Mission
St. Michael’s High School will ensure all individuals achieve their potential with a focus on developing leadership, citizenship, personal accountability and perseverance.
Vision
A graduating student from St. Michael’s High School will communicate effectively, think critically, solve problems and be technologically literate through a variety of curricular and extra-curricular activities. A St. Michael’s student is a responsible learner who not only works collaboratively, but is also accountable for their own academic and developmental progress.
A graduating student at St. Michael’s will be a life long learner who will make valuable contributions to society. Through the collaboration of school, home and community, every student will be well prepared for the demands of an ever-changing work environment.
Values
We believe all students in our school can and want to achieve their potential regardless of external circumstance or past achievement.
Motto
Soar to Greater Heights
S.O.A.R = Success/Opportunity/Accountability/Respect
School and its Community
St. Michael’s High School is located in the village of Low, Quebec, which has a population of approximately 880 people during the year and around 2500 in the summer. It is situated off Highway 105 about 45 minutes north of Gatineau. The residents of this community enjoy a picturesque view of the Gatineau Hills, the Gatineau River, as well as numerous lakes and forests. The communities served by the school include; Low, Wakefield, Edelweiss, Chelsea, Val-Des-Monts, Cantley and Masham to the south, Kazabazua, Venosta, Gracefield and Danford Lake to the North, as well as many smaller towns in between; Alcove, Brennan’s Hill, Fieldville, Farrellton, Denholm, Wright and Lac Ste Marie.
The local industries consist of a lumber mill, a hydro-electric station (Paugan Dam), small farming operations (beef producers), general contracting, ecotourism (ski hills, golf course, horse riding) and forestry production. There are also many family businesses in the region such as convenience stores, restaurants and artisan shops. Many residents commute between 1-2 hours a day to work in Gatineau/Ottawa.
St. Michael’s is a small rural high school with Secondary 1 to Secondary 5 and approximately 130 students this year. Five years ago, there were 64 students. Next year, we have registered over 150 students. Most students are bussed to school. The building itself was constructed in 1958. St. Michael’s is an older building with character and an old schoolhouse charm. With an area of 11454 m2, two new classrooms are being made in the summer in the basement, due to an increase in student population. Our building is well maintained by our custodian and building’s technicians and is very clean. St. Michael’s’ is well equipped with technology. We have a computer lab with 20 computers and another 30 laptops. We have 15 Samsung tablets and over 15 IPADs for the students to use. St. Michael’s is equipped with a Video Conferencing system through our Community Learning Centre Grant and this is now being used by staff for instruction, parents for workshops, meetings for some local organizations and education and entertainment for our students. With no library in the school, teachers depend heavily on the use of the internet (our electronic library paid for by the school board) and computers as a means of research and enhancing learning.
The academic programs offered at the school conform to the Basic School Regulations of Quebec. There is a regular academic stream for students working toward a Secondary School Diploma as well as a Work Oriented Training Pathway (prework) for students who require Life Skills and Work Skills training. Students in the latter group work toward a Ministry of Education Certificate of Life Skills and Work Skills and also leave St. Michael’s with an Attestation of Job Skills. Many socio-economic factors directly affect the lives of some of our students and indirectly impact on the school climate. Special Education services are delivered according to the needs of our student population. All of our modified students are integrated into regular classrooms with their peers. Our school receives online courses such as Physics, Advanced Math and Science of the Environment. The numbers depend each year on staffing and the number of students taking the course and who have qualified for the course. There are pre-requisites. This is offered through Learn, who has been a partner of ours since 2002.
There is a part time Principal (50%) at St. Michael’s. The other time is spent at Queen Elizabeth Elementary School 15 kilometres north of Low. We have 13 teachers this year, 3 Attendants to the Handicapped, a Special Education Technician who works with the WOTP students and an Academic Advisor. One of our challenges is working with the increased number of students with mental health issues, predominantly anxiety. Our academic counsellor spends most of her day helping these students to find strategies to cope with their day to day lives. Our academic counsellor also works with any students who might be thinking of dropping out or anyone who is experimenting with drugs/alcohol. They run non-smoking campaigns, healthy lifestyle, social media workshops etc to educate our students on the risks and dangers.
