Students, dignitaries and Grey Nuns broke ground this week on St. Albert’s newest Catholic school.
About 55 Vital Grandin students serenaded city, provincial and church dignitaries Wednesday at 1 Joyal Way as part of the official sod-turning event for the new Sister Alphonse Academy.
Announced in 2014, the 400 student K-9 Catholic school is now under construction in the Jensen Lakes region just north of the Home Depot and west of St. Albert Trail. It’s one of five new schools now in the works in St. Albert and Morinville.
Greater St. Albert Catholic board members announced in February that the school would be named after Sister Marie Jacques-Alphonse, one of the first three Grey Nuns in St. Albert and the first Catholic educator in Alberta.
The birth of St. Albert owes so much to the Grey Nuns, said Mayor Nolan Crouse, who noted that there were several members of that order present at the ceremony.
“Without Sister Alphonse and without the Grey Nuns from back 155 years ago, the education system of Alberta would not be what it is today.”
The city had invested about $2 million to ensure that this school would have a large park around it by the time it opened in 2018, Crouse said.
Catholic board chair Serena Shaw said this school, which would face Joyal Way, would continue the legacy of Catholic education started by Jacques-Alphonse all those years ago.
“She was the first teacher in our district, and she was an exemplary model and witness to our Catholic faith.”
The school itself will incorporate lots of natural light and flexible learning spaces that can be opened and closed as needed, Shaw said. The board was now surveying parents to find out what programs the school should offer.
Expect to see a lot of underground work happen on this site over the next three to four months before any above-ground parts of the school crop up, said Catholic board superintendent David Keohane. The school should open its doors in January 2018.
The St. Albert Public board will meet next week with the province to start work on Sister Alphonse’s neighbour, Joseph M. Demko School, said associate superintendent Michael Brenneis. The 900 student K-9 school will be in the same field as the Catholic school, and should open by September 2018.
Vincent J. Maloney students took literacy to new heights this week by climbing rock walls as part of a language arts class.
Grade 8 students at VJM visited the Rock Jungle Fitness centre in Edmonton this week for lessons in rock climbing. The exercise was part of an effort by teachers to help students get more engaged with reading.
Teacher Tina McKinnon said she came up with the idea when she learned her Grade 8 students would be studying Peak, a novel by Roland Smith about a boy who climbs Mt. Everest.
“Language arts and reading and writing isn’t something kids always love,” she said, and she wanted a way to get students more interested in the book.
A former phys-ed teacher, she learned that many of her students had never experienced rock climbing. She arranged to have everyone in the school who was reading the book go for a rock-climbing session.
“I just went with it, and they loved it.”
Student Izabella Dizy said it was a fun experience that helped her better understand the book.
“When you’re reading it, it doesn’t sound as hard as it actually is,” she said, but she was exhausted after her climbing session.
“I almost fell asleep in my next class.”
Fellow teacher Kelly Montpetit praised McKinnon’s idea, saying that she saw her students practice problem-solving, collaboration and critical thinking while climbing. Her students channelled their experience into their latest writing assignment, and have noticeably improved in the process.
“If they can connect to it and draw experience from their own life, then their stories are going to be way better.”
