Submissions are open for the 2020 Inclusive Teacher and Inclusive School awards! Read more about last year's winners and then submit a teacher or school you think is deserving of this award via this submission package.
2019 Inclusive School Award Recipient: Dalmeny High School
Dalmeny High School has around 200 students and is part of the Prairie Spirit School Division in central Saskatchewan. Two years ago, the staff had a goal to work toward full inclusion for all of their students. Since that time, a number of big changes have truly made the school a place where everyone is accepted and welcomed. Most notably, the school’s life skills program has gone from a segregated room, where students had a separate program and schedule, to one where students with exceptionalities are in the same room with all their classmates, and one would be hard-pressed to pick them out. These students now spend their class time working on purposeful, planned activities to meet their individualized goals and are fully part of the student body.
One parent observed: "The times when I’ve been at school I’ve noticed students interact with the boys even when they don’t need to, and sometimes they don’t know who I am. The students are just being good people, and this speaks volumes to the inclusion and acceptance environment that the entire staffing team at DHS has created."
Melany Norberg, DHS’s Special Education and Resource Teacher, is credited as the catalyst for creating that inclusive environment in the school. Through her encouragement and support, teachers, staff, students, and parents have come to embrace inclusion and see it as a positive experience. Inclusion Saskatchewan is proud to celebrate Dalmeny High School’s accomplishments and its ongoing commitment to inclusion for all students.
2019 Inclusive Teacher Award Recipient: Kimberly Neithercut
Kimberly Neithercut is a Learning Support Teacher at Queen Elizabeth School in Weyburn, which is part of the South East Cornerstone School Division. In this role, Kimberly provides classroom teachers with the tools and strategies to make inclusion successful. She also routinely goes above and beyond to support her students. Whether it is sourcing adaptive technologies, learning service dog training, or developing individualized plans – she is dedicated to working to each student’s strengths.
Her Vice Principal notes: "Kim has a special knack for seeing the potential in her students. She plans rich learning activities for each student she works with based on their abilities. She creates routines and structures that help students feel safe and welcome. These successes may be as simple as a student walking independently down the hallway or may be as complicated as setting up a successful toilet training routine for another. Kim celebrates each one of these successes, big or small, with her students, teachers and parents."
Kimberly’s work in inclusion does not stop at the school, as she is also an active board member of Inclusion Weyburn, volunteering countless hours to support their programs and events. Inclusion Saskatchewan is proud to celebrate all of Kimberly’s achievements and we wish her a long career making a difference in the lives of children with exceptionalities.
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