Come September, grade seven and eight students at York River Public School will call a new school home.
Members of the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board approved the move that will see 150 students switch over to North Hastings High School.
Speaking with My Bancroft Now after the meeting, Director of Education Mandy Savery-Whiteway said they will make sure this transition is as smooth as possible. She said they want to make sure the best plan possible is in place for staff and students. “That will involve staff and will probably involve some chats with parents,” Savery-Whiteway said about the plan.
She said that they will continue to look to Trenton High School and Centennial Secondary School for guidance. Both those schools recently began using the grades seven to 12 model. “We are learning a lot from out seven to 12 models and we seeing there are a lot of learning opportunities for students,” Savery-Whiteway said.
“We are so excited to bring (the grade seven to 12 model) to North Hastings because we know we will be able to offer students great opportunities in grade seven and eight,” she said.
Savery-Whiteway did address the concerns that some parents had with grade seven and eight students being exposed to things from older students that they wouldn’t otherwise see. She says grade seven and eights students will have their own timetable and programming. “The idea really is that we will pave the way so that there are positive interactions among staff and students,” Savery-Whiteway added. She went on to say that grade nine to 12 students will be looked to as mentors.
While they originally asked for public input on this change from November 2018 until January 2019, Savery-Whiteway says that they will continue to speak to parents and seek out their input leading up to September.