“Even though we’re 56th, that includes private high schools where they only take students that meet certain standards, they don’t take ESL or special education students,” said principal Mark Crozier. “So if you take those [private schools] out, our rank is more like 36th out of the public schools.”
The report card score is based on exam performance and uses results from Provincial Achievement Tests (PATs). “[The report card] doesn’t take into consideration other factors, but it’s still nice to know that our students do well on these tests,” said Crozier.
JHS’s average rank during the last five years was 77, so “our overall trend is continuing to go up,” he said.
Crozier credits his staff for contributing to students’ academic successes. “We’ve had a good team coming together and over the last five years we’ve sorted things out and we continue to expand our practice. We meet every Wednesday to talk about professional improvement.”
The school also offers students the option for an extra class called period nine. These after-school classes offer subjects like art, music and physical education to students whose timetables are filled with core classes like sciences, math or English.
Period nine provides a “nice blend” and gives students the opportunity to take classes they otherwise might not be able to.
According to the report card, these extra efforts are “paying off on what students are accomplishing,” said Crozier.
