Schools in the town and county of Westlock were buzzing all last week as staff prepared for kids to return starting Sept. 3.
At three elementary schools in the region, a mix of new ideas and ongoing initiatives await a new batch of students.
Now in his second year at Westlock Elementary School, principal Steven Kaplan is looking forward to putting to use the lessons he learned in his first year.
As a first-year principal last year, he said he couldn’t come in and try to reinvent the wheel. Instead, he had to get accustomed to the system and see how things operated before throwing around new ideas.
Yet, in many ways the 2013-2014 school year will prove to be a continuation of previous years, Kaplan said.
Staff intend to keep working on the universal design for learning, differentiated instruction and inclusive education, all of which are meant to allow students to succeed no matter their personal learning style.
However, seeing as home life can determine how well students will perform, Kaplan said the school is working with FCSS and other organizations to help parents get and stay engaged in their children’s education.
At Eleanor Hall School in Clyde, the most exciting part of the new school year is a planned expansion.
“We’re pretty excited about getting that new modular classroom,” said principal Don Hinks.
Hinks said the classroom is a long time coming, and it will help the school manage its space, as well as keep class sizes at the kindergarten level manageable.
With education continuing to evolve, Hinks said the school is looking into expanding its BYOD — or bring your own device — system. The idea is to allow students to use their own electronic devices for learning purposes, as they are most familiar with what they already own.
One initiative Eleanor Hall has started, and is now gradually making its way to other Pembina Hills schools, is the leveled literacy program.
“It’s an intensive reading support for those kids who need it,” Hinks said. “It builds the foundation for kids in terms of reading and reading comprehension.”
With the winter Olympics coming to Sochi, Russia this upcoming February, Busby School is preparing to celebrate much like it did when Vancouver hosted the 2010 Olympics.
Principal Nadine Marchand said the student body will be divided into the usual, cross-grade family groups, and each group will be tasked with representing a country at the school’s Olympics this winter.
And much like previous years, the students will be competing for medals, and will get to march in opening and closing ceremonies.
“It’s quite fun; the kids love it,” Marchand said.
Inside the classroom, the school is continuing to focus on the universal design for learning, inclusive education and assessment for learning. This means figuring out different ways to get the most out of a student.
“You don’t want to just assess a child one way,” Marchand said. “Some children are maybe not the best at the paper and pencil kind of tasks, so we might do something where they have to build a circuit rather than just write down what a circuit would look like.”
