Professional Activity Day Details
September 2, 2025
Numeracy, Assessment and Evaluation, Safe Schools, and all mandatory Health and Safety
training.
Elementary and Secondary:
• Review of Fire Plans (School site specific)
• Review of Violence Risk Assessment (School site specific)
• Students with Prevalent Medical Conditions (School site specific)
Elementary – Student Achievement and Well-Being priorities:
• Gr. K-2 new to grade teachers – Acadience training
• Gr. K-2/DECEs – Early reading screening – creating school plans to address student
learning needs
• Gr. 3-8 – Achievement of leaning Outcomes in Numeracy.
Secondary – Student Achievement and Well-Being priorities:
• Expectation Based Plaining
• Review of Assessment and Evaluation procedures
• Guidance and Student Success – Ministry updates and review of guidelines
Training – Elementary and Secondary:
• Violence and Harassment
• De-escalating Strategies
• WHMIS
• Slips, Trips, and Falls
• Incident Reporting Overview
• Epi-Pen Use
• Concussion Policy and Protocol Revie
October 10, 2025
• Focus on safe and accepting schools to establish a foundation for student achievement, well-being and creating inclusive environments for students to feel physically and emotionally safe and supported
• Explore strategies to help emotional regulation, coping skills and access to supports
• Discuss anti-bullying initiatives to be proactive, restorative and rooted in empathy
• Review trauma-informed practices through a lens of compassion to better understand the impact of trauma and how educators can respond with more flexibility, patience and care
• Development and creation of school belonging plans which include initiatives and activities to promote safe, caring, inclusive and healthy school environments
November 14, 2025
• K-2 – Numeracy – teachers will focus on learning to build foundational numeracy skills and strategies for developing fact fluency. Literacy – teachers will focus on data informed instruction in reading and building knowledge of continuous blending.
• Gr 3-6 – A focus on implementing evidence-informed strategies to enhance student achievement in literacy and numeracy.
• Gr 7-8 – Exploring the Engineering Design Process to foster problem solving and will deepen understanding in Canadian History.
• ECEs – Strengthen foundational learning and approaches to reading instruction and use digital pedagogical documentation to capture and reflect on learning.
Educators will delve into the critical role of executive functioning (EF) skills in shaping student achievement and confidence. They will review extensive research and practical strategies to support the development of EF skills across all subject areas. Educators will engage in collaborative discussions to explore effective interventions and share best practices for fostering EF skills in students, ultimately enhancing learning outcomes and classroom success.
Librarians:
Librarians will be exploring Indigenous cultural relationships, digital technology and AI, collection development, and library procedures.
BMS full certification and recertification – as needed. Also, EAs will be engaging in sessions of creating calm and connection.
January 16, 2026 (Elementary) & January 30, 2026 (Secondary)
Elementary Teachers – will participate in a comprehensive range of student assessments and evaluations, engage in grading and report card preparation/reporting of student progress and achievement.
Secondary Teachers – will review Semester 1 student achievement to strengthen practices for Semester 2, examine Day 1 activities to support student well‑being and inclusion, meet in school teams to plan smooth and supportive student transitions, and support online teachers as they review AI guidelines to maintain academic integrity.
Elementary EAs – will engage in suggested self-directed professional development opportunities which include, review of student plans, organize and update student independence workstations, update visuals for students’ resources and spaces and review training resources.
Secondary EAs – will participate in BMS full certification and re-certification and will review Restorative Approaches practices.
DECEs – will participate in UFLI training (if previously missed training) and supporting teachers with report card preparation/reporting.
Librarians – will be focusing on administrative tasks such as processing new books, weeding/deselecting books and reviewing inventory.
Elementary Secretaries – will be participating in a Mental Health and Well Being session and a financial carousel style training – Accounts Payable, School Generated Funds, SparkRock and School Cash Online.
Secondary School Office Staff (OS, SSA, CA and SDIA) – will look at an overview on student registration, best practice and customer service, Question & Answer - Collection of Information and Attendance.
Friday April 24, 2026 – Elementary and Secondary
Elementary and Secondary – all OECTA members will participate in self-directed learning from a list of priorities developed by the board and consistent with the Ministry’s priorities:
The list of priorities include:
- Assessment and evaluation
- Artificial intelligence
- Early Literacy
- Numeracy
- Tackling racism
- Supporting students with Special Education needs
- Mental Health awareness
- Connections to the Pastoral Plan
Elementary and Secondary EAs – will engage in self-directed professional development opportunities as directed by their schools. BMS full certification and re-certification will be provided to those who still require the training or retraining.
DECEs – will participate in an interactive session that focus on de-escalation strategies for the kindergarten classroom.
Elementary and Secondary (optional) Secretaries – will participate in an Admissions overview of OSRs, student registrations, international students, and records retention/cleanup. They will review attendance, after-delivery checklist, pre-transition process, suspensions, and next year’s homeroom scheduling. They will also review end-of-year processes related to finance and purchasing.
Librarians – will learn how to maximize the benefits of their Ontario Library Association membership, review year-end routines, and engage in breakout sessions from the following options: book repair & processing, cataloguing, collection management & development, retirement, Tinkercad, or OLA School library connection.
May 29, 2026
Elementary Educators – will engage in report card preparation/reporting to parents. Staff will work on completing student assessments and completing report cards.
Secondary Educators – will engage in variety of curriculum learning based on curriculum updates (History, Religion, Math and English), Technology integration (AI, coding, digital tools and online pedagogy), Student support training (Guidance, Student Success and Co-op), Skilled Trade awareness (Community Partnerships) and Equity-focused learning with biases in Math, accessibility and inclusive curriculum.
EAs – will engage in self-directed professional learning, in key areas including Student Mental Health and Well-Being, Assistive Technology and Student Transitions.
DECEs - will engage in self-directed professional learning.
Librarians – will begin year-end procedures such as inventory, running reports, weeding, repairs, adding new books and clearing up displays and shelving duties.June 26, 2026
All staff - 2026-2027 Learning priorities – Look Ahead
Suicide Prevention and Life Promotion Learning Modules, Anti-Sex Trafficking training
Student Achievement and Well-Being transition meetings
Principal directed AI learning modules
Elementary and Secondary Educators – will engage in school-based learning for all staff on changes to curriculum, pathways options for students as well as changes to graduation requirements. Focus on transition planning for students and guidance and career
EAs - will participate in regular PD Day agenda activities. Additional consideration may include September transitions, preparing resources for incoming students, summer storage of resources and materials, SEA wrap-up, and collaboration with school team
DECEs - year end responsibilities as assigned by Principal
Librarians - year end inventory and reconciliation duties