CARSTAIRS - Chinook’s Edge School Division (CESD) trustees have approved three new academies at Hugh Sutherland School in Carstairs starting in the fall.
The academies are hockey (grades 5-12), dance/cheer (grades 7-12), and STEAM - science, technology, engineering, arts and math (grades 10-12).
The academies were approved during the board’s recent, regularly-scheduled meeting.
According to the HSS application, school academies “offer dynamic and unique learning experience that extends beyond the traditional classroom. Unlike standard elective courses, academies provide in-depth exploration of a specific field, catering to the student’s unique interest and aspirations.”
The 11,000-student CESD is headquartered in Innisfail and has schools across the region.
Division superintendent Kurt Sacher explained that the three new academies will benefit students in several ways.
“They (academies) are typically a more in-depth engagement for students,” Sacher said. “It is for students who have a deep passion for any of those three areas. The school works very hard to meet the needs of students and so they have a wide range of traditional opportunities, but they are also expanding in the area of offering academies.”
Teachers and other staff will be involved in the academies, he said.
“The programs are overseen by certified teachers,” he said.
Hugh Sutherland principal Dean Nielsen said he expects about 50 students in dance/cheer, about 30 in STEAM, and about 100 in hockey during the 2024-25 school year.
"We want to connect students to their passions," he said.
The board also approved a locally developed course called ‘Design Thinking for Innovation” which can be offered to grade 10, 11 and 12 students.
Emergency response system work ongoing
In other CESD news, trustees have been updated on the division’s new Hour Zero school emergency response system.
The program provides training and support staff, and aligns language and processes in emergency situations with those used by emergency responders.
Sacher said the system will help protect students, teachers, staff and others in the school community.
“Everyone will come away with a binder and an understanding of protocols,” he said. “It will outline every possible scenario you can imagine relative to emergency situations.
“We will be able to improve our consistency across the division. We will have similar language, which will help us when we interact with the groups, whether it is the RCMP or fire departments or which emergency service we are working with.
“We will use the same terms across the division. We are trying to have consistent, aligned language. At the end of the day we are trying to make sure our system is as safe as it possibly can be and that the administration of our procedures is very clear to our staff.”
Teachers and staff will take four hours of training starting in August, he said.
“All staff will be learning about his new program,” he said.
