Students will be adjusting to a change of classrooms, while attending St. Michael School and St. Dominic Savio School in the Roman Catholic Separate School System in Weyburn. This year St. Michael is a Grade 5-9 school, while St. Dominic is a Kindergarten to Grade 4 school, with both schools working together as they enter a transition to a Kindergarten to Grade 9 school model.

Since the schools are working towards this model, there will be one principal for both St. Michael and St. Dominic, Darren Larson. Vice principal for St. Michael School will be Denis Tremblay and the vice principal for St. Dominic will be Lynn Colquhoun.

Larson was a principal for a K-9 school before, and knows from experience that there are a lot of opportunities for both the older students and the younger students to ensure the students feel comfortable and perform well in their education.

Beginning with this change this year, Larson stated that one of the main focus of the staff was "to get the Grade 5 and 6 students to be comfortable and a part of St. Michael's. We also want to ensure that our Grade 7, 8 and 9 students are not treated like young kids, that they will have leadership opportunities."

When the Grade 5 and 6 students move over to St. Michael's this year, they will have all the programs that were offered at St. Dominic. Larson said that since the schools are looking at transition into one in two years, that this year is an excellent opportunity for staff "to see how they can work together" towards the common goal.

"We will also be doing as many things as we can for our Grade 5 and 6 students to ensure equal gym time," said Larson. The gymnasium schedule had been one concern, as there will be roughly 215 students using the one gym at St. Michael's.

"If we have to, we will bus the kids over to St. Dominic to use that gym," said Larson. There will be roughly 205 students at St. Dominic, but some of the younger students do not use the gym for team sports as the older students require, and have shared the gym before with no problems arising.

The school is also ensuring that there are plenty of opportunities for students to play and have fun over at St. Michael's. "We have a new playground structure that was installed on Aug. 18, as well the board will be placing a pavement structure on the south side of the school that should be ready for the first day of school that can be used for basketball, four-square or dodge ball. There will also be a soccer field, so there will be a lot of stuff at St. Michael's for the students," said Larson.

During nice days, there will also be an opportunity for students to get their physical exercise when the whole school walks over to St. Vincent de Paul for school mass. Larson said that the walk is only 10 minutes, with the school using the busing system when they have to.

Using the buses themselves to ensure the students get to mass, or over to St. Dominic, should be no problem either. Larson said that the schools "use the buses a lot to get around the city, like when we need to get to the Comprehensive or the Junior High."

Another way to ensure that the students were comfortable in their new setting is the classroom design of St. Michael's. Larson said that the Grade 5, 6 and 7 students, who had come together from St. Dominic, will all be down in newly added classrooms. The Grade 8 students will be in the north wing and the Grade 9 students will be on the south wing of the original building.

"The flow of the school will be much better, as the kids will be closer to the classrooms they will be using," said Larson. "The middle area of the school is more open, and will be more of a focal point for visitors and a common area to gather for students."

The teachers have also had an opportunity to prepare for their new settings, as they were allowed access to their classrooms on Aug. 16, so that each teacher could prepare their classroom and get it ready for their students. Larson commented that during the last month of school in June, that there was an opportunity to get input from the staff from both schools to get the organization of classrooms sorted out.

Among those teachers will be new additions Grade 8 teacher Jodi Anderson, Grade 9 teacher Crystal Mantei and returning from maternity leave will be Grade 9 and Resource teacher Deanne Schwindt.

"Our last staff gathering was with both schools," said Larson. "We also had an orientation day for the incoming students, and most of them were excited to see their new classes and start the year."

"We have a lot of things done already to prepare for this change, and at the start of the year we will be having a planned parent orientation night for both schools." Larson said that through that evening he hopes that any questions parents still have about the changes to the schools can be answered.

"This is a new big change, and we will be flexible as we work it out," said Larson. "We will be positive for our future, because we have a good staff and good students, which will make it into a good school."