Mary Printz and husband Jeff are opening the Accelerated Potential Christian Academy in September. The private school will initially offer pre-K to Grade 6 and operate out of the Glenview Nazarene Church.--NEWS PHOTO KENDALL KING
kking@medicinehatnews.com
A new private school is scheduled to open in Medicine Hat, beginning in September.
The Accelerated Potential Christian Academy has already begun accepting applications for students pre-K to Grade 6.
“We are very excited about opening,” Mary Printz, co-principal, told the News. “We are going to focus on a strong academic program but also be inclusive with the Christian faith and building faith.”
The school, which will operate out of Glenview Nazarene Church, is expected to have six classrooms – one for each grade.
“We are prepared to take on, I would say, 50 to 60 students our first year,” said Printz. “One of our priorities is keeping small class sizes, so we will be trying to keep our numbers down to one teacher for every 10 students.”
Printz hopes to introduce Grade 7-9 for the 2023/24 school year.
The Accelerated Potential Christian Academy will also be Medicine Hat’s only school to operate on a four-day school week cycle.
“We really want to focus on the family,” said Printz. “We wanted to make children available to have additional time at home with families. And so, (a four-day school week) is one way in which we can help alleviate and build relationships in the home.”
Students are scheduled to be in class from Monday to Thursday, with Fridays off, however there is an option to take part in non-academic programming.
“On Friday, we’re going to be offering more extracurricular things,” said Printz. “There will be music lessons, private music and group lessons; we’re going to do some woodworking; we’re going to do some theatre activities. That will be an optional program they can do because we understand there are some families who require the five full days.”
Though operating out of the city’s Nazarene church, the school will be non-denominational Christian, says Printz.
“The nice thing about it is the Glenview Nazarene Church has 12 acres of land, so we are going to have our own little skating rink the children can access for Phys-Ed and for recess,” she said. “We’ll have our own soccer field and things like that.”
Printz, who founded the school with her husband Jeff, says she felt a need for a privatized faith-based learning service locally.
“There’s a variety of reasons why we did this,” she said. “We just really felt it’s a way to meet the needs of people in our community. A way to address some of their grave concerns about education and meeting the needs of their children in an educational system.”
Printz and her husband, who both hold Bachelor of Education degrees, also runs Miss Mary’s Accelerated Potential Academy, a local tutoring service.
“I think we’re known for helping children excel through our tutoring company, and so this is an extension of that,” she said. “Our passion to see children reach their fullest potential is a main focus of all we do.
“We provide an individual program for each one of our children. We set goals for every single child and ensure they’re making good progress … Even students with any sort of learning delays or disabilities, we work with them all.”
Monthly tuition fees for the school have not yet been released.
More information will be provided at a May 19 parent information night. The event will be held at Glenview Nazarene Church from 6-7 p.m. Free childcare will be available. For more information, call 403-866-3806 or email info@acceleratedpotentialacademy.com.
