REVIEW OF Rosthern Junior College High School BY parent, Leilani Bauman

(5) Student Experience

My daughter LOVED the music program, both curricular and extracurricular. She took every choral and band course, arts education, worship arts, and drama. Extracurricularly, she sang in the Concert Choir, Singers and Treble Choir, as well as Christmas and Easter choir options. She also participated in the school musical production every year. The camaraderie and community she found in these activities made her experience at RJC so rich! She found "her" people in these contexts. She LOVED lunches where everyone, staff and students, ate together in the dining hall -- homestyle cooked meals, delicious and nutritious. She enjoyed every teacher she had, though there were about 4 teachers she particularly loved. Staff-student relationships at RJC are pretty special. They really care about the students and are invested far beyond what I've seen in any other school in my experience. Our daughter would HIGHLY recommend RJC!

(5) School Leadership

RJC's school leadership and administration are great! The office staff are engaged, prompt, ON IT, and excellent problem solvers. They caught issues before they became issues and were super engaged in everything. My daughter who is shy and doesn't trust easily, deeply trusted the school secretary and knew she wouldn't drop the ball (and she didn't!). They know every single student and invest in the culture and ethos of the school. The principal and vice principal are excellent!!! The ability to be empathetic, navigate tricky situations with clarity and integrity, and communicate effectively are all characteristics of the principal -- partly skill, partly natural gifting, lots of hard work, and all heart! Can't recommend highly enough!!

(5) Teaching

The level of academics at RJC is higher than most high schools in SK. Right across the board, the teachers at RJC are both passionate and knowledgeable about their subjects (A HUGE win for me as a parent who is passionate about education)! There was a teacher I had my doubts about (not as impressed with his organization), but his passion and depth of understanding kind of made up for it! All the other teachers my daughter had were great! I had good relationships with all of them and found them easy to communicate with. They were eager to connect with us as parents and invited conversation, not just at Parent/Teacher interviews, but at any time about anything. They were highly invested in my daughter's learning -- not just checkmarks on a list, but real learning. My daughter has a learning difficulty and they were all quite happy to learn about it and make sure that REAL learning was happening (and it did!). While she has a learning difficulty (in one particular domain), she is very academically capable. All the teachers provided opportunities for hungry learners to indulge their curiosity and take their projects to the next level. I wish the general provincial curricular expectations were a bit more robust, in general, but RJC certainly goes beyond the normal status quo of expectations in the teaching (it goes beyond dead content in LIFE).

(4.5) Academics

RJC follows the Saskatchewan provincial curriculum for high school. That said, all RJC students are required to go beyond general high school graduation requirements (not beyond the total course count -- just more math/science/art courses that might otherwise be left as electives) and so get a very well-rounded, balanced high school education, which is very attractive to universities and colleges (and parents!). A strength is the out-of-classroom learning that happens: field trips, service trips, learning trips, music competition trips, choral tours, etc., etc., etc. The portable classroom :). RJC is great at teaching kids to reflect, analyze, think critically about their experiences and learn from them. Most kids at RJC perform quite well academically. My daughter had no issues getting accepted into university and is receiving entrance scholarships based on her high school marks.

(5) Extracurriculars

There are all the normal high school sports opportunities as well as a few extras like curling. There are many arts opportunities as well: choirs, bands, dance, theatre arts, worship arts, etc. There are also extracurricular opportunities like student leadership, clubs, planning committees (in fact, every student has to sit on a committee that meets weekly), annual school musical (everything from set construction, hair, make-up, costumes, stage hands, sound design, lighting, video, photography, marketing, social media, etc.). There are dorm events constantly happening, including many that include the day students as well. This is a school that is VERY well rounded!!

(5) Students

The student body is just over 100. The staff-to-student ratio is excellent! Everyone knows everyone. The culture of the school is warm, welcoming, positive, encouraging and affirming. Teachers model it and it is so part of the school ethos that all the older students expect it and model it for the new students, who tend to just fold in! The staff and teachers work hard to create this atmosphere and talk about it freely (and delight in it!). It really gets to be a family atmosphere (some bickering like siblings, but deep love, respect and loyalty to their RJC family)!! There are always relational issues to be worked out in any context, especially in high school. I appreciated the staff in their engagement when trouble surfaces -- doing all they can to help resolve it, but if a student has crossed a line, the policies are followed and the school is kept safe, healthy, respectful and free of abuses.

(5) School Life

The overall quality of student life at RJC is EXCELLENT! My daughter is shy and was not thrilled about going to high school, BUT once she started and was immediately welcomed and enfolded into the school family, she never wanted to miss a day! She HATED being sick and missing out on friends, teachers, the events of the day, the learning, and even the drama, lol. She did not like when there were rumblings of a student doing something stupid but was always confident the staff would step in with compassion and no-nonsense (and they always did). It is a secure feeling and a great place to thrive. Staff REALLY care about students and students, by and large, adore the staff! How could the school improve the quality of life for the students? Perhaps hire more stellar teachers so they can accommodate even more students and grow this school!

(4.5) Community

Our experience as parents has been a very positive one. We were welcomed, right from the start, to participate in the life of the school. We enjoyed getting to know our daughter's teachers (who were VERY open to this!), we received emails from teachers when our daughter had a tough day at school, or when she did something really impressive, and we were invited to participate in parents' committees, to attend school events (not just concerts and performances, sports events, etc. -- stuff like: alumni and friends, etc.). Our perspectives and opinions were welcomed (even sought) and we felt like we were part of the educational process with our daughter. How could the school provide more opportunities for parental involvement? Perhaps a comprehensive list at the beginning of the year of ways parents can contribute, serve, and participate?

(5) School Location

RJC is located in Rosthern, a lovely, little, rural town. As part of the life of the school, the students venture out in town -- to sing in the nursing home, to serve in the community, to support the food bank, the Christmas toy drive, the MCC, the public high school, etc. They frequent the little student-owned ice cream shop, the cafe, the thrift store, the grocery store (for treats), the library and the parks. There is a hospital and dental offices right in town for those in the dorm. It is a nice quiet town with a great atmosphere.

(5) Admissions

When we were considering RJC as an option, we contacted the school, we were invited to come by for our tour. We made an appointment and Alex took us for tour of the school and answered a myriad of questions we had without us needing to ask them. He just conversationally told us all sorts of stuff as he showed us around! It was very inviting and yet still professional. The process was not difficult at all. Alex was on top of things and I can't remember a single hiccup in the whole process. Things were clearly explained with lots of opportunities to ask questions, if needed.

(4.5) University placement and counselling

I don't know about the university counselling program at RJC. Maybe it's all in place and it was so easy and stress-free that I just never heard my daughter talk about it. She had a number of ideas of what she could pursue in university and I know she talked with various teachers about these options, but I'm not aware of there being a specific counselling program. I know they had sessions and could work on their university applications and have whatever help they needed from the RJC staff. My daughter had absolutely no issue applying for university and was plenty early enough for early applications and got into her first choice post-secondary program (Edwards School of Business at the University of Saskatchewan), so I assume it was successful and clear.