The Sunshine Coast Alternative School staff at Horizons in Sechelt are excited about the variety of unique learning experiences they have been lucky enough to offer their students in grades 8 to 12.
"It's such a vibrant and exciting place to work," said Richard Biel, one of two teachers at Horizons. "We have that rural school family feel to the classroom yet have all these amazing learning opportunities." Horizons, a branch of the Sunshine Coast Alternative School, is making use of some of the most up-to-date computer assisted learning technology to deliver the core academic subjects. But that isn't all the little school located on the same campus as Sechelt Elementary School, Ecole du Pacifique, NDVR and the Mature Learners program has to offer.
The school supplements the core subjects such as math, science and the humanities with electives such as physical education, outdoor education, fine arts, German and an award-winning course designed to raise empathy and decrease bullying called Roots of Empathy. The school was also part of an ongoing research project designed to raise literacy levels called Precision Reading. A teacher and an administrator worked together throughout the year to evaluate the resource and study the effects on student literacy rates. The results saw student reading skills increase by up to two grade levels in as little as fourteen weeks.
"Staff have been invaluable in providing our students with school-to-work transition programs," Biel said. "Over the years the staff has helped to put in place a salon course, the ACE-IT culinary arts course, the ACE-IT carpentry course, as well as a new program in the works for the 2008/09 academic year called MIST (marine industry service training) centred on getting some of our students ready for marine related jobs."
Sometimes, stressful teenage life events can get in the way of learning. Fortunately for the students at Horizons, they have the support of school counsellors, an outreach program and a drug and alcohol prevention program that can assist them in dealing with emotional situations.
"We couldn't work effectively in the classroom without the incredible support of our counselling, outreach and administrative staff," Biel said.
So even though the school year is winding down to a close and students are turning their attention to sunny weather and relaxing summer days, the students and staff at Horizons are already looking ahead in excited anticipation at what the next academic year will bring.
