How We Learn

The academic portion of the Grade 6-9 program is held at École Broxton Park School in Spruce Grove.

In many ways, the academic portion of the Parkland Student Athlete Academy will resemble a regular classroom experience: students will have dedicated classroom time for each of the core subjects (Language Arts, Social Studies, Mathematics and Science). Our goal is to ensure each of our students is challenged and performing at their best academically. When a student excels, enrichment opportunities will be provided, and when a student struggles, we will look to reinforce fundamental skills.

Given the rigor of the program, it is crucial we understand how our students learn best; as such, we will work with closely with them to ensure their academic preparedness and understanding. Pre- and post-testing combined with literacy and numeracy benchmarking will help us plan for our students accordingly, and make sure they have a good understanding of one topic before moving to the next.

Students will have a weekly opportunity to participate in Sports Science activities. These sessions connect our students’ sports programming to their curriculum, and allow students to engage in research activities and problems of inquiry relating to both the curriculum and their sport.

For more information, please see the Sports Science and Total Athlete Development page.

We understand that many students in this program will be traveling throughout the school year to participate in competitions. Online resources, print modules, special projects and other resource materials will enable students to address their school work and keep up academically while on the road, allowing them to transition seamlessly between classroom learning and distance learning. 

Please note: Our student-athletes are expected to be proactive communicators. Many developmental pathways in North America go through post-secondary academic institutions. Teaching students to balance the demands of training and studying is part of our mandate. As such, missing a homework deadline and saying “I was too busy with sport,” isn’t an acceptable excuse. Coming to a teacher before a homework deadline and proactively communicating your needs will be met with consideration. 

Each sport-specific program within the Academy will have its own flexible schedule that not only allows sufficient time for academic learning and athletic pursuits, but also coordinates with the schedules of our multiple community partners. We will work with community partners to build our class time around their available sports programming, and together finalize each schedule.

Typically, afternoon programming runs on a six-day rotation, composed of:

• Four days of sport-specific and/or dryland training;
• Two days of Sports Science and/or Total Athlete Development sessions.