Space is no longer at a premium at a growing alternative school.
Brant Christian School completed the expansion of a new wing which will allow it to offer high school in class teaching and unveiled the new building at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Aug. 21.
“It just gives us more space,” said Brant Christian School principal Kevin Bailey. “We were all in that (main) building and these two portables. And it’s just very coincidental, COVID hits and now we can offer this extra space so now we’ve been able to spread out even greater.”
The new wing features three new classrooms as well as washrooms and was built without government funding.
“You’ll find high school kids want their own separate area,” Bailey added. “Any school that just offers a K to 12 in the same building, high school kids tend to leave, they want something different.
“This allows the high school kids to be part of the school, but still separate. This is their own area, their own classrooms, own lockers, things like that.”
Brant Christian opened in 2005 as an alternative school within the Palliser School Division and has been growing ever since.
The school previously had designs on moving closer to the High River or Okotoks area where a large percentage of the student body comes from.
Bailey said the cost of fundraising for such a project given the state of the economy is not realistic at this point.
“Last year we were at 147 students,” Bailey said. “This year we have to wait and see because some parents are a little leery about sending their kids back into the school, some are opting for homeschool, the majority of them are coming back.”
The new wing allows Brant to now offer in-class education for the high school grades after previously having taught those grades exclusively online.
Class size for the high school grades will range from the 13 to 19 mark.
“We’ve moved from being an online school for high school to now where the kids in high school are actually taught here by teachers, they sit in a regular classroom,” Bailey said. “What was happening in the past was students would come until about Grade 8 or Grade 9 and because we couldn’t offer them in classroom teaching (parents) would take them to Highwood or the Comp or HTA.
“Parents wanted their kids to stay but without the proper teaching they didn’t feel comfortable with it. So we felt in order to keep our parents with us until the very end we had to offer them what would be a more traditional set up.”
Tonia Kohls, chair of the Brant Christian Society Board, acknowledged the tradespeople involved in its construction including general contractor Merv Siggelkow and noted the hard work of over 30 community volunteers to help with the build.
“It’s more than just a building, it’s the people that are inside this building that are going to make the biggest difference,” said Dave Driscoll, superintendent of Palliser School Division. “It is the children that are going to learn, it is the staff that will be teaching them. It’s the lessons they will learn that will prepare them for the future.
“The building’s great, it’s the people that will make the difference and that is what this community has done. We’re going to fill this beautiful building with amazing people.”
Livingstone-Macleod MLA Roger Reid attended the ceremony and offered his words of encouragement to the school community.
“This is fantastic when we see growth in our schools in rural Alberta and congratulations on the great things you do here at Brant Christian School,” Reid said. “Vibrant schools, positive schools are essential to our growth and our success so I really appreciate what you do out here.
“I hope on a personal level that this is not just a great place where we impart intellect, but I also hope will be imparting wisdom to our children.”
