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| Sun Peaks Elementary - where schoolkids love to ski |
"Why walk when you can ski?" This is the mountain motto for a signature school set on the slopes of a British Columbia resort. Perched parallel to the top of the platter poma lift and the magic carpet, Sun Peaks Elementary is ski in/ski out for around five months of the year.
Luckily the windows are narrow and not too prolific in the various modules that make up the K to Grade 7 school. Otherwise the seductive sight of skiers and boarders zooming past would challenge the attention span of the most motivated schoolkid. These kids are probably the luckiest in the world, growing up in Sun Peaks village and four-season resort and going to school on the mountain. No drop-off lines snaking around a hectic carpark; the Sun Peaks kids ski or ride to school.
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| Principal Mike Johnson after a lunchtime ski |
Teacher’s pet takes on a whole new meaning when Principal Mike Johnson takes kids skiing at lunchtime. This doesn’t happen all the time: it is a privilege – which includes the wishlist perk of going up on the Sundance Chairlift – used as a reward for something special. The Unplug & Play initiative, which required students to cut down drastically on screen time, fit the bill. And those who stepped up to the challenge got the chance to ski with Johnson. “They are really excited about it as going up the chair is special,” he says as he was unbuckling his skis after a few runs with one group. “The normal lunch time ski is just on the Platter.”
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| Sun Peaks Elementary School |
Since opening in 2010, the student body has gradually grown, now exceeding 100, and set to reach 106 just after Spring Break. Five full-time teachers, one part-timer, and one Aboriginal Education Worker make up the staff. The school was given a headstart by generous locals who fundraised to get it off the ground ten years ago. It wasn’t until two years later that the Kamloops School District No. 73 came on board.
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| Emily Fell teaching at Sun Peaks Elementary School |
The first School District teacher was Emily Fell who worked there for a year in 2012/13, taught in Kamloops for a few years, and then returned to the school on the hill in 2016. Already a Sun Peaks resident in 2012, Fell applied for the job through district 73 postings. “I love it, it is so outdoors based,” she says. “It’s ski-in and there are lots of hands-on outdoor activities, taking advantage of the mountain.” The four-day week is another plus for students, teachers and even parents. “We go later every day to put in all the minutes but four days is lovely,” Fell confirms. She has a five-year-old in kindergarten and a three-year-old at the handy daycare across from her home. With many parents working in the hospitality, tourism and service industries in Sun Peaks, weekends are often filled with work shifts. So the free Friday gives them a chance to ski with their kids. “Many kids do ski lessons on Fridays, too,” says Fell. “A lot of them are in the Sun Peaks Freestyle Club and others are in the Sun Peaks Racers. They live and breathe to ski.” Her five-year-old son expects to ski daily throughout the season and gets very miffed if forced to take a day off. Many of the kids who ski while at school turn to snowboarding at weekends.
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Needless to say, parent volunteers are copious when it comes to ‘gym’ class. There’s an afternoon ski twice a week for everyone and, just before 2pm, parents on skis gather to mentor the kids in small groups. “We have to have one parent to three children,” says Fell. “But we have lots of volunteers so that is never a problem.” When the snow starts to melt, outdoor play turns to dam building during the run off, followed by rope jumping, basketball, tennis, golf, soccer and biking as conditions allow.
The day I visited Sun Peaks Elementary, I did a spontaneous mini presentation to the writing class. Teacher, Katelyn Kennedy, quick to adapt to circumstances, seized the opportunity to show the kids my blog and get them to ask questions about the process of writing. Imagine a class where the subject under discussion when you first walk in is the colour coding of ski runs! The question put to the students as I entered the classroom was “Do you think the blue runs in Sun Peaks are the same as the blues at Revelstoke?” Unfortunately, my arrival interrupted their answers!
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| Ski boot, snowsuit and helmet-strewn locker room at Sun Peaks Elementary |
So what’s it like to be Principal of a school in the snow? “I tend not to ski as much as one would think but it’s a good way to celebrate special things with kids,” says Johnson. “The Unplug & Play initiative is a district-wide program for kids to take a week off screens. It’s been very successful here, although it is harder to get the older kids to do it.” Principal Johnson is in his third year at the school, commuting daily from Kamloops. “We’re part of school district 73 and I’ve worked with the district since 1999,” he says. “Nine years teaching, then the Healthy School Coordinator for the district, then Vice Principal for six years.” Health and fitness are integral components of the mountainside school and pillars of Johnson’s attitude to education and life. “Sun Peaks Elementary is a really good fit for me,” he says. “It fits my lifestyle. My kids ski race and we ski as a family all the time, spending a lot of time up here.”
