New principal of New Brigden School, Jacalyn Poncelet is grateful to be back in a rural environment
By Samantha Johnson
Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer
Jacalyn Poncelet joined Prairie Rose Public School (PRPS) this year as principal at New Brigden School and knew from her first day there she’d made the right decision in taking the position. Originally from Kinistino, Saskatchewan, a small town less than an hour southeast of Prince Albert, Poncelet enjoys the strong connection to community and families in a rural school.
New Brigden School staff and students pose for a photo on Orange Shirt Day for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. SUBMITTED PHOTO
“I went there from K-12 then away for university at the University of Saskatchewan and back to Kinistino where I taught elementary for almost 17 years. The last five years there I was focused on literacy and numeracy intervention, so I love that kind of work and working with elementary and rural education. I was so excited to return back to this.”
Poncelet moved to Alberta six years ago to be closer to her much younger sister, who had children just starting school within PRPS in Redcliff. She worked with the Medicine Hat Public School Division (MHPSD) for six years but last year involved much driving between Medicine Hat and Oyen after her boyfriend took a position at South Central High School with the hockey academy. Now living in Oyen, Poncelet enjoys watching the prairie roll by during her 20-minute commute to New Brigden.
“I love it, every day I come here very grateful I decided to take this opportunity,” stated Poncelet. “At first, I was a bit scared because everyone was saying how long it takes to get into MHPSD and now I was leaving. I knew on day one I made the right choice, it’s like a dream job.”
In addition to being principal, Poncelet teaches grade 4-6 students. There are 11 students in Poncelet’s class, who receives help from an educational assistant (EA) when teaching math and language arts. The Grade 4-6 EA at New Brigden is also the secretary and bus driver for the school. The K-3 class has 10 students and the teacher in that class has an EA helping four days per week. Along with the custodian, New Brigden has five staff members in total.
“It’s really nice and everyone seems to be working well together, I enjoy the family atmosphere. That was the biggest part I missed when moving from a rural to a city school, that family feel in a classroom, and you can feel it the minute you walk in the door here. Even with the older students and the younger ones, I love seeing that leadership within from the students. They treat each other like brothers, sisters and teammates.”
Currently, there are nine families sending children to New Brigden School and Poncelet met all of them during May and June this year when she came out for a few of the school events. Additionally, there was a pancake breakfast on the first day of school where she was able to interact with the families again.
“The pancake breakfast started at 8:30 a.m. and ended at 10 a.m. We only have one kindergarten student, who left when the parents did and started school the following day. In the classrooms, we went over school rules as a group and a few other things and then went into our classrooms to start. We do buddy activities once a week, reading or other activities the younger students might need some help with from the older ones. We do wellness usually on Fridays, we are doing lots of stuff on growth mindset right now. The family school liaison worker (FSLW) and mental health capacity come in regularly and some of that is together as a group, it depends on what they are focusing on,” explained Poncelet.
This year, Poncelet is intending to immerse herself into the school culture and is looking forward to getting to know the students, families and community better. The first parent council of the year is coming up soon, which will be a new experience for her now that she is in an administrative role, and she is excited to be involved.