Peggy Revell
Students heading into the new full-day Junior Kindergarten program at St. Michael’s School will see a slight delay this week as construction wraps up on newly-renovated classrooms.
The school will be ready for children, noted Northwest Catholic District School Board director of education Mary-Catherine Kelly, explaining that for the new classrooms it’s just painting and moving back into the rooms which is left to be completed.
“It looks fantastic—the rooms are huge,” she enthused about the construction which has seen two classrooms’ walls pushed back to create a bigger space for the new full-day JK program which is launching at the school this year. “It’s really going to be beautiful.”
Washrooms and coat room facilities for the youngest students—all the right size for the age group—have also been added in.
With the slight delay, the youngest of students will be “staggered” into the new school room, she explained.
“The first week of school will allow time for parents to meet individually with the classroom teachers and during the second week of school, the staggered entry for students will begin,” she explained.
Families who will be affected by this have been contacted by the board.
The kindergarten classes aren’t the only new addition to St. Michael’s School though, as they have also created a new classroom for the Native Language program for teaching Ojibwe.
“We’ve had a lot of projects going on this summer,” Kelly noted, adding that solar panels have also now been installed at St. Francis School.
As well, the board is on track to have SmartBoard technology installed in every classroom by Oct. 16
“We’re very excited for that,” said Kelly, noting that the use of technology in the classrooms will continue to help students with their achievement, and will also coincide with the continuation of the blended and e-learning pilot projects which began last year.
St. Joseph’s School in Dryden has also been undergoing renovations with two classroom extensions to support Full Day Junior Kindergarten—construction which is continuing through the month of September.
The school wasn’t originally chosen to be one of this year’s locations where full day Junior Kindergarten was rolled out, but with approval from the Ministry of Education, the NCDSB opted to present a deficit budget, and use reserve funds to cover the costs.
“We felt that this was important to serve the parents and children in Dryden,” explained Kelly
As well, the board will be looking to launch an updated website to help keep parents and the public informed about what’s going.
Kelly noted that the board is hoping to improve communications with parents through e-mail communications, and hopes that parents will share their e-mail address with the schools to improve.
As well, Kelly encouraged those with aboriginal background to voluntarily self–identify as such with the board—so that the board can better work to provide supportive programming and resources as needed for the students.
“I would encourage our parents to become involved,” added Kelly, noting that by becoming involved parents can learn more about the curriculum which their children are learning—and teachers and staff can also help support parents at home when it comes to learning.
The NCDSB will be joining Catholic schools across the province to celebrate the chosen theme of “Walking in the Light of Christ,” Kelly said about heading into the new school year.
This year’s priorities for the board continue to be success for students, success for staff and successful stewardship of their operations and resources, she noted.
