Buildings - Helen E. Taylor School is a grades 5-9 school located in Wembley Alberta. The attendance area for the school includes the town of Wembley and the surrounding rural area. We serve a student population of approximately 200 students.
Instructional Time - Helen E. Taylor School runs a compressed school week resulting in an organization base of nine school days per two week block rather than five school days per one week block.
Implementation of the Compressed School Week occurred for bussing reasons. High school students, who attend the Beaverlodge Regional High School, need to arrive at school by 9:00. Consequently, Helen E. Taylor students in Grades K-9 are delivered to the school by 8:30 in the morning.
Rationale for choosing a Compressed School Week (CSW) over other options included:
If students arrive at school at 8:30, and classes do not begin until 9:00, many disciplinary problems can occur during this thirty-minute wait. Even with supervision, these problems set the tone for the day and necessitate much extra disciplinary action from the teachers and administration.
Longer noon hour recess made paying parent supervisors necessary. This never works particularly well, due to Parent Supervisor’s unfamiliarity with the students.
Children’s learning potential is at its peak in the morning. This is valuable time when children could be instructed.
Our Academic Program includes both core and complementary courses.
Core Courses include: Math, Science, Language Arts, Social Studies & Health /Daily Physical Education
Complementary Courses include:
Art. Band, Choir, Computer Technology Studies, Computer Information Processing, French, Citizenship, Wildlife Studies,
Lifetime Sports, Legal Studies, Touris,m DramaLA Extension Creative Writing Natural Resources Leadership
Project Science Project Math
Depending upon student interest and staffing levels, the exact number of options may change from one year to the next.
Special Programs
Special Education (Resource Room Assistance, Gifted Program)
Speech Pathology Services
Counseling
Swimming Program
Music Festival Participation
Cultural Events