Superintendent’s Update

Dear Parents and Caregivers:

It is hard to believe it is almost December. As we lead up to the holiday season, I hope you and your family enjoy the festivities and celebrations at schools and take time to connect and nurture relationships and well-being, which are core values in our 2022-2027 District Strategic Plan.

NorKam Secondary School – November 26, 2024

Principal Sdoutz and I started our visit in the library. Mr. Hafeli emphasized, “It is wonderful to have Grades 8 and 9 again, and I have been able to add more books and appreciate the new shelving put in by the District carpenters.” He is also very proud of how much the students are reading—“I am having a hard time keeping up with adding titles as fast as students are reading them, which is a good problem to have!” Principal Sdoutz acknowledged that Mr. Hafeli has made a very positive difference in these students’ lives with his passion for reading and inspiring students to not only talk about books, but also to critically analyze them, creatively represent them, and to join one of the largest District Battle of the Books teams amongst the secondary schools. The NorKam team held their own in the recent District Battle of the Books Championships in the question-answer rounds and in their creative challenge shown in the picture.

We then met with Mr. Pendergast and Mr. Swint who were planning together for their Middle years International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme classes. Mr. Pendergast enthusiastically explained, “We have 23 students, and we realize now that we could have had even more if we reduced the application process. Our goal is to double the number of students!”  When I asked how they had found student uptake, he shared a calendar of all of the classes and how students provided positive feedback and indications of planning to continue into high school courses and the Diploma Programme. For example, students in Spanish 8 IB will join with Grades 9-11 next year. They have a full range of courses taught using IB approaches which focus on concept-based curricula, and students’ competencies development such as critical thinking, creative thinking, and innovative and collaborative problem solving, to name a few. They took the time to visit Johnston Heights IB World School in Surrey as well as others in the Lower Mainland. Through these examples and their own work with staff to co-develop a vision for MYP, they aim to have the entire school taught using an IB approach so that every student has access to MYP. “I see the whole school being an IB school,” emphasized Mr. Pendergast.

Ms. Horton’s Grade 8 MYP Science class enthusiastically shared how their learning experiences have been different in MYP. When I asked them how it has been different, Daniel said, “We are engaged in a lot more discussion and group work,” and Avery highlighted, “I find it to be more focused.” Quinn and Hannah agreed and shared that the posters of MYP showed who they are becoming as students, with a focus on competency development.

Mr. Bauhuis engaged his Physics 12 class in a practical study of how electricity travels through different mediums. The first experiment involved a student in standing next to and touching an electrostatic generator. The result was positive ions travelling from the generator into the student’s hair which became positively charged and standing up on end. The students expanded their study of how ions travelled using a water bottle to see whether the charge would travel through the water and bottle, and they also experienced how creating a human chain by holding hands caused the electric charge to travel through their hands to the last person in heir human chain who got a shock by touching a metal light switch. These active demonstrations inspired discussion about how the charges travelled, what kind of charges they were, and what grounded the unit.

Mr. Van Der Merwe was teaching Grade 8 MYP robotics. Students were coding their robots to travel at different distances, curves, changes in directions, and at different speeds to compete through a maze. This took a fair amount of trial and error by coding and re-coding the robots to travel as fast and efficiently as possible through increasingly more complex mazes. The students shared how they had to be very good at judging other forces like the slipperiness of the surface, the weight of their creation, the distances to turn and the curve needed to turn, and to reflect these ideas in how they coded their changes in motion for their robots. This kind of scientific activity showed the students working intensely together, trying, checking where they needed to adjust their calculations, and then trying again. Persistence, resilience, and analytical thinking were developed throughout his project. 

South Kamloops Secondary Teams – Ethics Bowl Interior Regional Winners

We have had a NorKam Senior Secondary team win the National Ethics Bowl in 2023 and in May 2024, the South Kamloops Secondary team became the National Ethics Bowl Champions. This is a significant academic accomplishment that reveals students’ abilities to research controversial issues of importance, consider different perspectives on these issues, and position themselves to defend a perspective as a team.

These teams discuss current ethical dilemmas of social, political, economic, scientific, or cultural nature. Prior to the day, all “bowlers” research and develop the cases and arrive at the Ethics Bowl prepared to discuss their ideas and to listen to other perspectives. Students are evaluated on communication, use of relevant information, critical thinking, and collaboration, among other academic skill sets.

At this year’s Interior Regional Ethics Bowl, we had more teams participate than previous years, including teams from South Kamloops Secondary School, Sa-Hali Secondary, Valleyview Secondary, Westsyde Secondary, and NorKam Secondary. While all teams did very well, South Kamloops Secondary School had two teams win first and second place in the interior regional competition. Read more.

Sníne Elementary Community Engagement

With the District’s newest school, Sníne Elementary, currently being built and anticipated to be opened in the Fall 2026, we are engaging with school communities who would be sending students to the new school. We’ve enjoyed connecting with Sa-Hali, Aberdeen, McGowan, Dufferin, and South Kamloops Secondary staff and parents so far. By December 4, 2024, we will be ready to share the proposed catchment changes in a webinar for parents and staff who will be directly affected. To learn more, please go here.

Board Notes

To learn more about the Regular Public Board Meeting on November 18, 2024, please feel free to read the Board Notes here.

As you prepare for upcoming concerts, celebrations, and holiday cheer, I hope that you and your children continue to love learning together and seeing the beauty of the wide range of programming in our schools. It has been delightful to see students enjoying learning and feeling inspired to share it. It is and has been a gift to learn alongside them.

Rhonda Nixon, PhD
Superintendent