In November of the 2017-18 school year, McNair staff developed the idea of introducing Flex Time to our student body.  We have a large percentage of our population who is transported to school by school bus (they come from Hamilton, which is very close to New Westminster), and almost half of our student leave to go to work, athletic competitions or take the bus after school, so student ability to get extra help from teachers is hampered.  After hearing about efforts and alternate scheduling taking place in Delta, a few of the staff went to look at the endeavour at South Delta Secondary School in Tswawassen.

After asking some questions and observing how the program was working, our interested teachers brought the idea forward to staff and the concept was embraced by all.

We took some assembly time to explain to students how Flex Time would work and explained that it was Instructional Time and that students needed to use it effectively, or it would be removed.  We decided to implement the program one time per week (Thursdays between first and second period) for 40 minutes.

Our hope is with effective use, we will see some reduction in student stress and time working at home without assistance, and that students would see improved levels of achievement and the ability to pursue passion projects that get them inspired at school.  If all goes as planned, we will look to increase the Flex Time to twice per week for the 2018-19 school year.