Holy Spirit Catholic School is an Elementary and middle school situated in an affluent area; Sherwood Park, Alberta in Canada, North America. Holy Spirit school is a state catholic school which is part of Alberta's publicly funded education system, educating up to 550 students with an attached daycare, kindergarten and grades 1 to 8. The school integrates all those children with special educational needs into mainstream education, this is done in the majority of schools in Canada. The school is very well facilitated with a large gym, art room, music room, library and chapel, as well as a wide range of modern resources to enhance the children's learning, which are used on a regular day to day basis, children move around the school a lot to their classes, rather than their teacher teaching them for all lessons or the teacher moving to different classes and follow a day to day structured timetable. The school also uses a large range of technology with laptops available to be used in classes, ipads and a large amount of computers and laptops available in the library, the school has their own student technical device policy, that students are allowed to bring in their own phones, ipads or ipods for educational purposes only in the classroom. Children in Kindergarten will attend either a morning class 8.30am till 11.30am or the afternoon class 12.30 til 3pm and will attend five days a week, then children in grades 1 to 8 attend school at 8.40am until 3.08pm, with their school day split into seven periods of 45 minutes long and two recess breaks and a lunch break. Children from the age of four years old will get the yellow school bus to school, some children even having to get two buses just to get to and from school.
Canada is an official bilingual country having two official languages; English and French, this depended on the province you were to visit or whether you were a native or not. In Sherwood Park, Alberta they spoke English, although French was taught in the majority of schools in the province from grades 3 and upwards. With the majority of residents in Sherwood Park speaking English I found it very easy to communicate and get along with others out there. All members of staff at Holy Spirit Catholic school were very welcoming to have me in their school and got me involved in as much as possible; teaching and planning lessons and going on field trips, this gave many different life-changing experiences, the school had a fantastic principle who organised for me to go into different grades to get the most out of my experience. When I first arrived at the school that morning they had an assembly and the principle introduced to me to the school and then at the end of my three weeks in school they got me up in front of the school and thanked me for all my help and presented me with a gift and cards that the classes I had worked with had made for me.
All Canadian communities are very multicultural, so classes have a wide range of children who come from different backgrounds including, Irish, French, Indian, English, Mexican, Philippians and many more. With this there is a very strong sense of community in the area, with children spending a lot of time in citizenship and parent volunteers will help out in the school on a regular basis, mainly in kindergarten and the younger grades. All Canadians are very friendly and are more than happy that you will be out there if you tell them what you have come over there to do, always making sure you are okay and wanting to help you out as much as possible which made my placement a lot more enjoyable and less stressful for me.
While on my placement I stayed with family in Sherwood Park, which was about a five minute drive to the school, if you have family members who you could stay with in Sherwood Park that may be more beneficial. But if not that is not to worry, as there are a lot of high rise flats available to rent in Sherwood Park, hotels and hostels. There is also the University of Alberta, which is situated about half an hour away, which has a wide range of different accommodation that you could stay in for either a short or long period of time. While I was in the school I met a student teacher, also from the UK and had taken a year out to experience teaching in different countries and she was staying at the University of Alberta,
I booked my flights in December with British Airways (BA), but any well-known and reliable travel agent should be possible to book with. I flew with BA for my first two flights from Manchester to London Heathrow and London Heathrow to Calgary and then flew with West Jet from Calgary to Edmonton which in all was 12 hours flying time and then the waits between in the airport. Then on the way back i flew with same airlines, although it took 11 hours to fly home, I selected my seat when I booked my flights and chose a window seat. The planes had individual televisions for each individual passenger with a large range of films, TV programmes, music and games to play, which made the time go quickly, I also received a three course meal and unlimited drinks.
In Sherwood Park there are various bus services throughout the Park and going in to Edmonton city and Alberta regularly, which would easily be able to get you to the school and around and about. Taxi's run all around Alberta and are very popular in Sherwood Park to go out for meals but may be expensive and the new train lines were being constructed whilst I was there, so they should be up and running soon making it even more accessible. As I was staying with family we got to most places by car, although this was strange for me as they drive on the opposite side of the road over there.
