While students walked or rode the bus to school for the start of another new year today, staff from the Chinook School Division have stayed busy preparing for this day all summer.
"I think everyone's really excited," said Chinook School Division Director of Education Mark Benesh. "Teachers are ready. They were in school for four days before school getting their classes ready, getting things in a certain way. preparation level."
That also includes getting new staff up to speed.
"We did a variety of orientations for all of our new staff," Benesh said. "That would have been teachers that are new to the division, would be for support staff, and it would be for new administrators. Then staff met (last Tuesday) and have been doing work behind the scenes to get their schools ready for students to come."
The school division is putting the spotlight on one very important issue to start this school year.
"The division's focus is on mental health," Benesh noted. "All the schools are starting to do some work with that. We have additional supports within the division and additional counseling, youth workers... some other teacher supports that are coming. Also, the Swift Current Comp is part of a mental health capacity building grant that'll be both there and at Maverick.
"We're really excited about doing some work in this area to support both staff and students and do what we can so that it's not a hindrance in the way that they can learn in school and do the best they can."
The Swift Current Comprehensive High School is one of the new schools to receive funding under the Mental Health Capacity Building (MHCB) program.
According to the Ministry of Education, school divisions that receive funding for the program deliver mental health promotion and prevention programming, build capacity in others who work with children, youth and families and support students through connection to community resources and supports.
The Chinook School Division received $220,000 to hire a mental health capacity building coordinator and facilitator.