Classes begin at 3 Edmonton Catholic schools
School is in for summer at three inner-city Edmonton Catholic schools that operate on what's called a year-round schedule.
About 1,100 students headed back to class Monday at St. Alphonsus elementary and junior high, Mother Teresa elementary and St. Catherine elementary and junior high.
Children arrived by bus, car, bike, foot and skateboard at St. Alphonsus on 81st Street, and parents who brought in their kids seemed glad to have them back in class.
Students' moods were more mixed, with some keen to be back among friends and others reluctant to return to lessons and textbooks while summer is still flourishing.
"I'm a bit tired. But I'll just have to get used to it," said Grade 9 student Terrence Pigford, who has never had such a short summer break.
The schools are among a hundred Canada-wide that use a four-term calendar, which has a shorter, five-week summer holiday and then two-week breaks in October, at Christmas and in spring. The calendar is a staple of some European and Asian countries.
"We felt that it was really important to begin to look at having that shorter vacation time in the summer so that there's opportunity for more continuous learning for our children," Catholic school board superintendent Joan Carr explained.
Advocates of year-round schooling say it helps pupils retain knowledge better when they return to class after the summer break, meaning teachers don't have to spend as much time reviewing old material. A study of one of Canada's largest year-round schools, Roberta Bondar Public in Brampton, Ont., found children there scored higher in math and remembered significantly more information following the summer holiday than kids from similar demographics at a traditional lower school.
The number of teaching days stays the same, but Carr said the shorter summer break lets the curriculum run in "more of a consistent way."
"The most important thing is that the children have that opportunity for less time away particularly in the areas of reading and math."
The three inner-city schools all have large numbers of students who don't speak English as their first language at home. Anecdotal evidence from parents suggests their kids' English skills slip noticeably during the typical long summer break.
Carr said the school board consulted parents widely before converting St. Catherine to the new schedule last year as a pilot project, and then following up with St. Alphonsus and Mother Teresa. The board is now considering bringing year-round instruction to more schools in other parts of the city.
