Wild Rose School Division (WRSD) board of trustees has approved new “hybrid in-reach” programming for middle school students in Rocky Mountain House and Drayton Valley.
The program will be available to students at Pioneer Middle School and HW Pickup, and is designed to support a range of learning needs.
It will serve students dealing with everything from mental health or social anxiety challenges, to those who spend significant time away from the classroom, such as high-performance athletes.
“We’re trying to build this program because not everyone is an all-the-time, everyday student,” said Jennifer Lefebvre, director of instruction with WRSD.
She said the program will also give homeschool students access to school-based opportunities such as band and physical education.
WRSD superintendent Jodie Mattia said students learning at home could also benefit from extra support in subjects like math.
WRSD superintendent Jodie Mattia speaks about the new hybrid in-reach program
The initiative comes as educators see an increase in students with complex needs, along with others for whom traditional classroom settings are not effective.
To start, one teacher in each of Rocky Mountain House and Drayton Valley will be assigned to the program. School principals will manage enrollment and determine which students are a good fit.
The program builds on an existing high school hybrid model and is similar to one in the neighbouring Wolf Creek School Division, where nearly 100 students in the Lacombe area are enrolled.
Lefebvre said she hopes the program will become a permanent and evolving part of the division.
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