The Upper Grand District School Board’s Student Leadership Committee was formed in the 2023-24 school year. 

The idea for the committee came out of planning and consulting for the 2023-26 Student Mental Health & Well-Being Strategy. As staff moved through their engagement process and data collection to inform the development of the strategic framework, it became clear from all stakeholders that youth voice and engagement was a critical component to address. 

The 2023-2026 strategy has a separate priority area to focus on student engagement and leadership. This priority area emphasizes supporting student agency at every tier of support, from creating opportunities for student leadership within school-wide well-being initiatives to ensuring students who are receiving mental health support have a voice in their care. This is grounded in the beliefs that students have much to offer in the striving for mentally healthier schools and that greater student agency will also fuel their well-being.

The 2023-2026 Strategic Framework for Student Mental Health and Well-being is available by clicking here: Student Mental Health and Well-being Strategy (PDF)

Staff worked on a process to recruit students from UGDSB secondary schools to be a part of the Student Leadership Committee to advise the strategy. It is staff’s intention to also work alongside the student leadership group to co-create the role of the committee moving forward.  

Some of the group’s work so far includes:

• In the winter of the 2023-24 school year, student representatives met to discuss the committee and the plan for the year. Staff shared the “behind the scenes” look at mental health leadership and system planning at UGDSB, shared the current areas of focus and the outcomes to date.  Staff emphasized that this committee was about “system” thinking, not just their individual school, and that the work this group does will influence all students.  

• During consultation staff asked students to reflect on their elementary and secondary school experiences as they provided input on current areas of focus. Specifically they engaged in small group discussions about what they liked and wanted to enhance as well as what was perhaps missing.  

• In May 2024, the committee met for the Student Mental Health Leadership Day. At this inaugural conference, students provided feedback on several priority areas including:

  • Whole Student Wellbeing Promotion

  • Early Identification and Skill Building 

  • Inclusive and Identity Informed Approaches

  • Student Engagement and Leadership 

• Moving forward staff will be summarizing the themes that came from the youth and presenting them back the themes and key next step options for the group to collectively build on with a focus on how to involve elementary schools as well.