Every year the Lloydminster Catholic School Division(LCSD) is gifted with a new group of five-year-olds and it seeks to impart the same lessons it gave the graduates of 2023, explains Nigel McCarthy director of education and he discusses the challenge of education.
McCarthy reflects on the values the division shares with its students.
“Our world is about educating kids, and we hope to build a more peaceful future with faith, justice, and all the other sorts of inquiries we do. It’s about meeting children where they are and giving them new skills every year.”
The LCSD is celebrating the completion of the expansion at Holy Rosary High School this year and McCarthy notes the “school population has grown to more than 1,150 very quickly.” The division is also thrilled about its ongoing partnerships and being able to bring 40 new daycare spaces to Lloydminster.
“Through the efforts of our board of trustees and the work with the governments of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Lloydminster Play & Learn was a real accomplishment. And I think it has benefitted families,” says McCarthy.
The division also hosted a provincial conference for trustees in the fall and McCarthy says this allowed them to showcase innovation in Lloydminster and what the city can give to the rest of Saskatchewan.
“We worked exclusively in the area of Indigenous education and how do we drive outcomes locally for Indigenous students. Also, how do we create the partnerships with families and First Nations that benefit our Indigenous students and also create a broader worldview for all our students about what it means to be Canadian and where our shared history creates a more hopeful future,” says McCarthy.
Turning to ongoing developments in Artificial Intelligence, McCarthy sees this as training students to use another tool.
“The technology motif runs between all sorts of areas of study. By giving students the base, our coding classes have more than doubled since we brought in the Innovation Lab at Holy Rosary and we see our gaming teams competing internationally and making those relationships around the world that are going to enable them to enter that future economy,” says McCarthy.
He sees this skillset as crossing all areas of study and “we have to continue to develop ourselves and our teachers by being open to the future.”
In 2024, the class of about 186 students will graduate in June and LCSD is looking forward to graduating this large group of students. McCarthy adds they will continue to develop their bio-mechanics space and grow their community partnerships.
Schools in the division have been live-streaming their Christmas concerts and McCarthy shares greetings on behalf of the LCSD.
“For us to be able to share that joy and faith that we value so much in our children with people across the country really helps us to say Merry Christmas not only here in our community with our parents, but to grandparents and relatives wherever they might be.”