MHPSD readies for return of students Sept. 5

By Samantha Johnson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on August 30, 2023.

reporter@medicinehatnews.com

While students have been off for the summer, a few schools within the Medicine Hat Public School Division received some upgrades.

“One of the things that wasn’t done when Medicine Hat High School was modernized was redoing the air exchange heating and cooling system in the theatre, so that has been done this summer. They also redid the roof while they were up there,” explained superintendent Mark Davidson.

The air conditioning system at Webster Niblock School in the city’s northeast was also replaced and Southview School had some old modulars removed that were no longer in use, with the ground outside returned to a playing field area.

Teachers are back to work this week from Tuesday to Friday for a mixture of professional development, working in their respective schools and start-up staff meetings.

“We also have lots of professional learning happening next week for education assistants as well. They are cycling through a few things where they need to be certified or re-certified so we start the year with everybody where they need to be in those trainings,” said Davidson. “We are working to have a balance of time where teachers can be in their classrooms and have time to set up in their schools and also do the whole system thing we know we need to do. It’s a busy time.”

On Aug. 25, 16 new teachers were at central office for new teacher orientation. Additionally, support teachers were onsite preparing for the upcoming school year. Next week is a busy time for all staff, but particularly for administration, school clerical staff and guidance counsellors in secondary schools.

“In that week families who didn’t register online or are new to the community show up and they do tours. If they are struggling with the technology, they come to the school to get help. It’s an incredibly rushed and busy time, certainly in secondary schools, in that last week,” said Davidson.

Enrolment is trending higher than projected and it looks like there will be more students in classes than last year. Davidson pointed out that the numbers won’t be exact until Sept. 30 but there have been new students, both from people moving to Medicine Hat and some transferring into MHPSD from other divisions.

“We are always excited to have students come back and for the buildings to come alive again, it’s going to be pretty great.”

While school officially starts after Labour Day, it is recommended parents and students go to the website for their specific school to find out when classes commence for all students, particularly for middle and high schools, who do orientations for Grade 7 and 10 students.

“That way, a younger person, when they show up at Hat High in Grade 10 and they do their orientation, they get to see all of their teachers on that day (without the other grades being there). Each of our schools do it a bit differently, but all of our secondary schools, except for Wilson, have that staggered start,” explained Davidson.

New provincial curriculum will continue to be rolled out this year. Last year, literacy, math and physical education for K-3 were implemented and there will be a continuation of that work this year. For 4-6 some schools were piloting parts of the new curriculum last year and everyone else will come on board starting in September. French immersion also did some optional implementation last year, which will continue this year.

“Our coaching team had built a program last year to share out with schools so they knew what that implementation cycle was going to look like this year. We are providing whole-system professional learning and coaching around implementing the new curriculum 4-6. It’s not all of the curriculum, we still haven’t had the revised social studies for example, but when it comes we’ll implement that.”

“The two program schools that are in a year of ideation and creation are already seeing some interest from the community, which is exciting,” concluded Davidson. “Crestwood School is working through the process of becoming a STEM school and Dr. Ken Sauer School the art. Some pretty neat partnerships are in the making and announcements will come about those once we get into the school year in anticipation of a focused launch in the fall of 2024.”

16
-15