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Space is at a premium, especially as the Sun Peaks community grows and more families relocate there. “This is a school where we have so many unique things that are so positive that you just have to work around any constraints,” says Johnson. “As the school grows, we’re always looking for new ways to utilize the space we have and as we expand it’ll continue to be a challenge. But we have the outside. The kids come really dressed for winter, ready for the cold, so it is never a problem to get them outside, even on the coldest days.”
As well as being a very happy educational environment, he says that the kids
score well, too. And the school values really sum it up – Johnson says “I’m doing the best I can to ensure that this is a Safe, Kind and Invested spot: S.K.I.!”
For more information about Sun Peaks Elementary:
Other Schools on the Snow:
Big White - K to Grade 9 school - https://bwcs.sd51.bc.ca/
(I can’t find any more – if you know of any, please let me know and I’ll add them)
Schools in Ski Towns (there are lots of these, but here are a few examples):
Park City, Utah – all grades - http://experienceparkcity.com/park-city-school-guide-40
Steamboat, Colorado – all grades - http://www.sssd.k12.co.us/
Aspen, Colorado – all grades - https://www.aspenk12.net/
Vail, Colorado – all grades - https://www.eagleschools.net/
Mammoth Lakes, California – all grades - https://www.mammothusd.org/
Telluride, Colorado – all grades - http://www.tellurideschool.org/
South Lake Tahoe, California (Heavenly Ski Resort etc) – all grades - http://www.ltusd.org/
Banff and Canmore (SkiBig3 resorts) – all grades - https://www.crps.ca/
Revelstoke – all grades - https://www.sd19.bc.ca/
Fernie – all grades - https://www.sd5.bc.ca/Pages/default.aspx#/=
Kimberley – all grades - https://www.sd6.bc.ca/Pages/default.aspx#/=
Golden (Kicking Horse) – all grades - https://www.sd6.bc.ca/Pages/default.aspx#/=
Jasper (Marmot Basin) – all grades - https://www.jasper-alberta.com/2149/Schools
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Livingstone Ski Academy - The best years of your life!
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Does this look like a school day to you? For some lucky kids in Alberta, this is just what’s included in the winter timetable and they can even go for the Level 1 CSIA instructor certification before they graduate.
With around 73 Grade 4-12 students, Livingstone Ski Academy (LSA) is now in its fourth year of operations. “LSA staff and students are extremely fortunate to have access to what is arguably some of the best ski and snowboarding terrain in the world,” says LSA Program Coordinator, Jason Clifton. “Our innovative partnership with Castle Mountain has enabled LSA student athletes to receive professional coaching twice a week for grades four to six and three days a week for grades seven through twelve all season long.” And jammy Jason gets to ski along too! "I go to the hill with kids where I help orchestrate the logistics of our on-hill operations," says Jason. "I ride the bus with the kids, do homework checks to ensure they are all caught up and provide help where needed. While at the hill, I ski with different groups. We have 10 different ski/snowboard groups this past season and will add more groups now that our registration is up from last year." As a Level 1 ski instructor himself, Jason helps with ski goals, encouraging the kids to implement all the feedback from the coaches: "The majority of our coaches are much more certified than myself, so I play a supporting role for the coaches. I manage student behavior although this is very rarely necessary. For the most part I am just out there trying to keep up to the kids and enjoying myself."
