It's  back to school this morning, Aug.31, for students at Notre Dame Collegiate and Holy Spirit Academy in High River.

High School principal Paul Dunphy says students will be getting straight to work and there are a few more of them this year.

"Over the last year four years it has increased by almost 70 per cent," said Dunphy. "We've gone from just under 300 to this year we have 515. We are finding nooks and crannies to teach them in."

And one big improvement this year is the outdoor field has been rebuilt and a new eight lane running track has been added.

"The last of the portables from Holy Spirit were moved out last October and we were able to start the process of building up our field. We took the opportunity to add a track and reconfigure our back field."

The students are excited to have a home field for their soccer team and the school is now considering if they have enough support to have a football program or rugby.

"There are certainly a lot of community members using it, when we come in in the morning and in the evenings as we were getting ready for school we have noticed lots of the neighbours out walking on the track and running on the track, which is awesome, we want this to be a benefit to the whole community."

Also a success for the school is their self-directed learning classes.

"They have a block during the day where they get to decide what they want to learn."

Choices can include anything from a second language, cooking, construction,  tuning up their snowboard or changing the oil in their car.

 

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