A school that adapts to students ' needs

There is a school in Barrhead that rarely – if ever – shouts its name. Many people walking nearby are probably unaware of its presence. It boasts no big building, no grand signs, no website and no brochure on its courses.

Yet it has been fulfilling a vital need from its two rented rooms in the Mall, reaching out to high school age students who find it hard to fit into mainstream education.

No wonder it is called Barrhead Outreach School. No wonder too it offers a distinct environment as it tries to meet individual needs and help students complete a high school education.

Once it may have been seen as a last resort, a place which caught those who tumbled out of high school, a place that Barrhead did not wish to trumpet.

Now staff believe the school is fast becoming a place of first choice, a place that students select because it allows them to work at their own pace and get teaching more targeted at their requirements.

Although it provides a less regimented setting, there are still rules. For instance, there is no tolerance for drug abuse or drunkenness.

“I believe there is a growing demand for outreach schools everywhere, not just in Barrhead or Alberta,” says teacher Joanne Wallace.

There are many reasons, of course, for going to Barrhead Outreach School. Indeed there are as many reasons as there are students, each of whom has a unique story.

Wallace says challenges faced by her students range from poverty, moving from home and being a single mom, to chronic health issues like Crohn’s disease, social anxiety, attention deficit disorder and substance abuse. Understanding these challenges and the way they impact on academic performance is an important part of a job that seems ever more essential in today’s world.

“It could be that a student feels anxious in a classroom surrounded by lots of people,” says Wallace, a social studies teacher. “If a teacher asks him a question, he may be unable to speak even if he knows the answer.

“For the rest of the day he will be focused on that one moment when he couldn’t speak.”

Barrhead Outreach School, which comes under Pembina Hills Regional Division, is nestled deep in the Mall at 4925-50 Avenue, invisible from the street. You get to it through the glass doors by the Movie Gallery.

The Alberta Education-funded school is made up of rooms sublet from Northern Lakes College, which is a separate entity. One room is a computer lab shared with Adult Learning and is equipped with 11 monitors. The other is the main room; it has an alcove which serves as a makeshift kitchen.

Last Wednesday, the school was in the spotlight after receiving $1,000 from Alberta Milk for developing a food program that embraces the community.

During the ceremony, principal David Garbutt said he believed Barrhead Outreach School reflected well on PHRD.

“I have utmost respect for you,” he told the students, who are generally aged between 16 and 19, although there are one or two 15-year-olds.

“You have become a first choice school,” he added. “People are going to you because they want to go, not because they are no longer welcome at the high school.”

Most people will know Garbutt as head of Barrhead Composite High School. Some Barrhead Outreach students formerly went to BCHS, some still go there as so-called blended students, attending courses which suit them best.

Wallace is part of Barrhead Outreach’s J-team, as students affectionately call it. The other members are program assistants Jackie Balzer and Jane Chapman.

“They are absolutely fantastic,” Wallace says. “I couldn’t do anything without them.”

Three sounds a small number for a school which has an enrolment of 80 students, albeit only a core of 12 turns up every day. It sounds even smaller when you look at a multitude of courses on offer, which range from subjects like English, Math and Science to Workplace Safety, Sewing and Foods.

Students too can receive lessons in childcare or get career counselling. To offer so many options the school relies on a partnership with the Alberta Distance Learning Centre, which supplies materials and is the teacher and marker with some courses.

The school also depends on a huge support network, including BCHS employees, Barrhead’s School Resource Officer Morroco Johnson, and staff from Family and Community Support Services and Food Bank. In addition, it has ties with groups like Irene Widdup’s Footworks Dance Academy, which teaches dance to outreach students.

Thanks to such community backing the school is able to adapt to the needs of students without losing sight of its educational mission.

“High school completion is the goal,” says Wallace, who recently taught math part-time at BCHS.

A more temporary goal is for the school to find a new location.

“Ideally we would like the new premises to be near the high school so blended students don’t have far to travel,” says Wallace.

The other requirements are: a kitchen, preferably with three sinks; space for an open classroom; two smaller rooms with windows, which provide privacy and where exams can be taken; bathroom; and electrical hookups.

These are exciting times for a school that is happy to raise its profile in the community. There will soon be more cause for celebration when three Outreach School students take part in the graduation ceremony at BCHS: Jessica Lagimodiere, Orrin Barsi and Kayley Bohnet.

It will be three cheers for Jessica, Orrin and Kayley. And three cheers for a school which seems to measure success one student at a time.