University Heights Primary School

Already a compassionate school from the number of activities students and teachers do within the school and in the community, University Heights students, teachers, and principal, Carol Edy decided to go one step further and adopted the Children's Charter for Compassion and became the first school in Canada (and the world) to declare itself a "Compassionate School".

University Heights Public School children in front of the Children's Charter for Compassion

What does being a "Compassionate School" mean? It means that the Children's Charter will be incorporated into existing character development curriculum. It will also build on a number of student projects and activities so that compassion becomes part of the school environment and bring that compassion out into the community.

The assembly took place on Monday, May 16th 2011 and featured students talking about the many compassionate activities the school had participated in. Special guest, Erin Henry, creator of the Children's Charter spoke about how the Children's Charter came to be and invited students to learn about and discuss what the Charter means to them. The student performances in music and dance, reflecting the message of compassion are captured in videos listed below.

Mayor Joe Fontana joined the assembly to congratulate the University Heights on this historic milestone. On May 9th 2011, Mayor Fontana along with members of London city council voted unanimously to declare that London is a "Compassionate City". Canadians For Compassion presented the official Children's Charter for Compassion plaque to University.

Location: Tornoto, ON, Canada