On September 30, schools throughout the Ottawa Catholic School Board showed their respect to those impacted by Residential Schools by wearing orange. Here are some highlights worth celebrating!
Mrs. Boucher from Holy Trinity Catholic High School led a number of stand out activities to commemorate Orange Shirt Day. She arranged to have Justin Holness, an Indigenous artist, entrepreneur and founder of TR1BE Academy, speak to students in virtual assembly for the whole school. She created a choice board of activities and resources for teachers to use in their classes leading up to Orange Shirt Day and set up a community challenge for students to reflect on reasons to wear orange.
Ms. Gravel from St. Francis Xavier High School set up an Orange Shirt Day writing contest for students to express their knowledge and understanding of the history of Residential Schools and the importance of Orange Shirt Day.
To remember that every child matters, all of the students from Our Lady of Mount Carmel School coloured in a feather to remember a student who attended Residential School. Students then created wings out of the feathers to honour families affected by Residential Schools.
St. Anne School commemorated Orange Shirt Day with a number of teachings about the history of Residential Schools and reconciliation activities for the day. Ms. Davis created a choice board before Orange Shirt Day and shared it widely as a resource for teachers to use in their classrooms!
Virtual Kindergarten students from St. Elizabeth School participated in Orange Shirt Day online.
Students from all grades took the time to make personal reflections on why we wear orange shirts on September 30. This class from Immaculata High School was no exception!
Did you do something impactful to remember Residential Schools on Orange Shirt Day? Tell us about it in the comments below, or share it with our Indigenous Education team on Twitter by tagging @ocsbIndigenous.