Originally published in TEACH Magazine, July/August 2016 Issue
By Meagan Gillmore
The 2016-2017 school year could get off to a rocky start in Newfoundland and Labrador, before it even begins. In April, the government announced split-grade classes would be introduced in some schools for the first time. This is new for parents—many were never in a split-grade class as students, and their children have never been in them either. They’re concerned their children will suffer academically and socially.
“It’s those kids that are kind of left in the middle that might be struggling, but it might be a silent struggle (that we’re worried about),” says Krista Trask, a member of the school council at Beachy Cove Elementary in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s, NL, one of the schools scheduled to introduce split-grade classes. “We’re just hoping as parents that teachers will still have the time and still have the focus to make sure that those kids don’t get lost in the cracks.”
Meagan Gillmore is a freelance writer in Toronto, ON.
