A.B. Daley's new principal excited to get to know students, parents and staff - Nanton News

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A.B. Daley Community School’s new principal is looking forward to getting to know the school community.

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“Seeing what our staff need and what our community need, and kind of making those things come together, that’s kind of the first-year thing — nothing too crazy,” said Charlee Mappin on Aug. 30, the first day of the new school year. “It’s just going to be getting to know the students and the staff and the parents.”

Mappin, who grew up in Erskine, near Stettler, has been in education for 10 years and a principal for five years. She started her career in school administration at Big Valley School, a K-9 school about 35 kilometres south of Stettler.

“I was just looking for change and a new adventure, so I came to A.B. Daley,” said Mappin.

Mappin says she was impressed with the Livingstone Range School Division’s mission, vision and values.

“Their phrase, ‘every student, every day,’ really spoke to me,” she said.

At a smaller rural school, educators get a chance to really know the students and the school community, said Mappin.

“I want to be able to put names, faces and families together rather than having kids walk down the hallway and not know who they are,” she said. “That sense of community is super important.”

With COVID-19 an ongoing concern, A.B. Daley is taking things slow, said Mappin.

Community members are asked to phone ahead before wanting to enter the school.

“We’re just going to try to limit people coming into the school unless it’s for something really necessary,” said Mappin. “But parents are welcome to phone, email or just drop by the front doors and talk to us.”

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Staff are very focused on the students right now, she said.

“We will kind of worry about the COVID stuff when it comes up,” said Mappin.

Asked if there are any new projects or programs she’d like to implement, A.B. Daley’s new principal replied: “There are already a lot of really good things going on at this school, and that I even need to learn about first before we implement anything new.

“All I know is the staff are really excited for the new year, I’m really excited for the new year, and we’re ready to start fresh now that we’ve kind of had a rough year,” said Mappin, adding that due to COVID-19 all schools had a rough time last school year.

This school year, A.B. Daley has started trying out combined classes. The school has three grades 1-2 classes and three grades 3-4 classes, and four grades 5-6 classes.

“Before we start anything else new, we just want to work on getting that right,” said Mappin about combined classes. “I would expect the first year would be a learning year that we can kind of work out the kinks and as we go it will start to really settle in.”

Staff want to see what difference combined classes make for students and teachers, said Mappin

With combined classes, “both teachers and students get to know each other really, really well,” she said. “In their second year of the cycle, they don’t have to relearn things about each other, so we can meet the needs of kids earlier rather than waiting to figure things out.”

Also new this year to A.B. Daley is its preschool program. A total of 18 students are registered for preschool.

“It will be a really fun experience,” said Mappin.

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A.B. Daley's new principal excited to get to know students, parents and staff - Nanton News
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