Marie Sharpe Elementary School Principal Calvin Dubray is happy to hear the news that his school has been chosen for the district’s new nature-based Kindergarten program.
“It’s nice to see our school grow and I feel it’s due to the hard work of this staff, the programs we have in place and the many opportunities our students get to experience,” Dubray says. “It’s a ‘big’ school with that ‘small community’ feel to it.”
He says the nature-based Kindergarten program will be another positive addition to the school’s programs.
Marie Sharpe has a Big Brothers and Sisters mentoring program; a Breakfast Club of Canada program; a Zones of Regulation program that teaches students self-regulation and social-emotional awareness.
The school also has the Families and Schools Together program. Through this program parents are invited to spend time with their children and teachers together doing activities, sharing a meal together and getting to know each other on a different level. The school also has a new project called Families as Learning Leaders which is initiated through Cariboo-Chilcotin Partners for Literacy.
He said Marie Sharpe enrolment has increased by 40 students, from 122 students last year to 162 students this year.
He said about half or 18 of the students who came to Marie Sharpe after Wildwood School was closed last spring have stayed on at the school.
“Also, our school has grown into a multicultural ‘melting pot’ with students from as far away as Nigeria and China to our local First Nations families,” Dubray says. “It is a nice mix of cultural learning and understanding for all of our students.”