Family choice for the first half of 2021-22
We are still waiting for a number of families to fill out the family choice form for the first half of 2021-22. Please let us know whether you would like your child to learn in person or online from September to the end of January 2022.

The deadline to make your selection is August 12 at 4 p.m.  Visit the forms section of your parent SchoolZone account to make your selection by August 12 at 4 p.m. 

If you’re new to the Division, you should have received an email in June with a unique link you can use to indicate your choice. If you don’t have the link, please email us (highlands@epsb.ca) your selection by 4 p.m. on August 12. 

HIGHLANDS SCHOOL INFORMATION VIDEO

Here is the link for the video, for information regarding Highlands School for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year.

    Click here to meet the faculty at Highlands School  

Letter to Families Regarding Childcare

Letter about School Start-up 2021

Highlands School is full in planned classes in grades 1-9 in the Arts Core Program. We will now only accept resident students for these grades who newly move into the school’s attendance area for the Arts Core Program. A resident student of Edmonton Public Schools has at least one parent or legal guardian living in Edmonton who is not Roman Catholic. Non-resident students can enrol in another Division school with space in planned classes.

 KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION

For the 2021-2022 school year, Highlands School will offer half-day Kindergarten as well as Full Day Kindergarten. If your child is new to Edmonton Public Schools, including students entering Kindergarten, you'll need to submit a new student registration package online. Schools start accepting new student registration packages for the next school year on February 2, 2021. Applying after April 15, 2021, may limit your options to schools with available space. Learn more about registration dates and deadlines.

Who is eligible for Full-day Kindergarten?

Following the close of registration, to observe current offerings, resident children in the current Montrose attendance area will have priority placement in the Full-day Kindergarten class at Highlands for the 2021-2022 school year. 

Once these children have been placed in the Full-day Kindergarten class, should space remain, resident children who live in the current Mount Royal and Highland’s attendance areas will then be placed. For these remaining spaces, if the number of resident children who want to attend the FDK program at the site exceeds the available space, new applicants will be chosen by random selection. More information on the random selection process and requirements can be found here. 

Highlands School is proud to be one of just a few sites in Edmonton Public Schools that are designated as "Pre Advanced Placement" schools.

Pre-AP is based on the following two important premises: The first is the expectation that all students can perform well at rigorous academic levels. This expectation should be reflected in curriculum and instruction throughout the school such that all students are consistently being challenged to expand their knowledge and skills to the next level.

The second is the belief that we can prepare every student for higher intellectual engagement by starting the development of skills and acquisition of knowledge as early as possible. Addressed effectively, the middle and high school years can provide a powerful opportunity to help all students acquire the knowledge, concepts, and skills needed to engage in a higher level of learning.

Students who challenge the Advanced Placement exams in high school can qualify for university credit!

PRE-AP @ HIGHLANDS

We are currently running one dedicated Pre AP class at grade 7 (7C)and one at grade 8 (8C). All students in these classes will challenge curriculum at a more rigorous and in-depth level. A number of students in grade 9 have been identified as willing to participate and challenge the pre AP program through regular pullout classes each month. Teachers of these students and classes can address this in a variety of ways, including tasks that go beyond the regular program, and expectations of higher quality effort and product, but can most broadly be worked into their teaching by sujbect ‘broad aims’.

By integrating subject ‘broad aims’, Pre-AP can also be supported in regular programming and instruction with minor modifications to things like lesson content, questioning techniques, expectations of work/product quality, and assigned work.

The program and work students will be completing is designed to coincide with regular academic content, but offer opportunities to go deeper into concepts and be slightly more rigorous in delivery, depth, and breadth. This may be done by modifying existing classwork or presenting entirely new challenges and problems for students to explore and solve in new and creative ways. It is very often an enjoyable experience for students who like to be challenged in new ways or crave an environment that emphasizes deeper learning and understanding.

Arts Core programming incorporates the visual and performing arts into everyday learning. Students explore their creativity and self-expression through art, music, dance and drama. 

Goals: 

• Enable all students to explore and communicate their understandings, feelings, and ideas in a variety of forms 
• Develop higher level thinking skills (evaluating, expressing, problem solving, creating) through the use of integrated arts processes 
• Develop artistic and academic skills 

Benefits: 

• Engages the senses, stimulates imagination and creativity and broadens student’s understanding of themselves, others, and the world that they live in 
• Contributes significantly to the development of multiple intelligence 
• Fosters cross-curricular understanding 
• Encourages risk taking and provides opportunities to explore personal challenges in a safe environment 
• Promotes thinking critically, creatively, and divergently 
• Provides increased exposure to a wide range of artistic tools and processes 
• Develops respect for individual, cultural and artistic diversity 
• Builds awareness and appreciation of the arts 

Program Delivery: 

• Instruction that incorporates the arts into language arts, math, science and social studies 
• Enriched study of art, music, drama and dance provided in individual classes 
• Use of the arts to articulate understanding of learning outcomes 
• Inclusion of guest speakers, artist-in-residences and arts-related field trips, and involvement of the local arts community