St. Michael’s has a very strong physical education program and a continually growing athletics program. We have one core phys-ed teacher who was a coach at one of the bigger high schools for years. With our new $4.3 million gym being built, the sky is the limit for next year and athletics at St. Mike’s. We have free access to the local arena at all times when it is open. We have a soccer/baseball/football field in our backyard and many fields and trails where snow shoeing, cross country skiing and hiking take place. We are also very lucky to be next to the Gatineau River where we do canoe clinics, canoe races and sometimes kayaking. Many opportunities exist at St. Michael’s High School for the students to engage in a healthy, active lifestyle. We have a strong local connection to sports. A rich tradition in baseball, hockey, football and volunteerism. Our school has a lot of field space, the Trans Canada Trail is very close by and there is a lot of green space for hiking and snowshoeing etc.
Over 60% of our population has IEPs (Individual Education Plans). This requires us to closely monitor their adaptations/modifications and discuss strategies on an on-going basis to help them succeed. 1/3 of our students come from Wakefield and Chelsea, and therefore our socio economic score has risen to a 7. This means more of our families have mother’s who have graduated from high school and family incomes are higher. Students are coming more prepared for High School with a stronger literacy background in both languages. This is why we are going to offer Geographie next year in Secondary 1 to continue to boost the level of French of in-coming students.
Student Achievement
| Subject | ELA Writing | Read | Talk | FSL Ecrite | Comp. Ecrite | Orale | HISTORY | CST MATH Sit Prob | Reasoning | SCI MATH Sit Prob | Reasoning | App Science Theory | Practical |
| 2015 June | 100 | 83.3 | 100 | 100 | 75 | 100 | 80 | 71.4 | 57.1 | 100 | 100 | 90 | 100 |
| 2016 June | 100 | 63.6 | 100 | 100 | 80 | 100 | 100 | 75 | 75 | 88.9 | 100 | 85.7 | 100 |
| 2017 June | 91.7 | 75 | 100 | 100 | 90 | 100 | 91 | 66.7 | 50 | 100 | 100 | 91.7 | 91.7 |
| 2018 June | 100 | 100 | 100 | 66.7 | 55.6 | 100 | No Exam | 90.9 | 92.7 | 100 | 75 | 86.7 | 93.3 |
Pedagogy
We accommodate exceptionalities, learning differences, and creative students by offering diverse learning and assessment strategies. We draw from student-interest when possible, and our pedagogy prides itself on serving multiple literacies through hands-on project-based learning combined with presentations, workbooks, and individual and group activities. Visual, oral, verbal, physical, logical, social and solitary learners can access the curriculum.
Every day at our school, students are offered Tribe Time. This is a 30-minute period where students can get help from a grade level teacher with their homework, to study for a test and/or they can meet with peers to work on assignments, projects etc. This helps our students who take a bit longer to do their work or need some extra help, that extra help during the day with support from the teaching staff.
Behaviour
Student detentions and suspensions have been reduced greatly. We have more than 60% of our school receiving All Green certificates term 1 and term 2 this school year (18-19). This is up from 50% in 17-18. All Green Academic Student: Always gives… consistent effort, organized, classwork and homework completed, prepared for class, works at full potential, works well with others, participates and attends class. Always respects staff, peers, and school property, outstanding attitude, follows school/class rules and expectations and on time for class. We celebrate and reward these students during assemblies which encourages others to attain an All Green standing.
Based on our 2018-2019 OurSchool survey; 76% of our grade 7’s feel a sense of belonging, 74% at grade 8, 45% at grade 9 and 65% at grade 10. We would like 100% of our students to feel a sense of belonging and will continue to work on improving in this area. We have had building our school pride as a goal all year. Getting more students involved, offering different clubs and activities for those who are not sports minded and working on inclusion of all students by integrating our modified academic pathway students into our regular classes at all times, not just sometimes. We feel this has improved school spirit and pride and thus helping to feel a sense of belonging at St. Michael’s. 14.6% of our students feel that they have endured some type of bullying this year, primarily in the areas of outside on school property and/or on the bus. 76% of students are feeling safe at our school and we want to continue to make this average rise.