​Recently, there were a number of changes made to the Education Act by the Government of Saskatchewan. In order to comply with these changes, the operations of schools will experience some modifications. One of the changes has provided the Chinook Board the opportunity to offer new options in the calendar for school breaks. We have highlighted the changes and included background information and details on the Provincial Legislation below. Click here to view the 2013-2014 Calendar (PDF).

HIGHLIGHTS: 

• A week-­long break is no longer required at Easter, however there must be a vacation in the Spring consisting of no more than five consecutive school days. The attached calendar has
• a two-­week Christmas break,
• a five-­day break for students in February (weekend included)
• a week long spring break in March and
• a four-­day break at Easter (weekend included)

• The instructional hours provided to students are increasing to 950 hours per year

• Traditionally schools operated with ~920 instructional hours
• The attached calendar has 184 Instructional days.
• Increasing each day by 10 instructional minutes allows us to reach 950 hours/year
• This is a ten-­minute increase per day for most schools that could be achieved by shortening breaks within the day
• We will work with each individual Chinook school to ensure that the school day complies with the legislation.

The Board is interested in hearing from our broader community on this calendar option. If you have feedback or questions about the calendar or the new Regulations, please email   info@chinooksd.ca by March 1, 2013.

BACKGROUND:

A Chinook Calendar Committee, comprised of teachers and support staff, developed two options for the new school calendar. All Chinook staff and School Community Councils (parents/taxpayers) had the opportunity to vote on the two options. 79% of Chinook staff and 81% of SCCs, as well as 10/10 of the elected representatives on the Board of Education were in favor of the attached 2013-­2014 calendar option.

There are a number of considerations requiring compliance in order to create a school calendar. These are outlined below:

Provincial Legislation (new Education Act)

• Classes must start no earlier than the Tuesday following Labour Day, this date moves from year to year.
• Summer vacation must be at least 6 consecutive weeks.
• Christmas vacation must start no later than December 23 and end no earlier than January 2.

Other considerations

• Instructional days should be balanced between Semester 1 and 2.
• In Elementary schools especially, it was indicated that it would be a long stretch to go without a break between Christmas and Easter, especially in the years when Easter falls later in the month.
• A significant number of families are taking advantage of lower travel rates available during off-­peak travel times, most often in March. The March break would benefit both families and schools with the expectation that children will not be taken out of school during non-­break times as often, maximizing student attendance.

Click here to view the 2013-2014 Calendar.

Once again, we would appreciate any feedback or questions from you. Please email   info@chinooksd.ca by March 1, 2013.