A number of students took advantage of the summer and used it to stay on stop of their school work.

Over the course of 21 days in July the Foothills School Division offered summer school out of Okotoks Junior High School.

This year 370 students registered for the program with 350 completing it, making it the lowest drop out rates the program has seen in a few years.

Sarah Clark, principal of divisional learning for FSD, says there's a few reasons why students are interested in continuing school over the summer.

"Our students are using it to get a jump start on the next year or to upgrade so we're looking at between 60 and 80% of students over the last five years who are using it to get ahead where as only 10-15% are doing it to repeat a course they weren't successful in the first time."

In total 21 different schools took part in FSD's summer school with 10 of them being from outside of the division.

Clark says there's a few factors that contribute to the program's success.

"Students get to focus on one high school course rather than three or four, or even five, during a regular semester. It's compacted and done in a blended learning environment where they get the best of both worlds. It's a nice balance of independent learning and teacher directed learning."

In a survey completed by students at the end of the program, 92.4% said they felt supported in summer school and 56% said they felt the daily attendance helped with their success.

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