Between fresh faces on staff and new initiatives in this year’s educational plan, change is abound at Barrhead Composite High School.
The school year kicked off Tuesday, Sept. 2 with an enrollment of 711 students for the 2013-2014 school year. This year associate principal Karen Fischer said they projected that number to be down about 15 students, and currently they’re sitting at slightly over 700.
This school year welcomed new principal Steven Kaplan, who came to Barrhead from Westlock Elementary School. This however isn’t Kaplan’s first time at BCHS.
“I did teach here from 2004 to 2007 so I wasn’t completely green to the building,” he said. “I did go to school here myself as a student. It was a bit of a second homecoming. Coming back as a school administrator is very exciting.”
The school has six new teachers too, for a teaching staff totaling 32 this year.
Kaplan said a big focus for BCHS this year is success for all students, as well as continuing to work on having a high level of school completion.
A project BCHS is supporting, said Kaplan, is flexibility redesign. A goal for the school is beginning to implement initiatives around that.
This year BCHS is trying a different way of delivering English 10 and Math 10. While most high school classes go by five month semesters, this year’s English and Math 10 classes will be a combined group that will run for the entire 10 months of the school year.
Students will alternate between the classes, taking Math 10 on day one and English 10 on day two. Kaplan said this is supposed to allow students find areas where they can either carry on with their work ahead of schedule, or go back if they need additional help.
“If you’re in a math class for example and you’re on pace or maybe a little bit ahead, you can go back and see one of the teachers who is teaching opposite in the English period and maybe do some catch up, or vise versa,” said Kaplan.
“Those classes would be a little more fluid. So you may be sitting in your math class a little bit less than you’re sitting in your English class,” said Fischer. “This will also give our teachers a little more opportunity to support the kids for a longer time, so our students will have more opportunity to mature over the year. It gives them a longer period of time to work through some of the things they were struggling with, or challenge them in areas where they need to be challenged.”
Fischer said BCHS offers a high level of flexibility when it comes to programming, ranging from the one regular semester, to the new 10 month Math and English initiative, to outreach, to courses through the Alberta Distance Learning Centre.
Additionally, students still have the opportunity to do work experience and participate in the Registered Apprenticeship Program.
Technology is another big focus for BCHS this year. With regards to technology and supporting students in their learning, Fischer said the school made a significant purchase of 45 Chromebooks this summer.
The Chromebooks look like laptops but don’t have hard drives, this way the computers start up and connect to the Internet quickly. Students will save their work using Google Docs, which is part of the Cloud computing movement.
“Cloud computing is where we have a third party involved in the storage. We used to always house it in the school or district servers, but now we’re moving to a third party which is Google Docs,” said Kaplan. “It’s supporting and working in a lot of other schools, so we’re dabbling into that now this year.”
The Chromebooks are part of a mobile lab system. BCHS currently has a total of five mobile labs, which are carts that house up to 30 computers.
“There was a time when kids had to leave their class, go to the computer lab and get set up. Now the lab comes to them,” said Kaplan. “Ours will not have 30 in it. If it turns out that these become really popular, we can add the extra Chromebooks.
BCHS also increased their number of iPads, and continues to regularly use SMART Boards.
“We’re pretty proud of the technology we have access to,” said Fischer. “We have good support with our technology initiatives in this district.”
School climate, working towards a positive and nurturing education environment, is another area BCHS is focusing on growing. Fischer said the school is looking into bringing in speakers and doing activities this year.
Kaplan added that how a student feels about coming to school plays a huge part in their performance. During a spring analysis, he said, school climate was determined to be an area that could use more attention in order and help kids feel good about coming to school.
“That’s not saying they felt bad, but there was an area of opportunity there to build upon and make sure all kids felt this was a place they all could have a chance of being successful,” said Kaplan. “I know that’s something I’m particularly interested in, and have been in every school I’ve been at in the last three years. I’m looking at carrying that on this year.”
Ideas include doing something for bullying awareness week this November, and wearing pink for National Anti-Bullying Day in February.
Physical changes to the school are abound as well, with plans for new sidewalks, paint, stucco, and lightening inside the building in the works. The drama theatre is also awaiting a facelift, said Kapler.
There are plans for the installation of an awning outside the main door too, in the hopes it will give visitors a better idea of where the main office is located.
“This is really a great school for everyone, where everyone can succeed,” said Kaplan. “I think it has been a great community to go to as a student.”