In Sherwood Park there a lots of nice restaurants and bars to go to which are very family orientated, where as if you went downtown Edmonton you would find several bars and night clubs for the younger generations as Alberta is very family orientated and the majority of socialising is family based. Five minutes down the road from where I stayed was the Millennium Centre, which was the home to all sports including ice hockey, ring-ette, indoor soccer, ice-skating and basketball along with a gym and swimming pool, this is where I went ice-skating and swimming. Canada is very popular for it's sport; ice-hockey, American football, basketball and many more, I went to see an ice-hockey match as this is huge over there and had so much fun! In the winter especially there are many other sporting events happening in Alberta. I also went skiing whilst I was there, as there are many skii slopes close by with various activities you can take part in, although this can be quite expensive as you have to hire the equipment and then pay to use the slope. In the winter children and families will go sledging and tobogganing on a regular basis, because of the large amount of snow they have a over a long period of time and also ice skating but on frozen lakes too is also very popular.
Sherwood Park has a small mall, with shops where you can buy clothes, shoes, gifts and make-up from this is popular for a lot of young adults in the park to spend their Saturday afternoon. also having a large movie theatre with an i-max screen, which I went to see a movie at this was great fun! About 30 minutes from Sherwood Park is West Edmonton Mall which is the largest mall in North America, not only does the mall have 100's of shops but also an indoor theme park with the world's largest indoor roller coaster; which really isn't as scary as it seems to be, but also a movie theater, bowling alley, huge water park with the biggest indoor zip wire, ice-skating rink and also sea lions which every two hours put on a sea lion show, this is definitely worth a watch too!
Sherwood Park has a forest which is nice for long walks on the warmer days in the snow, but also used as a long distance skiing track in the winter. if you are able to travel into Edmonton regularly there is a lot more to do there, whether you get the bus or go by car it takes roughly 30 minutes. There is a lovely park, which was very pretty in the snow but would be even prettier in the summer depending on when you go. Museums are very popular in Edmonton, with a natural history museum, railway museum and an art gallery, I went to the telus world science museum in Edmonton too, this was lots of fun and not just very informative, but lots of hands on experiences too. There was also a star gazing theatre, which showed the stars and planets on a large telescope. Every three months the museum will also hold different exhibitions for the public to visit, while I was there it was a Harry Potter exhibition which was very interesting too. I was lucky enough that as I was staying with family we were able to travel a bit further to see the beautiful sights which are definitely worth a visit, I went to the Rocky mountains and although it was freezing cold with temperatures reaching -40 degrees, it was definitely worth visiting seeing all the beautiful views. If you do get the opportunity to travel further to sight see in Alberta there is also Banff and Lake Louise which are also worth a visit.
Sherwood Park and Edmonton are again completely different in the summer, that the temperature changes and is roughly 24 degrees everyday. This affects what there is to do in the area, music festivals are very popular throughout in the summer not just for young adults and older, but also children too.
Things to do, things not to do
The Canadian culture is very similar to the English, that it is acceptable to act and wear what you would wear on a day to day basis, although when going on a night out they don't get dressed up in the same way we do in the UK they will go out dressed very casual. This is also the same in the school setting, practitioners won't wear suits, heels or dresses to work. While I was in the school it was very snowy and cold as it was still winter and all student and teachers will keep a pair of shoes in school as their indoor shoes and come to school in their snow boots, which they take off as soon as they get into school in the entrance and then change their shoes at their locker or in the classroom, which is something to remember on your first day if there is snow!
Like with any place that you can visit, there is also the chance that something could go wrong, so I would separate your money into two purses keeping one with you and then one back at your accommodation, so that you have something to fall back on. This is easier said than done if you are staying with family, but if you are in rented accommodation I would hire a safe to keep all your personal belongings safe. Definitely take a camera with you everywhere to take lots of pictures and take enough money for food and souvenirs to the different places you go and visit! Even restaurants over there are completely different in the way restaurants look over here so they are even worth taking photographs of.