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Jason Clifton at 'work' at Castle Mountain
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Jason's a mountain multi-tasker: a skier, snowboarder, and proficient on touring skis and a splitboard. Off-season, he mountain bikes. "In general, I love the outdoors and sports," he explains. "I grew up in Calgary and skied Norquay, Sunshine, and Lake Louise. My dad was a skier and I started skiing when I was just a tot. I started snowboarding in my early 20s and can't decide what is more fun - skiing, or snowboarding." Passing on this enthusiasm to the kids, he knows that the program improves student well-being and in turn improves many aspects of the students' school experience. "Getting the kids out of the school and into the mountains is good for the soul," he says. "Kids are meant to be active and adventurous by design - we all are. The hill allows students who might not be as adept at academics to shine in a different way." With two daughters in the program, he has seen firsthand that it improves student academic engagement and general enthusiasm for the concept of "school". It also promotes healthy active living and an appreciation for the outdoors.
With three school years under their belts, there has been much fun and achievement at Livingstone Ski Academy. "One funny story is that when we first started the program we had 23 kids and I was the bus driver. The kids would constantly make hilarious jokes about how slow I drove," Jason recalls. "Apparently they were able to watch my beard grow as I drove. I assured them many times that I was doing the speed limit, but they were relentless. I think they were just super excited to go skiing."
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Jason snowboarding at Castle
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Like any ski school class, the kids adore it when the instructors make a faux pas. "One of our coaches, coach Phil, told the students at the top of a run that 'if you fall I will not wait for you'. Phil proceeded to fall and the kids laughed with elation as they skied past him to the lift where they waited for him with many comments regarding the irony of the situation," Jason recounts. There have been many other classic moments, including one coach getting his ski caught on a racing gate during the year-end competition and superman-ing down the race course. A Grade 11 student, Nathan Milford is famous for skiing the entire season with a hoodie on instead of a jacket. "I don't know how he survived February as it was beyond cold for almost three weeks," says Jason. Highlights have included Hawaiian fancy dress skiing and swapping skis for snowboards. "Every day we go to the hill is a great day and there are so many stories to tell on the bus ride home," Jason concludes. "My favorite part of the bus ride home is listening to kids tell me about how they landed their first 360, or how fast they ran the GS course, or how they dropped a cliff that they had been eyeing up with the coaches for the past two weeks. The kids always have videos of awesome things they accomplished for the first time to show me and I love seeing the excitement and the sense of accomplishment. These kids are living the dream and I don't even think they know it!"
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"Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!" - Dr Seuss
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Over the past two school years LSA has been changing how students at Livingstone School - in Lundbreck, Alberta - experience their education while redefining what it means to be a ski academy. “The LSA prides itself on being inclusive; we do not screen our students for academic achievement, or athletic capability. The only prerequisite to join LSA is a passion for the outdoors and a love of snow sports,” Jason explains. As a public academy functioning from a public school, tuition costs are kept as low as possible and bolstered by fundraising, grant writing and sponsorship efforts. “The LSA is perhaps the most accessible ski academy in the country,” says Jason. Even the students muck in, helping at events such as landfill cleanups and an annual fiesta, generating funds to keep tuition costs down. “This method of ‘earning your keep’ fosters a sense of responsibility and appreciation among our student athletes,” Jason adds.
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"These kids are living the dream and I don't even think they know it!"
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The winter sports training menu satisfies all tastes: “Developmental, freestyle, alpine and big mountain cohorts of LSA skiers and boarders can be seen sharpening their technique on piste, or floating through the powder with their friends from the far north to the legendary glades on Haig most days of the week,” says Jason.
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"What makes a child gifted and talented may not always be good grades in school, but a different way of looking at the world and learning" - Chuck Grassley
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And the fun doesn’t stop there. Besides snow sports, the LSA offers a variety of unique learning opportunities including high school-level fitness and weight training options, shoulder season mountain bike and kayaking trips, as well as volunteer service and community building opportunities. “All LSA students participate in a special program that offers a holistic approach to student development focusing on five specific domains including: academic, personal interests, career preparation, personal wellness and community service; we call this program the Continuum of Learning,” Jason explains. “Our blend of quality education and alpine athleticism promotes physical fitness and a healthy, active lifestyle while helping our student athletes make possible athletic, recreation and other alpine industry career connections.”
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Through specialized programing, the LSA provides an innovative, engaging, and memorable learning experience for Livingstone School students regardless of skiing ability, academic aptitude, or socio-economic status. Not to mention the best pics for the year book!
For more information about the Livingstone Ski Academy, check out:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SkiLivingstone
Email: s-livingstone@lrsd.ab.ca
