putting forward a complaint. The information will is available on the Complaints Procedure webpage.