Eating out for both breakfast and dinner is a very regular and popular thing over there, especially at the weekend for breakfast and mid week for dinner, make sure you remember to specify to the waitress what exactly you are allergic too, sometimes it might even help to ask them how the food is cooked. But the majority of the time they do ask you if you have any allergies when they take your order, but don't be afraid to ask them anything about the menu they are all very helpful, I had to ask on regular occasions .
You will need to make sure that you take clothing for all types of weather, even though it may be mid winter and still very snowy there are still days that were warm. During my stay over there the temperature ranged from -32 degrees to 12 degrees, before I had arrived they had a huge snow fall and then again whilst I was there we had another huge snow fall and then regular small snow falls. So i would advise you take walking or snow boots which have a good grip on them, because even though its snowy it is still icy and very slippery underneath the snow, there were regular occasions where the weather had warmed up for a couple of days and then started to thaw the snow but it would then freeze again making everywhere very slippy. You will also need a waterproof coat with a warm lining in it, I just took my ski coat and wore that, but also take layers to wrap yourself up to stay warm. The heating was constantly on high in the school and house but sometimes I still didn't fully warm up and then getting from place to another layers are beneficial. Although like I said the temperature did vary and increased on several days very quickly, so a lighter coat or jacket it worth taking too, as well as sunglasses because even though it is mid winter and freezing cold the sun will still be out and with the glare from the snow it can get very bright.
Before going to placement I would recommend asking about their dress code, for my school I wore leggings and tops or dress and tights but other schools might be different. It would definitely be beneficial that you oraganise how you are going to get to placement beforehand, I was lucky enough that I got a lift everyday from family but it would be advisable to check bus routes. Even if you are going to get a lift from family members, in the case of an emergency, that if your sent home from school and are unable to get a lift home, knowing the bus routes would be beneficial.
When booking your flights, make sure you also buy travel insurance and read through the small print so you know exactly what you are covered for exactly, but you will need to make sure that you tell the insurance company what exactly it is that you are doing in Canada; travelling on public transport on a regular basis, skiing, volunteering in a school and any other activities you plan on taking part in. Access to back up money is always helpful too, in the case of an emergency I took my debit card which already had money in my account if need be but I also left my bank details with my parents at home so more money could be transferred if need be. I always carried around a piece of paper with me at all times, with my families contact details and address of who I was staying with in case of an emergency and I wasn't with them, as I would not have been able to get myself back to the house on my own in such a big place and not knowing my way round.
While I was in Canada, my phone became an issue as I had bought a pay as you go sim card in the UK and put £40 on it with the idea I would use it to text my Aunite who I was staying with while I was in school on placement just to keep on contact with times ect, this was recommended by my contract server (orange) to do here in the UK, so that I wouldn't be going over on my contract. However while I was over there even though I had turned off my mobile data so wasn't using the internet I was still charged roaming charges as it was a British server. Therefore I would advise that you still take your phone over there but to purchase a pay as you go sim card in Canada by there local service provider, this which will stop the data roaming charges.
Lastly on your flight to Canada you will be presented with a declaration form which you will need to fill in on the plane to say what you are coming over for and for how long, you will need to make sure that you don't say you are coming over to work, as even though you are it is not paid work, if you were working over there you would have had to purchase a visa, but as a student on placement it is unpaid work and DO NOT need a visa.
Just arrange your placement as soon as possible down to the last detail before you go and it will save you a lot of stress! Also when your on your flight if you can book a window seat and keep your eye out of the window, some of the sights I saw were beautiful!
Costs
Flights (Manchester>London Heathrow>Calgary>Edmonton) return: £880
Spends: $700 canadian dollars = £437.50 (may differ based on exchange rate)
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