Notre Dame is a unique alternative school because it is a grade 9-12 boarding school. They pride themselves in leadership development, spiritual growth, academic excellence, athletic development, boarding experience and their strong alumni network. Most of the students come from all over the world to live at this small-town Saskatchewan school. Isn’t that amazing? Most of the time they come to play sports since it is a very athletic school that offers pretty much any sport you can think of. Notre Dame is a catholic school. They have bible study in their curriculum and church choir is an extra curricular (I know this because Kendall was in the choir and loved it). They also have a very strict dress code. I would think to myself “their teachers sure get distracted easily, how do they ever learn?”. This makes me laugh now, because I know they did it on purpose! They would branch out from the curriculum in order to keep their students engaged and involved in class discussions. We rarely had class discussions in my school because they would get “out of hand” too quickly and keep us from our real work. I believe in the importance of class discussions. It helps students understand and keeps them engaged in the learning process. It also helps them develop social skills like eye contact and builds conversation skills.
What I love about Montessori Schools is they encourage divergent thinking and a true love for learning.
What I love about Indigenous education is the use of the environment and nature in a learning journey. Students develop a responsibility that helps them into adulthood.
I’ve been truly fascinated with Notre Dame since I started learning about it and I have been planning to arrange my internship there in my last year!
Here is their website: https://www.notredame.ca/page