Design Process Begins
The design process has begun for the new grades 9 to 12 school for Blackfalds, with a student capacity of 970 students.
Wolf Creek Public Schools wants to thank all those staff, students, parents and guardians and Blackfalds’ community members who shared their thoughts and feedback regarding the potential options and electives for our new Blackfalds school.
The Word Cloud below, illustrates what options and electives kept coming back in discussion through the ThoughtExchange held over the last week of March. This feedback and the entire results of the ThoughtExchange was shared in the second design meeting April 7, 2020.
We are committed to being open in our information sharing as this process moves on.
Initial discussions have underscored that provincial funding for new schools, including the WCPS Blackfalds school, offer less Career and Technology Studies (CTS) space and program offerings than seen in traditional school builds from previous decades, such as you would see in a school like École Secondaire Lacombe Composite High School (ÉSLCHS). For example, at ÉSLCHS they have eight (8) dedicated “shop” spaces like Construction, Mechanics, Fabrication (welding), Fashion Studies, Cosmetology, Commercial Foods, Domestic Foods and Electro-Technologies.
In comparison, the space and program allocation for the new Blackfalds 9-12 school has four (4) dedicated CTS, or “shop”, spaces. The total size of the dedicated CTS space at ÉSLCHS is three times larger than the new Blackfalds 9-12 school. This reflects the design and space allocation in 2020 compared to 1967.
Despite this reality, the design committee is confident the overall program offerings will meet the needs of Blackfalds students with a strong focus on trades-based learning environments.
As meetings continue, we work with Alberta Infrastructure and Alberta Education to incorporate your feedback into the design process, and are eager to share more information in the coming days regarding the initial design of the new school.
This is an exciting time, as the new school is on the horizon, with an opening date of September 2024. Thank you again for your feedback and support!