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Sprucewood Academy
Sprucewood Academy is located on 26 Price’s Avenue. It used to be called St. Francis Xavier before the schools amalgamated. It was then a Roman Catholic School and it had students from kindergarten to grade nine. It was named after Father Francis Meaney who was the first parish priest of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church. He was the parish priest from July 1940 to 1979. Before St. Francis Xavier was built, the students used to attend St. Joseph’s Academy that was located right next to St. Joseph’s Church on Station Road. That was the school that Ms. Warr attended when she was growing up. You can see a picture of Father Meaney and the old school in Carter Kenny’s report about St. Joseph’s Church in Woodland Connections IV.
The first principal of St. Francis Xavier was Bill Hanlon and its first vice-principal was Mr. John Wall. When the schools amalgamated in 1998 it received the new name of Sprucewood Academy. The first principal of Sprucewood Academy was Mr. Ernest Walsh and its first vice-principal was Mr. John Wall. The current principal is Mr. Brian Winsor who is retiring this year. The new principal for next year will be Mrs. Regina Mercier. Mr. Peter Andrews is the current vice-principal. Sprucewood Academy has 25 teachers on staff and it houses students from grade kindergarten to grade six. There are approximately 375 students. The secretary at Sprucewood Academy is Mrs. Judy Perry. She is ShyAnna Mercer’s aunt and she used to be a secretary at our school. In fact, you can see her picture in the report about Woodland Primary in Woodland Connections II.
I used to be a student at Sprucewood Academy and I still have a lot of friends in grade two there. That's the reason why I picked Sprucewood Academy to write my report about. Ms. Warr's niece, Abby, is my best friend. That's why we picked her class to visit at the school. Her teacher, Mrs. O’Callaghan, was very nice. We met all of her students. They were happy to see us and our Flat Pen Pals from Tany’s Dell School in Harlow, England. My flat pen pal, Flat Joshua Coote, got to meet all the fabulous people at Sprucewood Academy. Mrs. Perry showed us the gym, computer room, library and the music room. The music room had lots of musical instruments. The big drum was super. You can find out more about Sprucewood Academy by visiting their fabulous web site at www.swa.k12.nf.ca. When you go on their web site you can click on an icon to view animated children’s storybooks such as "The Paper Bag Princess" by Robert Munsch. What a super way to learn to read, and you can also do puzzles and games with each book!
Ryan Flood (2006-2007) |
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