Jenner Skills & Outdoor Classroom
Jenner Skills & Outdoor Classroom
Our goal is to bring opportunities and skill based experiences to the students of Jenner with the creation of an outdoor space suitable to facilitate this programming. The outdoor space will also act as an outdoor classroom for all Jenner School students.
What is the Jenner Skills and Outdoor Classroom Possibility Project (Skills)?
Jenner School wanted to change what education looks like and introduced Jenner Skills in the 2021-22 school year, which are a range of option classes for Grade 7 to 9 students. Skills has allowed the older students to gain more confidence and independence, both vitally important as they prepare for the transition into a larger school in Grade 10. As many of the students attend Jenner School from Kindergarten through to Grade 9, the jump into larger class sizes with many more peers can be daunting. Additionally, there will be less hands-on learning for high school students and less student-teacher interaction than they experienced at Jenner School. The outdoor classroom at the school is for all students to use as they want. Many years ago, the area had teacherages on it, followed by garden boxes for about a decade. The beds were taken out two years ago and a permanent cement pad put in that now hold picnic tables, creating a seating area for students and staff. When weather permits, the area can be used for school-wide relationship building, as a classroom, or a social area for students during lunch and recess.
Student Feedback About the Skills Program
Grade 9 student Evangeline Johnson (April 2024)
“Especially for the younger kids, because they have more opportunities to use it, it makes school feel more fun because they probably associate outside time with recess, so going outside feels not so much like work, I’m outside and having fun and not inside all day working.”
Jenner Principal Kirby Stensrud
How did the school come up with the project idea?
“Previously our kids used to bus to Medicine Hat College for a couple of weeks,” said Stensrud. “It took the kids away from the school for the whole day and was costly. When Prairie Rose Possibilities came out, we took the opportunity to create our own things, which can be a challenge because we don’t have many staff, so teaching (the options) was impossible,” stated Principal Kirby Stensrud at a presentation to the Prairie Rose Public Schools board in April 2023.
