An Innovative Approach to Education
Calgary Science School – A Public School with a Difference
The Calgary Science School (CSS) provides students in grades 4 to 9 with an enriched educational experience, infused with ubiquitous access to laptops, an exciting environmental and outdoor education program, and a safe and encouraging school culture in which to learn. CSS students are excited, engaged, and empowered. To see our innovative, inquiry-based work, take a look at our Connect! Blog.
CSS History – Where did we come from?
The school opened in September of 1999 with one hundred twenty students in grades 4 to 6. The parents and students who attended that first day would have no way of knowing that their little school would one day become a lighthouse for exemplary inquiry-based teaching and learning in Alberta. We grew steadily from that first year until, in 2006, we reached our maximum allowable size of six hundred students. Presently, we have twenty-five students in each of our homerooms and we maintain a waiting list of well over one thousand students. To learn more about the admissions process please see the admissions page.
Science and so much more
You might envision all of our six hundred students in lab coats, hunched over bubbling beakers, performing experiments throughout the day. As a school with the word science in its name, it is understandable that this might be the vision people may have. However, at CSS we are so much more. For the teachers at our school, the word science refers to the science of learning, rather than the subject of science. All of our teachers, whether they are teaching humanities, math and science, physical education, or fine arts, pursue the study of the science of teaching by continually asking themselves, “what does exemplary teaching look like in the Calgary Science School?” So, when you think about the Calgary Science School, think about a deeply engaging study of the science of learning.
Charter School
CSS is one of thirteen publicly funded charter schools in the Province. As a charter school we receive the same funding that all other public schools do, we are accountable to our students and the public in the same ways, but we also have a specific educational mandate that is described in our charter: (2008 Charter Agreement (806)). We are a public school with some significant differences from all other public schools.
