On October 26th, the Steering Committee sent a team to visit Hunting Hills Secondary School in Red Deer Alberta. This school has 1400 students from grades 9 to 12 and is 16 years old. The Principal is Dave MacLean and he was present as a Vice-Principal when the school first opened with a PLC (Professional Learning Community) focus. The school was designed into Instructional Zones with each zone designed to contain teacher prep areas which were given at the cost of two classrooms. The zone serves as a buffer from the hallway traffic and all students go through the main entrance into the zone and then go to their classroom. This has allowed teacher teams to strongly develop. All grade 9 teachers receive a common prep time for collaboration.
One of the main programs in the school is a Sports Excellence Program which contains such things as a Hockey Academy with the focus on Skill Development. The school runs a full AP Course schedule including English, World History, Chinese, Art, and all Sciences and Math. The science department uses a Super Lab model with multiple pitched ceilings for sound proofing and they have hired a Lab Technician to do all the lab preparation (An effective model). The school has no bells and time is displayed on classroom monitors so the teacher dismiss the students when they are ready. There are surveillance camera
s throughout the building in places such as computer labs, entrance areas, and hallways. Theft and vandalism is becoming a growing concern and this was instilled to combat the growing problem. Most classes have high ceilings and/or pitched ceilings for sound proofing. One big recommendation is to make sure we hire an excellent sound engineer for the Band Room, Gym, and Theatre (if applicable), Science Super Lab (if applicable) and the Shop Areas. The school also runs a Cosmetology Program and it is one of the most popular programs in the school. Key to the success of this is like any program, the right person must be hired to run it. The Multipurpose room looks like what you would find in a mall with Artificial trees, trellises, etc, and it is sunken in the center for presentations and parent meetings. All the walls are made of cinder block.
The Shop courses is focused on Hands on Learning opportunity and computer technology such as Photo Shop etc. The school does have some general construction and metal work classes. The school features carpet throughout which is 
good for sound proofing but impossible to clean. There are movable walls throughout the school with the intention to have these walls so that classrooms could open up but it never materialized and the recommendation was to stay away from movable walls. These walls get damaged easily and they difficult and expensive to repair. The multi-purpose room is used for drama presentations and the Drama Room is immediately off of this space. The drama room does not appear to be very useful. The change rooms need locking doors and showers. There is no teaching kitchen but they do have a small servery area with some food preparation but it appears too small for the size of the school.
good for sound proofing but impossible to clean. There are movable walls throughout the school with the intention to have these walls so that classrooms could open up but it never materialized and the recommendation was to stay away from movable walls. These walls get damaged easily and they difficult and expensive to repair. The multi-purpose room is used for drama presentations and the Drama Room is immediately off of this space. The drama room does not appear to be very useful. The change rooms need locking doors and showers. There is no teaching kitchen but they do have a small servery area with some food preparation but it appears too small for the size of the school.To see more photos of Hunting Hills Secondary, click here.
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