Kamloops School of the Arts - Kamloops, British Columbia

shadowcats3 A. T. G.

I'm so glad I graduated, this school was a nightmare to go to, the staff sucked, the principal is homophobic and the students harass one another all the time. Bullying is so rampant because the teachers do nothing about it, they only care about the neurotypical Elementary students and no one else.

Bobthopson

The room was great, so clean, so comfy, absolutely astonishing. I slept so well that I would rather have that bed then my own. The room also smelt like crisp ocean air and was just so perfect. The bathroom was not great, and was a bit dirty, but the pool made up for it and was wonderful! I was here visiting family and wanted to stay at the hotel longer than with my family. We even considered bringing them back to the pool but that was not allowed. And then the breakfast buffet, just the perfect cherry on top. All the food was freshly made and tasted delicious. 100% I will becoming back

THE_RESE_

I have nothing but raving, positive, yell-it-to-the-universe things to say about this school, it's administration, all staff I have interacted with, and the level of quality, help, understanding, and COMPASSION my son and I have both received during our almost-9 years with them so far.
I have to say that I was actually very shocked at having read many negative comments on here...
I do understand people will always have different experiences, outcomes, and different reactions to situations. I feel sympathy for those who have a bitter taste regarding this school after their experience.
I really struggled at first, whether or not to actually enroll my son in this school, as he really was not at all "artsy" in any way - and some very difficult behavioural issues had recently started to surface. But I learned -very quickly- that it was not about whether or not your child is good with a set of pencil crayons, versed in a 2nd language, or star pupil at the dance academy in town...... this Arts school integrates all of the arts into their curriculum, and into HOW they teach it - and therefore, HOW the students receive, learn, and understand it as it's presented, at each level and grade! It's amazing.
And as far as his/ our "issues" were concerned... I've never experienced as much compassion, concern, caring, and hands reaching out to help us up - ever.
They have worked very directly both with my son and myself so much, I'll never be able to express my gratitude, to many people, enough to actually show how much of an effect it has made!
This school, in my own opinion, is simply one of the BEST, and can't recommend it enough!!

Pure B.

Great school if your neurotypical and pursuing a visual arts career for anyone else definitely will be struggle to fit in with high school, im sure elementary is fine since that is literally all the administrators focus on.

J T.

This school failed a student, a family, and the school's very own basic purpose: to provide each student with an education. In fact, instead of making any effort at all to help me learn, the administrators at this faculty decided to kick me out of it. I have a chronic health condition, and I guess this makes me not "pure" enough to attend here. Essentially, I was discriminated against for having a chronic illness. I had quite a flare-up of my condition while I attended this school and attendance was difficult during this time. I would try emailing my teacher about assignments, but instead of giving me any actual physical work, I received speeches about how I have to be at school to daily. Although aware of my chronic struggle, the school refused to accommodate it. I can understand that I need to physically be there for some assignments, but to give me absolutely none or any sort of substitute work was only setting me up for failure. Whenever my parents or I would try to reach out to the overworked student counsellor (who I am sure would misplace her head if it were detachable), she would either completely forget the entire conversation, or just flat out never get back to us. I emailed her actually about an urgent matter near the end of the school year and it took her a month to get back to me. Even then, her email really did not help in any way. It just goes to show how my voice or case did not really matter to them. My critical situation should of been a priority to them, but instead it was continuously put to the back of the pile. As the school year came to a close, the school discarded me like trash. My family received a letter in the mail basically outlining how I am being kicked out of the school. This is not the kind of thing that should be done through letter; it should be done in person (we tried to set up a meeting multiple times before even receiving the letter to discuss my future education but nobody ever got back to us) and an attempt should be made to still try to make the student successful in their following school year. Throughout my entire attendance here, the vice principal and principal made no effort to try to meet with my family and I, or create a way to accommodate my serious situation. Now a new school year has started, and I am left with literally to school. Nobody from KSA has checked in to see how I am or if I am even attending a school. It does not matter what a student is going through; every child has the right to learn. Some of us has difficulties that make it harder for us to attend and no child should be abandoned behind the rest of their class because of it. Everyone deserves to have a fair education.

A couple of side notes:
The first face that one greets at a school, the secretary, should have some enthusiasm in her. The main secretary here, Mary Ullstrom, is about as lively as a rock. There is never any expression on her face, and this just immediately gives off an unwelcoming vibe. Oh, and ask her any question and she will repeat her famous catch-phrase, "I don't know". I thought secretaries tend to be in the loop about what goes on at a school?
And If you are thinking of attending here for the fine arts program, let me warn you, the art room SUCKS. The best supplies they carry are a bunch of ratty old Crayola pencils. A high school student who is heavily involved in art can only learn such basic techniques from these kind of extremely basic supplies. My previous school carried brands like Prismacolor and Copic. Those actual quality supplies really helped me advance my learning. The art teacher can be quite temperamental too; don't get on her bad side.

UwUImAShoe

My time here is still not over but overall my experience hasn’t been the greatest, it’s a decent school dont get me wrong but the way they deal with problems is just brushing them away like nothing ever happened.

Bryce C.

Sure they are a little disorganized but it was a good school. I enjoyed my time here

Rian M.

Best school ever. So happy I have both my kids in this school