Trustees of Chinook's Edge School Division were given an overview of the first year of the academies approach to education being practised at Deer Meadow School last week at the regular board meeting.
Randy Wiberg, acting principal at the school, told trustees that the response to the academies, also known as elective courses, has been extremely positive. A total of 41 academies have run throughout the year, focusing on topics such as hockey, badminton, culinary arts and guitar, to name a few.
Wiberg said the idea behind the academies is to get students interested in learning and building skills through subjects that they have an interest in.
“The philosophy is that kids are more engaged in learning if it's something they find relevant and they're passionate about. And so what we try and do is give them a lot of choice in their complementary courses,” Wiberg said.
“The kids that come to the academies are there for the skills. They give everything they have to those classes,” Amy Christensen, a teacher at the school, told trustees.
Christensen noted that the skills learned in the academies spill over into other areas and improve students' confidence.
A key part of the academies approach has been to unearth teachers' hidden talents that they don't normally display in the regular classroom, thus giving students the opportunity to try new skills.
“Prior to the academies approach, a lot of those talents were kind of hidden because we teach our kids the core things, … but (teachers) … didn't have opportunity really to show some of these things that they are passionate about beyond the core teaching. So now we're able to shine a light on the passions of those teachers and they can give that to the kids,” Wiberg said.
A survey of parents was undertaken earlier this spring to try and incorporate some of their ideas on how to improve the program.
“We wanted parent feedback on what they feel is going on, if they're satisfied with the variety of the courses for their kids and the level of instruction,” he said.
DMS has structured the academies such that core subjects such as math and English are covered in longer morning periods while academies are run in the afternoons. A total of 62.5 per cent of the time at DMS is spent on core subjects, with the remaining time reserved for academy activities in the afternoons.
With trustees approving another year of academies for 2011-12 at last week's meeting, Wiberg said the next task will be incorporating French Immersion students into academies for next year.
Currently, Grade 7 and 8 students are eligible to take academies.
