Kootenay Discovery School

🌊☀️ Spring Break: March 14–29 🌴📚

Our campuses, clerical and registration services, and online test supervision will be closed during the break. Teachers and staff will also be unavailable by email.

💻 Online courses remain open so students can continue working.

Our team returns March 30 and will work through marking, feedback, and messages as we catch up. Thank you for your patience while staff reconnect after the break.

Wishing everyone a safe, restful, and refreshing Spring Break! 🌊✨

📚 Cranbrook KDS Online Learners!

Need a place to study, get help with assignments, or just connect with other students? Peer Tutoring is available Wednesdays & Thursdays from 3:30–5:30 PM at tikxawiq̓kimik (100 12th Ave S, Cranbrook).

Come work alongside other learners in a fun, supportive space where you can ask questions, share ideas, and build confidence in your learning.

✨ Learn. Connect. Grow.

Perfect for KDS online students who want extra support or a study space in Cranbrook!

📣 Staff Introduction

Please join us in giving a warm (and slightly belated!) welcome to Andrea Reed, our new Elk Valley & South Country based school counsellor.

Andrea joined us in February and has been supporting students and school communities across the region. She will be working Thursdays and some Wednesdays from the KLC, helping support students during Lindsay’s maternity leave.

Andrea is passionate about helping people grow, building strong connections, and supporting students to thrive both personally and academically. When she’s not working with students, she enjoys staying active through sports and fitness, spending time with her family, and being involved in her community.

We’re so happy to have you on the team, Andrea! 💙

Did you know our online school now offers:
📸 Digital Photography 12
🎮 Video Game Development 12
🌎 Spanish 10
🇫🇷 French 10, 11 & 12

Our courses are fully online, asynchronous, and continuous enrollment, so you can start anytime.

🔗 Visit our website to register!

KDS

So grateful for a strong day of school-based professional learning with our KDS teaching team last Friday.

We explored what assessment looks like in the age of AI — and the shift is powerful.

Less focus on product.
More focus on thinking.
More judgment.
More iteration.
More defense of ideas.

If AI can do it instantly, we redesign the learning experience.

Excited for where this work will take us.

And another phenomenal student athlete in the news!

Ella Fuller Qualifies for 2026 FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships After qualifying to represent Canada at the 2026 FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships in Norway, Editor Krista Turcasso caught up with the impressive Ella

A brilliant and timely read in this month’s by cross-enrolled FSS and KDS student athlete .suth_ 🔥👏

Thank you to all the amazing families who joined us for our KDS K-6 Open House! We loved connecting with you and sharing more about our blended and online program. 💙

If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to visit our website or email us at [email protected]. We’re always happy to help!

On February 6, 2026, 114 student-athletes gathered at Fernie Alpine Resort for the Eastern Kootenay Championships, marking the return of high school ski and snowboard racing to the Elk Valley.

For many students, this was their first time pulling on a bib and stepping into a start gate to represent their school, and the stoke was in the air from the first chair of the morning.

Several Elk Valley athletes have now qualified for Provincials, an awesome accomplishment and a proud moment for our schools and community.

The Board of Education of School District No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay) is looking for your feedback on the DRAFT 2026-2027 Annual School Calendar.
https://www.sd5.bc.ca/draft-2026-2027-annual-school-calendar.17648
Suggestions and comments on the calendar will be accepted in writing to on or before February 27, 2026. This information will be collected and reviewed by the Board of Education prior to approval.

Curious about KDS? 👀✨

If you live in Jaffray, Fernie, Sparwood, or Elkford and your family has the flexibility to support learning at home, come learn how KDS partners with families through our online/blended program to deliver curricular-based learning.

📅 February 19th | 4:30–5:30pm
📍 EIDES Portable #223 – 1301 2nd Ave, Fernie

Meet the teachers. Ask questions.
K–Grade 7 families welcome! 💚

K-3 blended students had a blast experimenting with the force of gravity last week. Students chose objects to drop, made a prediction about which would fall faster and took slow motion video of the objects being dropped.

Some wonders from students were ‘how do birds fly?’ ‘how come some lighter things fall slower then heavier things?’ so students will continue to explore forces by focusing on flight this week 🙂