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By rdnewsNOW Staff

St. Thomas Aquinas Middle School

Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools expands online learning platform to middle school level

Apr 7, 2022 | 8:30 AM

Red Deer Catholic Regional School (RDCRS) will be launching their new online middle school program this spring, housed at St. Thomas Aquinas Middle School.

The new program will replace the Division’s At-Home Learning (AHL) Program and students who wish to participate must enroll at St. Thomas Aquinas for the 2022/2023 school year.

“RDCRS recognizes that online learning is a viable option for students and a strong practice to personalize learning,” the school district said in a release.

The new online middle school program, said to be similar to the current Division high school program, is aimed to provide students an opportunity to choose online learning.

As a result of lower enrollment for the AHL Program in elementary grades, RDCRS states that no online programming will be offered in elementary at this time.

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“Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools is committed to delivering quality Catholic education where innovation and inquiry drive learning. The new online learning community being formed at St. Thomas Aquinas Middle School will meet students where they are and develop and support them in their personal journey to where they need and want to be,” said Kim Pasula, Board Chair at RDCRS.

RDCRS also says that as enrollment steadily decreased and the funding model established by Alberta Education did not allow for sustainable staffing, the AHL Program will not be operating next year. The district says the AHL Program was intended to be a response to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and provide choice to families.

“We want to ensure families continue to have a choice to learn online and we look forward to the expansion of the Division’s successful high school online model to the middle school level, where we hope to continue to offer students significant ways to personalize their learning path,” said Ryan Sawula, Associate Superintendent of Curriculum at RDCRS.

Families interested in learning more about the online middle school program can attend the upcoming virtual open house on May 3^rd at 6:30 p.m. More information about the open house and how to enroll for the 2022/23 school year will be released in the coming weeks.