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High School Program Description
Learning to Act in the World The Polaris High School program welcomes students from grade 9 to 12. The harmonious development of each of our students is our utmost concern. We are emphasizing weekly lessons in foundational disciplines, including science, math, and French. A nice balance is provided by the artistic disciplines of visual arts, movement art, music, craftsmanship, and sports.
At this age the adolescent is awakening to their thinking through fundamental questions of What, How, Why and Who. This evolving quest is best served by a phenomenological approach to the subjects presented. Our lessons, whether online or in person, are designed by our experienced teachers to be engaging for the young person at all levels of their being - head, heart and hands. Assignments are grade specific to meet each individual learning journey. Our successful spring online offering (held during the lockdown period March-June 2020) was based on interactive and engaging lessons. Our experienced faculty can bring life to the curriculum whether online or in person. We are happy to announce that we will again be bringing back some of the highly skilled, Waldorf experienced teachers we've had with us in the last two years. (See our Faculty/Teachers) This year we will continue to develop further our social enterprise project. We will be combining it with creating opportunities for hands-on projects at school or at home. The weekly lessons will be carried mostly by Mr. Kubanek, Mme. Richard, and Mr. McMillan. For our main lesson blocks we are focusing on covering areas that we did not cover as much yet in the last two years. Our program will run Monday through Thursday. (See our Main lesson block subject year schedule and our weekly schedule below.) Overview of the program Throughout the year we bring in master teachers and experts to offer 3 to 5-week main lesson blocks. For the 2020/21 school year we are offering a 4-day main lesson program, Monday through Thursday, with the option for a 5th day. On Fridays all Polaris students are invited to participate in our new Nature Connect program. After the main lesson of the day, are the weekly lessons in foundational disciplines, including science, math, and French. We will also continue with our social enterprise project, but combining it with creating opportunities for hands-on projects at the school. The weekly lessons will be carried mostly by Mr. Kubanek, Mme. Richard, and Mr. McMillan. Dealing with COVID-19 and Uncertainties Please note that we have decided to start the school year online in order to ease the return to school in a safe manner with a reduced program. Therefore we are welcoming new students who would like to attend the program from a distance. We hope to transition to in-class lessons for our second block, starting in October. Our main lessons and selected other lessons will be designed to include online students even if we are giving the lesson in person at the school. Polaris as a whole will follow Ottawa Public Health guidelines in all our activities. (See the school Covid Health and Safety Protocol.) Flexible Participation We are encouraging students to take the whole offering that we are putting together. The program is designed to give the students a well rounded curriculum that way. However, we are open to students signing up for only selected main lesson blocks and specialty classes. See weekly schedule and main lesson schedule below. Blocks in blue mean they are open for online participation. Fees
Meet our faculty - see our teachers and community page
Weekly Schedule
Throughout the year we bring in master teachers and experts to offer 3 to 5-week main lesson blocks. For the 2020/21 school year we are offering a 4-day main lesson program, with the option for a 5th day. On Fridays all Polaris students are invited to participate in our new Nature Connect program. Blocks in blue mean they are open for online participation. 
Main lesson and specialty lesson schedule
Upper Grades Program 2020-21 Main lesson schedule SEPTEMBER METEOROLOGY with Sylvie Richard OCTOBER PHYSICS: WAVE PHENOMENA - Light and Sound with Simon Mc Millan NOVEMBER THEORY OF CELLS with Arie van Amerigen DECEMBER ABORIGINAL ISSUES in CANADA and SOCIAL JUSTICE with Sylvie Richard and Simon Mc Millan JANUARY ENGLISH with Alan Krueger FEBRUARY PROJECTIVE GEOMETRY with G.Kubanek MARCH WORK PRACTICUM APRIL HISTORY with G. Kubanek MAY PARZIVAL STORY with Sylvie Richard MINEROLOGY with Simon McMillan JUNE WOODWORK, FURNITURE-MAKING two weeks intensive with Jack Forsberg and his team CLASS TRIP or PROJECT Specialty Lessons schedule (weekly lessons) 16 lessons / week (if finish time is extended one lesson) Science with Gordon Kubanek Math with Gordon Kubanek (x2/week) Astronomy with Simon McMillan French Grammar with Sylvie Richard French conversation with Simon McMillan Social Enterprise with Simon McMillan Practical Work/woodwork with Simon McMillan Visual Arts with Sylvie Richard Eurythmy with Sylvie Richard (x2/week) Sports with Simon McMillan Handwork Choir/ Ensemble music with Sylvie Richard Music Theory and small ensemble with Sylvie Richard Extra English /Study Hall (supervised) Independent studies: Science Fair Project Book Reports Art Project Our First Two Years
In our first year we had blocks in Art History (Sylvie Richard, Eurythmist and Painter), European History (Arie van Ameringen, Master Waldorf Teacher), English: Novel Studies (Alan Krueger, Master Waldorf Teacher), Astronomy (Simon MacMillan, Astronomer), Indigenous Studies & Canadian History (Greg Scott, Master Waldorf Teacher), Soap Stone Carving (Greg Scott), Chemistry (Gordon Kubanek, Master Waldorf Teacher), and Theater (Peter Haworth, Actor and Director). In our second year we had an internship on an organic farm, Botany (Amber Westfall, herbalist), Human Physiology (Ari van Ameringen), Biology -Environmental Stewardship (Lee Roy, Biologist), Poetics (Adam Barrows, Professor of Literature), World Geography and Modern History (Alan Krueger). Scheduled for the rest of the year we have Mathematics and Physics (Gordon Kubanek), Social Enterprise (Simon McMillan), and a Performing Arts project. Regular specialty classes include French, handwork, eurythmy, music, visual arts, sports and mathematics. In sports our students have had the chance to explore Lacrosse, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, broomball, skating, and badminton. We were also lucky to have an arborist, Trevor Bennett, doing a set of classes on wilderness survival and wood working, and guidance with our social enterprise from Urooj Qureshi, an expert in this area. The 2020/21 school year will feature some of these same teachers, and new ones of a similar calibre. While we aspire to grow our upper years program into a full high-school, we do not currently offer OSSD credits. |
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Polaris School and Centre
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