In the 10 years he has been at Jarvie School, principal Martin Cairns says he has not seen the school change so much as he has seen it evolve.
Speaking at the Pembina Hills school division’s (PHRD) board meeting at the school on April 27, Cairns said he and his fellow staff continue to work on building the character of their students.
“It’s evolved, but the guiding principles have stayed the same,” he said. “It’s about building character and getting the kids to believe in themselves.”
The character growth and education revolves around the idea that good education can be provided if the students develop their own character, have a strong work ethic and treat their fellow students with respect.
Included in the character education goal is the use of the Virtues program at Jarvie School, as well as working on building emotional intelligence, he said. The emotional intelligence looks into things like picking strengths the students have and nurturing them to help the students be successful.
Another goal at the school, Cairns said, is to get the parents more involved in the school. This goes beyond simply having parents aware of their kids’ marks and behaviour, and instead is about making them aware of the overall, day-to-day happenings at the school.
A big way school staff do this is through regular contact with the parents. This is usually done through phone calls to parents, looking for any issues they may see bubbling up, he said, which gives everyone involved a chance to head the trouble off before it becomes a big problem.
Jarvie School’s population is only 60 kids, Cairns said, and because of that there is a real community spirit about the school, both inside and outside it.
“It’s a small school and it needs to be a part of the community and work together with the community,” he said, adding that he has many retired people come in to help out to keep that community spirit alive.
“We instill in the kids to get them to give back to the community,” he said.
Another byproduct of the school’s size is how close the staff are when it comes to their goals for the students.
“The entire staff are on the same page,” Cairns said. “We make our decisions as a staff, whether planning goals or other things. We’re involved in every good idea that goes on in the school.”
The school also makes use of technological advances, including getting the kids to work online more, so they can access their homework anywhere there is a computer and Internet access. There is also a video-conferencing room that students and teachers can use, and which Cairns said the school still needs to use better to fully utilize the facility.
For all the positives at Jarvie School, Cairns said there are still some issues that need to be addressed. Chief among those issues is dropping enrolment numbers, which is also a concern in many rural schools. To that end, however, he said the school continues to try to help W.R. Frose by encouraging the students there to stay until they graduate Grade 8.
