Wolf Creek Public Schools is receiving some additional funding from the province to help better support First Nations, Métis and Inuit students.

(National Aboriginal Day celebrations in Ponoka in June of 2017, attended by WCPS elementary school students - file photo)

Superintendent Jayson Lovell says for a number of years they have received grant dollars from the province and were fortunate to have a partnership with Montana First Nation.

Alberta Education has now changed the grant, and Lovell says it means support for existing programs and some cash to make some enhancements.

“We’re going to extend our elder program, so we currently have both a male and a female elder supporting our school division so we’re going to increase the amount of time that our elders can work within our school system so that is one of the major pieces.  The additional piece is we’re going to have a person who’s more or less a coach who can work within the schools to enhance and support First Nation, Métis and Inuit education”.

He adds this new grant is an improvement in terms of the amount of dollars they will see in funding.

“Much less funding previously than what this current grant has, they have really enhanced the amount that we can access, so we are very fortunate because we requested a substantial amount of dollars, it works out to about $130,000 per year over 3 years”.

Lovell says the province has identified closing the achievement gap for First Nation, Métis and Inuit students as a key goal, and this will help them enhance some much needed resources in their schools.