The Foothills School Division is a week or so away from starting to ramp up operations as they perpare for the new school year.

One thing on the mind of Division Superintendent, John Bailey, is the election of the news trustees in October.

Bailey says "Nomination day is about a month before, about mid-September, so once that happens then we'll put it on our website the names of those who are interested in running as trustees and where they're at and I would just encourage people to talk to those people, find out what they believe about education and why they want to run".

Not only is the topic of new school trustees on Bailey's mind but also the excitement of not just students returning to school but also the teachers.

"Absolutely, I think the vast majority of teachers get very excited about going back. Actually, what we find is many teachers by about mid-August are kind of back in the schools starting to get things ready. Their excited about the coming year and you know, they got new ideas for teaching and that's always exciting.

Bailey also says students get a few extra days of holidays this year as the 2017-18 school year doesn't start until Tuesday, September 5.