A significant aspect of building community in a school to ensure students are feeling cared for and thereby learning and having success is the involvement of staff – relational teaching and learning. When students feel valued and connected to staff, students are more motivated to learn, more engaged in class and more successful academically.

Teachers discussed, shared and set department goals stemming from the following questions:

• What are the biggest challenges for student learning in our school?
• How are these issues addressed in classroom practice?
• What are department goals?
• How can community building be reinforced in classrooms?

The value of both a relational and an instructional environment creates a classroom that is conducive to learning and builds a school that is a strong educational community