WESTLOCK – Students and staff at R.F. Staples School will see a familiar face at the principal’s desk this year.
Darcy Kirkham, 45, has moved from associate principal, a role that he fulfilled in his first year at R.F. Staples last year, to principal for 2022-2023. He takes over from Wayne Rufiange, who was principal at R.F. Staples for five years.
Originally from Faro, Yukon, Kirkham spent several years with the High River School Division where he worked as an English and Social Studies teacher before moving to Westlock last year and becoming associate principal at R.F. Staples. He was also an instructional coach within the High Prairie School Division.
Kirkham will be working alongside new associate principal Stephanie Vela-Lopez.
“This is my first shot at the principal job,” said Kirkham. “I expect to grow as a professional into (the role). I want to build some of the culture back from what was lost during the COVID-19 years. We did online meetings, and our professional development time was online so there was a lot of staff togetherness, staff cohesion lost because we didn’t spend time doing things together.”
This year, Kirkham wants to “build a team mentality by working and collaborating with staff to do better for student’s learning” and noted that his first 12 months at the school as associate principal helped familiarize himself with staff and students. He looks forward to continuing in the new role and applauded the great work by teachers and staff.
“The students have been remarkably positive,” said Kirkham. “They’re excited to see their teachers, they’re excited to see their friends, they’re excited to be in the building without masks in person. There’s a lot of excitement for what this year can be.”
In addition to in class learning, Kirkham said students are happy to see several extracurricular activities return, including the school’s annual musical ‘Matilda’ which students are presenting this year, and club sports.
One of the areas that Kirkham wants to focus in his first year as principal, in addition to rebuilding collegial relationships between students and staff, is strengthening literacy among students.
“Literacy is a passion and a priority for me. I feel that if we can focus on the basics of instruction, then our students will succeed to the best of their abilities,” he said.
