Helping students deal with school closures

NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - School districts across B.C. are dealing with budget shortfalls, more schools are closing and many students are saying goodbye to familiar classrooms and friends this week.

News1130 has been following the efforts of one school in North Vancouver trying to make the transition an easier one for students.

Gowa Kong is the administrator at Plymouth Elementary, where about about 100-students will be redistributed to other schools next year. She says dealing with an uncertain future through the school year was tough for everyone in so many ways but, as a school, they chose to tackle it head on.

Kong says it worked by "focusing on spirit, focusing on belonging, focusing on treating each other with respect and kindness" In being open and proactive in helping students deal with feelings of loss, transition, friendship skills and other issues, they focused on school spirit, which actually increased toward the end of the year.

"Isn't it interesting? It was just a way of keeping everyone's focus on being together and what makes our school really great and as a by-product they had a sense of optimism and better relationships with each other, staff and parents and kids going forward" says Kong.

And that is something they can take with them to a new school in September and beyond.