For a number of years, North Park Wilson School was referred to as The Small School with the Big Heart. We are not that small anymore, but we still have a Big Heart! North Park Wilson serves the areas of City Park, North Park, Richmond Heights and Woodlawn. We are ideally located close to downtown, the picturesque river bank, beautiful parks, the University of Saskatchewan, the Mendel Art Gallery and Archibald Arena. Many of our daily activities take advantage of what our neighbourhood has to offer.

This year, we are focused on three Learning Priorities: Literacy for Life, Arts Education and Wellness. We also refer to our school as A Centre of Excellence for Arts Education. We not only teach the provincial curriculum in Arts Education but infuse the arts into other subject areas and all the things that we do on a daily basis. We've worked hard to develop extensive partnerships with various community arts groups to enhance the learning at our school. The mission statement for our Arts Education Learning Priority is: At North Park Wilson, our learning community is dedicated to providing an enriched learning environment for all students through the arts. Everything we do is based on current research and best practice in education.

The goal of our Literacy for Life priority is to engage students in reading and to improve our students reading skills. Our teachers from Kindergarten to Grade 8 are using powerful instructional models to teach reading and literacy skills. Our Just Read program is a targeted initiative aimed at increasing the amount of reading our students enjoy outside school. This programs objectives are to: promote the culture of reading; increase students volume of reading; engage community; and, use data to track progress. We are proud of our students accomplishments in this area and celebrate their success.

Our newest initiative is in the area of Wellness. North Park Wilson is an In Motion and Nutrition Positive school, and we promote these programs throughout our school with the support of an exciting initiative called SHINE (School Health Initiative with Nursing Education). The SHINE Program engages senior nursing students, under the direction and guidance of a University of Saskatchewan College of Nursing faculty member, in the delivery of health promotion programming for our students. This program takes a comprehensive, holistic and integrated approach to school health. The goals of the SHINE Program were developed in collaboration with nursing students, the SHINE Program Coordinator, our students, teachers, staff, and parents. Our schools philosophy of engagement ensures that such programming continues to meet the changing needs of the North Park Wilson School community and supports our schools arts education and literacy initiatives.

At North Park Wilson, our staff, students and School Community Council work constantly to provide the best learning opportunities for our students. This year we are particularly proud of the work were doing in Arts Education, Literacy and Wellness, and on the integration of these areas. Our students are doing an amazing job and making stellar progress.