Welcome to Westmount Charter School!

Westmount Charter School is a publicly funded K-12 school for gifted students in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, operating on two campuses. Our sixteenth instructional year began on September 6, 2011. Our school opened in 1996 with 116 students in grades 1-3; and we have now grown to a K-12 student population of well over 1,100!

Our Mission is to meet the learning needs of gifted students and promote their social-emotional development in a congregated setting.

Our Purpose is to provide qualitatively differentiated educational programming for students who are gifted. (The Charter, revised 2010)

Our Definition of Giftedness:
"Students are gifted when they perform, or show potential for performing, remarkably high levels of accomplishment in learning rate, depth of knowledge, and reasoning and problem-solving abilities when compared to others of their age, experience, and environment."

Download our information pamphlets:
High School (grades 9-12)
Mid Grades (grades 5-8)
Elementary (grades 1-4)
Kindergarten

Our Program provides:
- an established program, in its 16th year of educating gifted learners
- a multi-faceted understanding of giftedness
- small class sizes and a caring learning environment that honours differences
- differentiated programming where teachers and students make modifications to process, product and /or pace within the Alberta Education curriculum to best reflect the student’s learning needs
- an emphasis on developing the whole child
- an emphasis on teaching students how to learn
- an emphasis on understanding concepts, and on developing a variety of creative ways for students to "show what they know"
- a qualified and dedicated staff
- school bussing and good access via Calgary Transit
- opportunities for volunteerism and humanitarian involvement in the world
- the opportunity to be in gifted programming from kindergarten to high school graduation.

As a Charter School, it is our desire to develop and share innovative practices in education, and our History and Innovations web page outlines some of our contributions to the education of gifted learners.

Our Admin Team
Dr Shelley Robinson, Principal (and lead, gr 12)

Hal Curties, Assistant Principal (lead, K-3)
Marylyn Waters, Assistant Principal (lead, gr 4-5)
Chris Hooper, Assistant Principal (lead, gr 6-8)
Dani Sever, Assistant Principal (lead, gr 9-11)
Diana Kidd, Acting Assistant Principal

Joe Frank, Superintendent
Megan O'Hara, Secretary-Treasurer.

For a diagram outlining of the roles and locations of our Admin team members, click here.

Interested in attending Westmount?

For information about applying to attend Westmount in 2012-2013, click on the "admissions" links on the right side of this page, according to the grade level the student is entering. There are significant changes in our admissions procedures for 2012-2013, so please check the appropriate link.

Our Locations

Elementary grades (Kindergarten to grade 4) are at 728-32 St NW (the former Parkdale elementary school building), phone 403.217.0426.
Mid-High grades (grades 5-12) are at 2215 Uxbridge Dr NW (the former Sir William Van Horne school building), phone 403.217.9427.

For a brief overview of these locations, click here!

24 January 2012

Current and Coming Events

2012-2013 new student applications are now being received! Re-registration, for students already attending grades 1-11 at Westmount, will begin early in February.

January 25 - student and parent information night for grades 9-12, 7:00 PM, mid-high gym (2nd floor, 2215 Uxbridge Dr NW). This evening will include information for Westmount's current mid-grade students looking ahead to their High School planning, as well as new applicants.

Parents of grades 5-8 are also welcome at the January 25 meeting, but the focus of the evening will be our grade 9-12 program.

The extremely well-attended parent information night for Kindergarten and Grade One was held on January 18.

If your child has very specific learning needs, and you would like to discuss these with one of our administrators, please begin the process by attending an information night. You will find that our program addresses a wide array of gifted learners' needs, and at the information night many teachers, administrators and other staff members will be available to answer questions.

The detailed High School Exam schedule has been posted, on the January 2012 page of the High School Google Calendar. Please note that High School classes continue until January 20 although some of the provincially-scheduled Diploma exams happen prior to January 20. Exams will be held on the third floor of the mid-high campus, specific room assignments tba. A summary of the exam schedule is also available here.

Mark your calendars: the annual Spring Fling fundraising silent auction is on March 2nd!

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When your child is going to be late or absent:
• For elementary grades call 403.217.0426 and pick option 1.
• For mid-high call 403.217.9427 and pick option 1.
Please spell your child's last name and identify the reason for absence. If your child is ill, please inform us of the main symptoms of the illness.

Westmount is piloting an "Inclusive Education Planning Tool" in grades 1-8 this year. For more information, click here, and check the Sept 29, 2011 article in our Online Newsletter!

Check Westmount Charter School's exceptionally strong 2010-11 "Accountability Pillar" report card from Alberta Education!

At all times, remember to dress your children for the elements - PLEASE ensure that your child is wearing appropriate outdoor clothing, including headgear, as dictated by anticipated weather conditions. We do monitor the weather conditions for extreme cold and storms, but on most days, Physical Education students of all ages, as well as elementary-grade children with recess and lunch times, can expect to be outside. To check Calgary weather conditions and forecast, click here.

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