Photo: The Academy Grande Prairie / Facebook

By Shane Clausing

The Academy

Grande Prairie Public School Division expanding The Academy program next school year

Mar 20, 2021 | 7:00 AM

The Grande Prairie Public School Division is expanding its programming options for The Academy Sports & Dance program for the next school year, expanding the number of schools that will now offer the full Academy program (hockey, dance, golf and soccer) for students in Grades 4 to 8.

Along With Alexander Forbes School, Aspen Grove School, École Montrose and Charles Spencer High School, students at Isabel Campbell Public School, Grande Prairie Christian School, Derek Taylor Public School and Grande Prairie Composite High School will have access to the sport program.

As a result of the expansion to new schools, it will include a reduction in fees for all programs, as well as feature a new high school Academy Athletics program at Charles Spencer and the Comp.

John Lehners, the Board Chair of the GPPSD, says by expanding programming to more schools, it will allow more kids to potentially take advantage and excel or learn their sport.

“There’s different levels and different flavours. If you’re in the younger grades, you might engage in some of the multi-sport stuff. But as you get older, the different areas of expertise have different coaching levels,” said Lehners.

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“We’ve got some world-class dance instructors and coaches in our hockey program that’ve played in the NHL, so we have some pretty elite athletic training for those who want to pick that specific sports.”

Lehners says he could see the multi-sport program becoming popular with the expansion of the program.

“We started the multi-sport program a year ago and that seemed to be well received. I think we want to expand that because it seems to be something that makes sense and it’s something we can offer a lot cheaper, rather than hockey and dance.”

The GPPSD will be holding a Facebook live event regarding The Academy on March 24 at 6:30 p.m., where they’ll explain to parents what The Academy is and get a grasp for what the interest there is for the various programs they offer.

Registration for The Academy opens on March 30 at 8:30 a.m.

You can find more info at their website.