Our Learning Story
2021 - 2022
Kelowna Secondary School is proud to present an executive summary of the continued growth and success we have observed in this 2021-2022 school year at Kelowna Secondary School. We believe, as a school community, that we continue to learn academically, creatively, critically, athletically and socially with a focus on creating 21st century learners
Kelowna Secondary School is one of five Secondary Schools in the Central Okanagan School District. KSS is located in the central heart of the city and our campus borders with the Okanagan College Campus. Unique in character, Kelowna Secondary School offers two distinct programs – English and French Immersion. The approximately 1850 students who attend Kelowna Secondary School come from both the immediate neighbourhood and beyond the school's regular catchment boundaries. As such, it is a diverse and active community of learners.
In terms of staffing,
KSS currently has 96 FTE educators, including 4 administrator, serving the
needs of over 1880 students. In addition, we have a support staff
of 55 people working in a variety of capacities, including Certified
Education Assistants, Custodial and Clerical staff. Additional, we have
two (2.4 FTE) District Resource teachers who help to coordinate and provide
educational programs for our identified special needs students in our
population.
Kelowna Secondary
School has focused on offering a wide variety of educational opportunities that
appeals to our student population. Because of our diversity of
programs and support networks that we have available for our students at
Kelowna Secondary School, we had a very successful 2021 Eligible Grade 12
Graduation rate of 99%.
Along with a strong academic program, Kelowna Secondary School offers extensive programs in Applied Skills, Fine Arts, Leadership and Languages. We continue to offer Advanced Placement classes in the following courses: Physics, Psychology, Chemistry, French, Calculus, Biology, Human Geography and English Language and Composition. Most recently, we have had over 100 exams written in those areas and we anticipate strong results as indicated by last year's student performance. Our French Immersion program is also very strong with 112 students graduating in 2021 with a Dual Dogwood. We are also pleased to run a dual credit program in automotive technology allowing our students an opportunity to pursue their post-secondary education while still in secondary school.
Kelowna Secondary School's staff are caring, dedicated professionals who understand that their primary role is to support students. For our students who need extra support academically or socially and emotionally, we have a strong learning centre and learning assistance room with support over the lunch hours. We continue to run our test and work completion sessions and a Homework Club afterschool to support our struggling learners. Again, this year, we also continued to support our students with a mental health clinician who sees our students on a weekly basis.
Our Fine Arts program, including Band, Dance, Art, Video Production and Drama have experienced another superb year. Our Night Owl Theatre produced the show: A Christmas Carol. Our wonderful Band program again offered many fantastic musical opportunities for our students. Our musical highlight this year was definitely the Showcase Event that was held at First Lutheran Church in February. Our famous KSS Air Band completion was once again a success with the talent of many staff and students showcased. We would like to thank all staff that made this event so special. School and community spirit was clearly visible with the line-up right out to the street to attend the final performance.
We also have a very strong Athletics program at Kelowna Secondary School. This strong commitment to athletics has led to very strong teams, with many making it to the Valleys and Provincial Championships. This year was particular successful as the Senior Girls Volleyball team won the British Columbia Provincial Championship title and the Senior Boys Volleyball team won silver. The Junior Girls Basketball team and Junior Boys Basketball team won Bronze and the Senior Boys Basketball team were Provincial Silver medalists for two years in a row. Unfortunately due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, all spring teams were not permitted to compete.
At Kelowna Secondary,
our leadership class and our Global Awareness Club worked with our school
community to create awareness and fundraiser for many local and global
initiatives. Our Interact club will once again be hosting an
AP/Honours banquet to support a variety of programs. Our Student Wellness
Club also participate in an inquiry project around anxiety and mental
health. The group of students worked on bringing awareness to anxiety and
other mental health concerns. We also had several students
that supported the MOVE4MANA initiative at KSS. Our school has student
leaders that are active in creating a Jack.org club which focuses on student
wellness and initiatives. Our Diversity Club continues to enhance
inclusion for all in our school.
While the scope of these opportunities varies from year to year, the importance of engaging students and promoting excellence, not only in academics but beyond, is highly valued by students, staff and parents. We have had several students and staff win awards in the specific field. We are very proud of these accomplishments. Because of the VOCID-19 pandemic, several of our extra curricular filed trips were cancelled. In a traditional year, we have many extra-curricular field trip and exchanges that enhance the classroom experience. Students have the opportunity to go on many of these trips. These trips include: Battlefields Tour (France), French Immersion/FSL cultural exchange (France), Marine Biology (Hawaii), Fine Arts (New York), Band (Idaho), Japanese (Japan), Entrepreneurship (New York), and Leadership (Los Angeles).
Not only do our
students excel at Kelowna Secondary School. They also excel in our
community. We had several students and adults nominated.
Kelly Hettinga -
Coach/Sport Administrator of the year
KSS Owls AAAA Girls Volleyball Team - Athletic
team of the year
KSS Owls Girls Curling Team - Athletic team of the
year
Braden White - Male Athlete of the Year -
Augie Ciancone Award
Madelyn Hettinga - Female Athlete of the Year
- Augie Ciancone Award
Madelyn Hettinga - Female Athlete of the Year
Emma Cannan - Female Athlete of the Year
Roywn Grenier - Teen Honours in the Arts
Sarah McIntyre - Teen Honours in the Arts
Abby Kiehlbauch - Young Citizen of the Year
We are very proud of our student's accomplishments in our community!
Kelowna Secondary School has a well-established Parent Advisory Council that meets regularly and supports our diverse programs and extra-curricular activities equitably with the gaming funds. The PAC has also very generously supported our individual graduates with many bursaries.
Our main system of communication with our parent community, is the "Who's News, our parent newsletter, that is sent out every Friday. This newsletter has received tremendous support and appreciation from our parents. We also utilize our School Web page and our computer "phone home" voice system to ensure we have consistent and timely communication.
Our staff is pleased with our students and our school and look forward to evaluating our year-end data to assess our progress. In short, our school is a dynamic center of learning where students, staff, and parents work together encouraging our students to achieve their fullest potential as lifelong learners.
