Parents whose children will be attending Grade 8 at the North Battleford Comprehensive High School this fall are being sent information about what they can expect for their children.
The 2013-14 school year will be the first year Grade 8 students will attend NBCHS. Overcrowding in Battlefords elementary schools resulted in the Living Sky School Division board of education deciding in September of 2012 to relocate Grade 8 to the Comp in 2013.
Moving middle years students to a high school environment has been of concern to the board, and members promised parents at the time of the decision to move Grade 8 from local elementary schools to the high school that their children would continue to be treated as middle years students. The board asked recently for assurance from administrators that would be the case, and for a letter to be sent to parents informing them how those promises would be met.
In a report to the board of education June 26, North Battleford Comprehensive High School principal Lyndon Heinemann wrote, "Parents can expect teachers to teach and interact with students in accordance with middle years philosophy. The teachers who have been selected for the Grade 8 core subjects are elementary/middle years teachers with many years of middle years teaching experience.
Heinemann also reports the Grade 8 students will be grouped in heterogeneous homerooms for the core subjects of English, math, science and social studies, and will have the same teachers for English, math and physical education/health throughout the year.
"This structure will give a Grade 8 student three different homeroom teachers to help them build a connected relationship at NBCHS."
The Grades 8 and 9 core classes will be congregated in a specific area of the school, on the second floor of the academic wing.
"In keeping with middle years research, this concept will provide a more secure place for the middle students to socialize with the age/grade peers and develop a sense of community as middle students," reported Heinemann.
While the Grade 8s will not be expected to live in a high school world, they will have access to the enriched programming the comprehensive school provides. They will have the option to challenge themselves academically with enriched/pre-International Baccalaureate classes.
"The Grade 8 students can apply for placement into this homeroom and receive more rigorous instruction in English, math, science, social studies and French."
They will also be taught practical applied arts by teachers who are specialists in the subject areas of: food science and cooking; woodworking, hand tool, power tools and shop safety; household electrical wiring; lawnmower maintenance and small motor operation; and computer literacy, digital photography and digital videography.
In addition, they will have the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in the fine arts, such as band, music, visual art and drama.
There will also be a wide range of extra-curricular activities available.
Director of Education Randy Fox told the board, "Although there are plans in place to approach the Grade 8s as a middle years group rather than a high school group, I believe that the ultimate key is what happens in the classroom."
Fox said he is confident the teachers who are moving to NBCHS with the students will take a middle years approach to their teaching.
"Structure is important," said Fox, "but relationships and instructional strategies are just as important."
Crowding in some of the public elementary schools in the Battlefords, particularly Battleford Central School and Connaught Elementary School, was the impetus behind the decision to move Grades 7 and 8 to NBCHS.
In September of 2001, the closure of Alexander Junior High School saw Grade 8 students moved to the four elementary schools in Battlefords and Grade 9 students were moved to NBCHS. During that same year, Grade 7 students from Battleford Junior High School began attending Battleford Central School. In the following year Battleford Junior High School was closed and Grade 9 students were moved to NBCHS.
With the elementary schools running out of room, overtures made to the provincial government regarding new space, either portable or permanent, were met with the verdict that unused space at the high school should be put to use.
With the new provincial funding model that precludes school divisions from setting their own tax levies, capital for new projects is harder to come by, so the division will be using funds from reserves to pay for renovations to NBCHS to accommodate more students.
The board's 2012 motion to move the Grade 8s in 2013 included moving Grade 7s in 2015. That may yet become a reality, however the province has discontinuing the block funding program which used to be applied to capital projects and has established an ongoing renovation and maintenance allowance instead.
The board believes the construction of a second gymnasium at NBCHS is necessary to accommodate moving the Grade 7s. While capital funding doesn't appear to be available from the Ministry of Education, the division has been told ongoing maintenance funding would be provided as long as the renovation plans are approved by the ministry.
