School Climate Survey

Grand Erie is committed to providing safe, caring, and inclusive places for everyone in our schools. One way we can find out how we are doing is to ask students about their experiences at school, their health and well-being. The anonymous, voluntary School Climate Survey is used to collect this information.

Grand Erie will support students in the collection process and make the best use of the information gathered. This is an opportunity for us to learn more about the students we support and to help us identify needs in our school communities. All students in Grades 4 to Grade 12 will be invited to participate.

Additionally, School Boards must conduct a School Climate Survey every two years in accordance with the Education Act s.169.1(1)(a), (a.1), (a.2) and PPM 145.

Grand Erie’s School Culture and Well-being and Research and Evaluation Teams collaborated on this survey to satisfy our requirement to conduct an anonymous school climate survey in accordance with the Education Act s.169.1(1)(a), (a.1), (a.2) and PPM 145.

• Belonging and Connectedness
• Meaningful/Engaged Learning
• General Well-Being
• Coping and Social Emotional Skills
• The Learning Environment
• Supportive Relationships
• School Discipline
• Safety at School
• Bullying
• The School Experience

March 2 to 13. 

The survey is anonymous. This means that no personal information will be collected from students when they participate in the survey (e.g., email, name, birthdate, student ID). Since responses are de-identified from the point of collection, responses cannot be combined with other types of information previously collected under the Education Act.

There are two separate School Climate Surveys. One for Grades 4 to 6 and another for Grades 7 to 12.

Students in Grades 4 to 6 are not asked to identify their gender or sexual orientation. Identity-related questions with respect to race, ethnicity and religion or creed are included. In sections about the school experience, there are options for students to respond that they have been, or seen bullying based on gender or sexual orientation.

Grade 7 to 12 students have additional options to identify their gender and sexual orientation.

All responses are anonymous and voluntary. Students may choose not to answer any questions. Parent(s)/caregiver(s) may also choose to opt their child out of the survey completely by contacting their school through phone or email.

The information that the student provides in the survey will be collected anonymously to be combined with other students in their school to generate a School Report and combined with all students within Grand Erie to generate a Board Report. These reports will be shared with the school and may be shared with community partners.

The results of the survey (i.e., reports) will be used to inform activities to enhance school engagement, positive learning experience and academic success as it relates to School Improvement Plans. This survey is not a test and will not be used to evaluate any one individual student, nor be used for report cards, diagnosis, or psychological assessment purposes. Grand Erie will not use the survey to rank schools, students, or classes in any way.

By law, Grand Erie must protect the privacy and personal information of students. The School Climate Survey complies with the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) and the requirements of the Education Act. Only a few Grand Erie employee(s) (i.e., Research and Evaluation Department) will have access to your answers, but only to do research. Teachers, school administrator(s), and other Grand Erie employee(s) will not see individual survey responses, but only survey reports.

The School Climate Survey is voluntary. Any student may choose not to participate, to stop participating, or to skip a question at any time. Additionally, parents/caregivers of students under 18 years of age can opt their child out from participating. As part of our communication campaign, information will be distributed electronically to families and on Grand Erie website. Parents/caregivers can request an opt out for their child by contacting their child’s school (by phone or email).

Parents/caregivers who want to opt their child out from the survey may request this any time before February 23.

If a parent/caregiver does not submit a request to opt-out, their student will receive an invitation to participate in the survey via email during class time.

The School Climate Survey will be implemented using the online survey platform Alchemer. Alchemer is used in numerous educational institutions in Ontario and Canada and complies with privacy and security requirements.

In accordance with Grand Erie policies, MFIPPA, and the Education Act, survey responses will be kept on secure servers and password protected devices. Data will be securely disposed of as per the Grand Erie Records Retention Schedule.

Access to students’ anonymous survey responses will be limited to personnel within Grand Erie’s Research and Assessment Department. We are not gathering names or direct identifiers such as email addresses.

All students in Grades 4 and 12 will be invited to participate in a voluntary online survey during school time with staff supervision using a Grand Erie-provided device. If a question bothers a student in any way, the student may skip the question or stop answering the survey altogether.

At the end of the survey, there is a link to Grand Erie mental health resources students could access should they wish for support.

The following accommodations are available for students:

• Languages - The School Climate Survey will be available in the following languages:
  • Arabic, Punjabi, Urdu, Spanish, Persian, Russian, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
  • Low-German
• Text-to-Speech – The survey is compatible with Microsoft Immersive Reader as the survey design and formatted to meet WCAG 2.1 guidelines.
• Support Employee(s) (e.g., EAs, CYWs, LRTs and MLL supports) – If a student has regular and recurring classroom supports to complete schoolwork and assessments, these supports will be available to assist the student to log onto their device, open the URL link to the survey and/or orient themselves with the available accommodations. These employee(s) will ensure the student’s privacy is maintained