About

Welcoming Schools offers tools, lessons and resources on embracing family diversity, avoiding gender stereotyping and ending bullying and name-calling in elementary schools. It offers an LGBT inclusive approach that is also inclusive of the many types of diversity found in our communities. Administrators, educators and parents/guardians can find materials here necessary to create learning environments in which all students are welcomed and respected.

• Welcoming Schools has trainers and consultants located throughout the United States that can work with you to determine appropriate first steps for your community.
• If you want to develop a more welcoming school, take a look at “Keys to Success” to help you think about what steps you need to take in your community.
• Key to developing a welcoming elementary school is to work with the adults in the community — be prepared for teachable moments or plan community building events for parents and guardians.
• Look at the evaluation of the Welcoming Schools pilot project from multiple districts in the U.S. to help you determine if Welcoming Schools is an initiative that will make a positive difference in your school or district.
• Check out "An Introduction to Welcoming Schools," a 93-page downloadable primer to the Welcoming Schools Approach.

Initiated by a group of parents and educators to meet the needs of students whose family structures are not well represented or included in school environments, Welcoming Schools is also a response to educators who have asked for tools to address bias-based name-calling and bullying. Additionally, it offers a wide range of resources for school administrators and educators to support students who don’t conform to gender norms.