History of Kiti K’Shan Primary School
Kiti K’Shan was built in
1966. It consisted of four rooms. These were in the present upper west
wing. Only three of the classrooms were
used the first few years. An addition
in 1970 made room for a total of 6 teachers.
For many years it was an open area but gradually the rooms were closed
off. An activity room was also added
which is the present library. The first
kindergarten class was enrolled in 1969-70.
The lower two kindergarten classes became a New Canadians class. In January 1974 the present gym was
built. In the late 1970’s and through
the 1980’s expanding enrolment was handled by setting up 3 portables. Part of the expanding enrolment came when
the French Immersion classes started at Kiti K’Shan in 1981. (The year prior to this there had been a
French Cadre class).
The children were bussed to
Kiti K’Shan from all areas of Terrace for this program. The portables were in use until the last
addition to Kiti K’Shan was completed in 1991.
This addition added 3 new classrooms to the east of the gym, and
renovated one of the former open area rooms into two learning assistance
rooms. The office area was also
renovated at this time. One of the
portables is still used for music classes.
The Jack Cook School which
is just to the east of Kiti K’Shan, began fazing out in the late 1980’s when
declining enrolment and integration of special needs children reduced the space
required. One room was used for a
French immersion class for a couple of years.
In 1990 one of the rooms was renovated for and English class and the
next year all the former Jack Cook students were integrated into the area
schools and another classroom was renovated.
Jack Cook now operates as an annex to Kiti K’Shan and houses two English
classes. At the present time we have 9
English classes and 5 French classes for a total of 271 students.
The first principal was Mrs.
J. Brulotte. From 1967 to 1971 Mrs.
Atwood was the Head Teacher and Rick Shaw was the principal of both Kiti K’Shan
and Cassie Hall. Dave Sage was the
Principal for 1972 to 1973. Mike
Sutcliff became principal in 1974 and left after the 1975 year. Geoff Striker was principal from 1976 to
1979. Brian Phillips came in 1980 and
retired in 1999. Dawn Martin came back
after a one year absence as Vice Principal for 1990 & 1991. In 1992 Joe Vidal became the Vice Principal
until 1994. Our present principal is
Tom MacLean.
Update 01/25/01
Kiti K’Shan was opened in
1966 as a K-3 single track school. In
1981 it became a two track school when the French immersion program was
started. We presently have 260 students
registered at Kiti K’Shan in Kindergarten to grade three.
Kiti K’Shan is a
multicultural and bilingual school with 42% of our students being of First
Nations ancestry. We also have children
of French, Portuguese, East Indian, Asian and European descent.
A large number of the
families are low income families and the school attempts to support the
families with a Book Swap, Home Reading Programs, hot lunch for needy children
and children who do not have a lunch.
Kiti K’Shan also has an Early Literacy support program to help children
develop reading and writing skills.
Kiti K’Shan boasts a warm,
friendly and safe learning environment where the staff encourages parent and
student involvement. The staff at Kiti
K’Shan encourages parents to become involved in their children’s learning by
encouraging parents to participate in class/school activities. Parents support the many programs and events
at Kiti K’Shan such as the Home Reading Programs, Open House, Halloween Parade,
and Christmas concert.
The Kiti K’Shan PAC has
strived towards increasing parent involvement by recruiting a parent
representative from each class, offering free babysitting at PAC meetings and
providing rewards to those classes with the most parent involvement. The Kiti K’Shan PAC has raised money and
provided many items for the school and individual classrooms. The PAC supports the Home Reading Programs
by providing the Reading Committee with funds to purchase reading incentives.
Teachers maintain and open
door policy where parents are encouraged to observe their children and
participate in class activities.
The school also receives
support from local organizations such as the Legion’s funding for children who
do not have lunches. The A & W and
the bowling alley provide us with prizes for our Gotcha program. Tim Horton’s donated money towards new
computers.
The teachers annually
support the Terry Fox Run, Jump Rope for Heart, Green up the School, Science
Fair, Education Week, Canaval and they use programs offered by the First
Nations Centre in Terrace.
Some of the Former Teachers
1966-67
Principal Mrs.
J. Brulotte
Mrs.
B.J. Wilson
Mrs.
J. Adams.
1967-68
Head Teacher Mrs. Evelyn Atwood
Mrs.
W. Giesbrecht
Miss
E.H. Burks
1968-69
Head Teacher Mrs.
E.K. Atwood
Mrs.
W. Giesbrecht
Mrs.
Gladys M. Clifford
1969-70
Head Teacher Mrs.
E.K. Atwood
Mrs.
V. Whiting
Mrs.
W. Giesbrecht
Mrs.
Gladys M. Clifford
Miss
E.J. Ward
Addition School was 2 rooms
and a gymnasium
1970-71
Head Teacher Mrs.
E.K. Atwood
Miss
S. Scott
Mrs.
G.M. Clifford
Mrs.
J. Ord
Mrs.
W.J. Mansbridge
Miss
E.J. Ward