Ross Cassie, Principal of Sexsmith Elementary School, at 59th Street and Manitoba Avenue spoke to us today about the school, which is more than 100 years old, with pupils whose grandparents preceded them at the school. Five years ago new premises were built adjacent to the original building. The school has a prominent place in the local community which it continues to foster.
The neighbourhood is changing and the density increasing. The school presently has 355 pupils of which 40% are students for whom Canadian is a second language. In the past the population was heavily Indo-Canadian but presently the fastest growing community is Chinese. The school is very much part of the community and has many eager parent volunteers, as shown by the 99% attendance of the vigorous (PAP) Parent Advisory Programme between parents and teachers. The school stresses Literacy, in particular reading, by whatever means, and is fortunate to have a specialist teacher of world renown. This year the school is participating in a new BC programme which enables it to include in their curriculum Critical Thinking. In this modern age the use of the Web allows it to make use of constantly increasing tools with technical means to enhance the process of learning, such as in learning to read and write. Lyn aims for the school to plan for individual students’ needs. He gave an example by recounting an incidence in which a boy who had been failing to write and therefore was presumed to be of low intelligence, astonished him by recounting a truly eloquent story. Also children at the start of school arrive with different skills depending, for instance on how or if they have been home schooled before kindergarden.
The school has a very good Athletics programme especially in Track and field with teams of varying levels in which morale is very high. The Fine Arts programme includes music, dancing singing and theatre. Recently 2 casts proudly gave performances of the same play, The Lion King, in which a total of 100 students participated. It also has a vibrant Student Council, a Garden Club, and a Special Events Club and the students participate in multicultural community celebrations of Divali, Asian New Year, Philippino Festivals and the Christmas Pancake Breakfast in which our Rotary Club volunteers have participated for the past 25 years.
The school is proud in its partnership with Rotary and its service to the school and encourages the students to get involved.
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