Carol Baldwin
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Wakaw Recorder
Classes in the Horizon School Division resume on Tuesday, Sept. 3 for the 2024-25 school year. While students will have two more full weeks of summer freedom, teachers will be back in the schools as of August 26th.
The first week for teachers will be filled with meetings, professional development, and organizing their classrooms in readiness for the new batch of students.
September will have two long weekends for students. Teachers will participate in a Collaborative Learning Day on Friday, Sept. 20 and schools will be closed in recognition of the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30.
In October, the Thanksgiving Day weekend will be extended for students, as teachers will have a Personal Professional Day on Friday, Oct. 11 followed by another long weekend as teachers attend a convention on Friday, Oct. 18. November will see one long weekend with Nov. 7 as a non-instructional day, Nov. 8 as a day-in-lieu of parent-teacher-student conferences and Remembrance Day on Monday the 11. Another non-instructional day comes on Friday, Dec. 6, and classes will conclude on Friday, Dec. 20 to break for two weeks for Christmas.
Classes for students resume on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, and continue uninterrupted until Friday, Jan 31. The Winter Break follows the Family Day statutory holiday on Monday, Feb. 17, and extends to Friday, Feb. 21, with classes resuming on Monday, Feb. 24.
A Personal Professional Day for teachers is slated for Friday, March 21, the only day off for students until the Easter Break which begins on Friday, April 18 and continues through the following week. Monday, April 28 is another Personal Professional Day for teachers, meaning classes will resume on Tuesday, April 29.
In May, students will have a five-day weekend for Victoria Day with Thursday, May 15 as an operational day and Friday, May 16 as a day-in-lieu. That will be the last of the scheduled days off for students to the end of the year which occurs on Thursday, June 26.
Students’ days will start with the Canadian anthem at 8:57 a.m., followed by announcements before classes begin at 9:00 a.m. The first break of the day runs from 10:48 to 11:00, with a lunch break from 11:55 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The afternoon break runs from 2:18 to 2:30 p.m., with end-of-day dismissal for bus students at 3:24 p.m. and town students being allowed to leave the building after the buses have departed.
