Changes at Art Smith will Enhance Student Programming

Art Smith Aviation Academy is pleased to announce it will be making some changes for the 2016-2017 school year that will allow it to offer enhanced programming to students in its English and French Immersion programs.

Bell Times and Rural Bussing

To align Art Smith Aviation Academy with other schools in Northern Lights and address rural bussing concerns, we will be changing the time that school starts and ends at the school. The new morning bell time will be sometime between 8:30 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. We will have an exact bell time to share prior to the end of the school year.

The new bell times will allow our rural students access to transportation at a more reasonable time in the morning and eliminate a gap in the afternoon between the end of the school day and the start of nter-school sports and other extracurricular activities.

Northern Lights will also be making changes to its rural bussing routes to accommodate our students and the new bell times. Our goals will be to reduce ride times and create efficiencies within our bussing system.

Parents who wish to continue dropping off their children at the school, may continue to do so. Out of school care will be available on site through MFRC for families requiring care for their children prior to the start of the school day and after classes have ended. Bussing to and from Happy House Daycare will also still be available.

Enhanced Programming

The change in bell times will allow Art Smith to expand on the enhanced programming opportunities it offers its students. A partnership with Cold Lake Middle School (CLMS) will provide students with the opportunity to take band, industrial arts and food studies next year. That is in addition to Art Smith’s unique aviation focus, French Immersion, and the Sports Option currently available at the school.

Next year, the Division’s Mobile Trades Lab will be at CLMS for a portion of the year. Our partnership with CLMS and change in bell times will allow Art Smith students to access programming at the lab as well.

Northern Lights School Division is looking forward to being able to provide these enhanced programming opportunities to our students next year and to continue building on the unique educational experience Art Smith Aviation Academy provides for all of its students.

Art Smith Aviation Academy is located on 4 Wing Cold Lake and provides an English and French Immersion program for Kindergarten to Grade 8. Art Smith has a student population of approximately 275 that come from all areas of the city.

*Press Release from Northern Lights School Division