Our School
Grades Taught
3-5
Principal
Welcome to the 2021-2022 school year!
I hope that this year is an exciting learning experience filled with fun, friendships and personal success. At Whitecourt Central School, our number one priority is our students - their learning, accomplishments and personal growth. Strive to do your best at all times. Always be respectful of yourself and others. Participate in school activities and special events as this helps to make school enjoyable.
Our staff is dedicated to helping students achieve their personal best and develop their leadership potential. Always remember that you are responsible for you and your choices.
I am looking forward to meeting you in the office to celebrate your accomplishments!
Yours in Education,
Mrs. T. McKeever Principal
Administration
Principal Tammy McKeever
Assistant Principal Nicole Moir
Beliefs
Belief Statements:
- Every child can learn
- Every child must have hope
- Every child is a unique individual
- Children learn at different rates and in different ways
- Learning and development is a continuous process
- Learning is an active process
- Learning is an individual process
- Students should be given the opportunity to experience challenge and success
- Students learn best in a learning environment with their peers
Programs and Services
Central School Students are Eagles:
Excellence - Show excellence everyday, in every way
Accountable - accountability for your actions and consistent attendance
Give Respect - Treat everyone well
Learn well - School is your job
Enjoy school - Central is your second home
Safety - Everyone deserves to feel safe and be safe
Central's History
Central School's History
Central’s story begins as a two room school in 1922. One room was for grades 1-4 and the other for grades 5-High School. It would remain like that for 33 years . . .
· 1955 – new rooms were added bringing the size of the school to 7 classrooms
· 1957 – washroom facilities and a gym were added along with continued construction of more classrooms
· 1961 – the school had grown to 18 teachers encompassing grades 1 to 12
*In about 1967 a new Jr. Sr. High School was completed in the Hilltop area and Central became a strictly elementary school.
Central’s population kept growing and classes were held in almost all available spaces including the stage, basement of the old United Church (now the Meadowland Suites) and in some rooms of the Jr. Sr. High School. Students who went to the Hilltop Wing were bussed downtown every Friday to use the library and the gym. Eventually portables were brought in and set up on Central School grounds to accommodate students.
In 1973 the Whitecourt Mini School (now called Kindergarten) was introduced to Central and students were housed in two portables.
1986 brought about major changes to Central. Demolition and construction began on the existing school. A new wing was added and the gymnasium was enlarged and rebuilt as a Community Center. The old west wing (where staff parking is now located) was razed, the east wing (now the wing facing 53 avenue) was gutted and rebuilt. Central was fondly called the Lego School because of its architecture and colors (reds and yellows). The “new” school was officially opened on March 4, 1987 and housed K-6.
1993 and guess what? Central once again experienced a population explosion. The grade sixes were transferred to Percy Baxter Middle School and Central became a K-5 school. When the population continued to grow too great, more portables were added to the east end of the school.
Over the 2009, 2010 school year more demolition and the addition of 5 classrooms and a washroom area were added onto the school. These new additions have helped to increase the safety and quality of the learning environment for Central School students.
Whitecourt Central School entered a new chapter for the 2012-2013 school year after a grade reconfiguration. Pat Hardy Elementary became the new school for Kindergarten - Grade 2, and Whitecourt Central School became the school for Grades 3-5.
A new playground was installed Sept 2015 thanks to the significant fundraising efforts of School Council.
Bits of Interesting Information. . .
*For a few years, because of the oil and forest industries, school populations were in influx. Occasionally by the end of the school year the names section of the teacher’s register would be completely filled with regular students, transfers in and transfers out. Balancing the daily attendance figures at the end the year was sometimes a teacher, or principal’s worse nightmare. Year end pay cheques were not given out until the County School Superintendant was satisfied that all of the figures were correct.
*The first creative playground was built by staff members. Although it was scheduled to be built on the east side of the school, it ended up on the west as the builders could not dig any post holes without first encountering a thick layer of rock.
*Christmas concerts in their various forms and Track and Field (or Play Day) were highlights of the year.
*The first library in the school was a room slightly smaller than the present day work room.
*At one time the land where the Public Library and Library parking lot are currently located, was part of the school grounds. Situated in that area were about four “teacherages”, small houses that teachers who worked at the school could rent.
School History and Bits of Interesting Information provided by
· Helen Butterfield (with excerpts taken from Sagitawah Saga)
· Norman Fawcett